Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers: Carlos Rodon, Michael King, Ryan Pepiot (2024)

One of the primary goals for every fantasy baseball manager ahead of their drafts should be to find players who return a hefty return on their draft day investment. For most fantasy drafts, that investment is their average draft position (ADP). You can dominate your draft by identifying which guys have the highest chance of providing the most value every time you’re up to pick. This becomes more important the deeper you go into the draft, as late-round players will either be duds who you’ll drop within a few weeks, decent contributors who outperform expectations and stick around on your roster for most of the season, or studs who can boost your title chances.

We asked our experts to provide their favorite early fantasy baseball sleepers. Here are all of their top fantasy baseball draft sleepers. Below we dive into a few notable names.

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Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

Ryan Pepiot (SP – TB)

“Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot is one of my favorite pitchers to target in 2024 fantasy baseball drafts. Pepiot was traded from the Dodgers to the Rays as part of the Tyler Glasnow deal. The 26-year-old posted a 2.14 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, and a 38:5 K: BB across 42 innings for the Dodgers in 2023. His 3.1 BB% was elite, albeit a limited sample. Between Triple-A and the majors, the right-hander had a 64:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 2023. The Rays have usually succeeded in fixing or bringing out the best of their pitching staff. Zach Eflin was a great example last season. Pepiot should be locked into Tampa Bay’s rotation and could provide solid ratios and decent strikeout totals, making him a solid pick just under the 200 spot.”
– Brad Camara (RotoBaller)

Michael King (SP, RP – SD)

“Michael King (154) is lined up to potentially be the ace of the Padres in 2024. King’s K/9 rate over his 9 ’23 starts was 11.4. That’s higher than his 10.6 mark as a reliever. The 7.6 H/9, 2.75 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 3:1 K/BB ratio all scream front-end starter. The only question is how will he handle the increased workload. In 2017 and 2018, he threw more than 150 innings, so that is encouraging, and we’ve seen players like Johan Santana go from dominant reliever to fantasy ace in recent memory. The Padres were able to get a great season out of Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo last year, so imagine what could be in store for King in ’24!”
– Joe Pisapia (FantasyPros)

Carlos Rodon (SP – NYY)

“I had zero shares of Carlos Rodon last season because I want nothing to do with pitchers after huge free-agent contracts. However, in 2024, I expect a bounce back from him, making his ranking and ADP of 165 seem outlandish when it’s all said and done. With a career ERA of 3.83, last year’s 6.85 will not be his new norm. I expect his K% to return to the 28% range and his K/BB rate to be around 3.3. We often see over-correction in fantasy baseball, and while Rodon was never going to be worth his high price tag in 2023, he should vastly outperform this year’s price.”
– Kelly Kirby (FantasyPros)