Fantasy Baseball Draft Outlook: Shota Imanaga, Zach Neto, Mason Miller, Junior Caminero (2024)

While this isn’t your typical “breakouts” article, it’s meant to serve the same purpose. Fantasy X-Factors are players who will be difference makers for both their team and your fantasy baseball team. Sometimes that player may be a second-rounder looking to take their game to the next level. Other times it could be an 18th-rounder with the potential to end up as a top-five talent at the position.

With that in mind, let’s cut the intro short and get straight into the list. Here are all of our fantasy baseball draft X-Factors. Below we dive into a few notable names from the list.

Fantasy Baseball X-Factors

Junior Caminero (3B, SS)

This is the first and only player on this X-factor list not starting the season on an Opening Day roster. The reasoning behind that is odd. The Rays are likely playing with service time, regardless, the potential Junior Caminero has is real. There are few players in the minors — or majors for that matter — with the type of power Caminero possesses.

In 2023, Caminero played 124 games across three levels, hitting 32 home runs, 19 doubles and driving in 101. With a full season’s worth of games at the major league level, Caminero can hit 35+ home runs. There is really nobody on the Rays roster blocking him from achieving that level of playing time. He may not be able to realize his full potential right out of the gate but Caminero still has 500+ major league plate appearances on the way this season. He’s going to be the next big Rays breakout star.

Mason Miller (SP, RP)

Going closer back-to-back wasn’t intentional but there’s nobody on the Athletics roster who excites me more as a fantasy baseball X-factor than Mason Miller. The current top prospect may have just been up for a cup of tea at the majors last year before succumbing to injuries but it was a dominant one. His fastball touched 102 MPH and lived in the top of the zone and he buried his slider down and away to righties. Although his cutter got touched up a bit, he did a great job locating it.

Now fast forward to 2024. He’s been named as a potential closer for the Athletics who are already pretty void of major league talent. Especially in the bullpen. Miller is currently being drafted around pick 251. With all the injuries to closers, if Miller gets the nod, he has immediate upside. Even if Oakland isn’t very good, Miller can still find his way into 15 or so saves, which is more than enough to return value.

Zach Neto (SS)

2023 ended up being both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for Zach Neto. After his speed run through the minors, he started great. He flashed great contact, good speed and enough power to keep things interesting. Then the injury bug bit and it all went downhill.

From June 15th, he hit just .174 with a 31% strikeout rate and a contact rate that dropped 11%. That’s seemingly the version of Neto everyone remembers coming into 2024. He’s shown this spring he’s fully healthy, hitting .282 with five XBH and three stolen bases. Although he is likely to bat toward the bottom of the lineup, Neto is going late enough in drafts that he makes for an excellent value pick.

Shota Imanaga (SP)

All the hype surrounding the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto has dimmed the spotlight on Shota Imanaga a bit. It shouldn’t have. That’s not a slight against Yamamoto, consider it a “Hey this guy is really good, pay attention” type of reminder.

Spring training stats need to be taken with a grain of salt. However, in just over nine innings, Imanaga has proven to be dominant. His 2.22 xFIP and 41.5% K-BB rate should translate come the regular season. Especially if he can keep elevating his fastball and burying his splitter in the dirt.