Draft season is underway and fantasy managers are searching for the next crop of players to break out. Last year, Justin Steele, Zach Eflin, Nolan Jones and Yandy Diaz broke out in big ways and provided big boosts for relatively cheap. These are the kinds of players that can help win fantasy leagues. Below are some players who can exceed their draft day values significantly.
2024 Fantasy Baseball Breakouts
Triston Casas (1B – BOS)
Triston Casas is primed for a big breakout in 2024 after he finished with 24 HRs, 65 runs and 70 RBIs in his first full season in the big leagues. His triple slash line of .317/.417/.617 in 211 second-half plate appearances came mostly from batting sixth in the order. He’s moving up to the cleanup spot this year. We will need to keep a close eye on how he does against southpaws with the signing of C.J. Cron as a righty bench bat. If he can improve his 32.0 K% against them, he should exceed his FanGraphs projection of 28 HRs and .262 AVG.
Zack Gelof (2B – OAK)
Zack Gelof had a mini breakout in his rookie season — 14 HRs and 14 SBs over 300 plate appearances and a .840 OPS. There is still plenty of room for an even bigger breakout this year. He should get a full season of plate appearances, batting second for the Athletics. If we pace out his numbers from last year, assuming zero progression, it would look like this over 600 projected plate appearances: 80 runs, 28 HRs, 64 RBIs, 28 SBs, .840 OPS. Now, let’s see where he can improve in his sophomore season. Surprisingly, the right-handed batter’s average against lefties last year was well below his career number in the minors. He batted a lowly .167 against them compared to .317 in the minors. There’s little reason to believe Gelof won’t exceed projections in 2024.
Expert Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice
- The Welsh’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Joe Pisapia’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Justin Mason’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- KC Bubba’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Blake Meyer’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Mason’s High-Stakes Leagues Draft Strategy (Premium)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio