Looking for a late-round lift in batting average (AVG) and/or on-base percentage (OBP)? The players below should be on your radar. As everyone knows, a high AVG usually translates to a high OBP. However, there will be some OBP-specific options included as well. No one should expect any hitter in the following group to contribute across the board but each could bring solid value considering current average draft position (ADP) trends around the industry.
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2024 Sleepers for AVG
Batting Average
Jeff McNeil has hit .311 or better in four of his six MLB seasons. He’s a two-time All-Star who won a batting title in 2022. However, much the same as the Mets, on the whole, the versatile veteran underperformed for most of last season.
Through July, McNeil was hitting just .252 with a .329 OBP over 425 plate appearances. The reason for some renewed optimism is his performance during August and September. In his final 52 games of the campaign, McNeil posted a .303/.342/.466 slash line with seven homers. He has made a career out of outperforming many of his metrics. McNeil set new career highs in Contact% (87.8) and Z-Contact% (93.6) in 2023.
Another multiple-time All-Star looking to bounce back, Tim Anderson hit the free-agent market coming off his worst MLB season by far and accepted a one-year deal for $5 million to go to Miami. After hitting north of .300 in four straight seasons, Anderson limped to a .245/.286/.296 slash line in 123 games for the White Sox last year. He added just one home run but did swipe 13 bags.
Anderson should slot in as the everyday shortstop for the Marlins. Depending on his performance in spring training, he might find his way to the top part of the batting order. Anderson’s batted-ball profile did not deviate much in 2023 from prior years and though his K-rate (23.3%) ticked up some, that did not cause his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) to fall off nearly 30 points from his previous career mark.
Over the last two seasons in Tampa Bay, Harold Ramirez has seen 435 and 434 plate appearances, respectively. That, combined with sub-par power and speed potential, keeps his draft stock quite low. Still, Ramirez’s bat can’t be denied at this point. Over his 800+ at-bats the past two years, he’s hit .306, finishing at .300 in 2022 and .313 last year. Of players with a minimum of 500 plate appearances over the last two years, only Luis Arraez, Freddie Freeman, Yandy Diaz, and Ronald Acuna Jr. have a higher AVG than Ramirez.
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Nate Miller is a featured writer at FantasyPros and a 9-year veteran of the fantasy sports industry. For more from Nate, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @Miller_RotoDad.