Everyone loves sleepers but it’s critical to pin down who qualifies. To qualify for this piece, a hitter has to have an average draft position (ADP) after 150. The following two exciting young hitters were selected barely after the threshold. Still, they qualified and are superb targets ahead of their respective ADPs.
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- 2024 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
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- Fantasy Baseball Projections
Sleeper Hitters
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B – CIN) | 158.0 ADP
Christian Encarnacion-Strand is a winner from Noelvi Marte‘s 80-game suspension. The Reds had a logjam of infielders but it won’t be an issue for at least half of the season. Furthermore, if Encarnacion-Strand tears the cover off the ball, Marte’s return from his PED suspension will unlikely impact Encarnacion-Strand’s playing time.
Encarnacion-Strand can play both corner infield spots or serve as the designated hitter. Power is his calling card. Encarnacion-Strand hit 20 homers in 316 plate appearances in Triple-A before clubbing 13 in 214 for the Reds. He also wasn’t a one-dimensional slugger in Triple-A. According to FanGraphs, Encarnacion-Strand had a 10.4 BB%, 21.8 K%, .331 batting average, .405 OBP and two stolen bases in Triple-A.
In the majors, his walk rate slipped to 5.8%. His strikeout rate climbed to 28.6%, causing his batting average and on-base percentage (OBP) to slide to .270 and .328, respectively. Encarnacion-Strand’s .270 batting average was aided by a .336 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Fortunately, that might not have been flukey.
In 524 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A combined, Encarnacion-Strand had an 8.2 BB%, 23.1 K%, .325 batting average, .389 OBP, .376 BABIP and mashed 32 taters. In addition, he had a .268 xBA for the Reds.
Encarnacion-Strand also had rock-solid Statcast data. According to Baseball Savant, he was tied for 104th in barrels rate (6.6 Brls/PA%), tied for 123rd in maximum exit velocity (111.8 mph), tied for 61st in average exit velocity on his 50 hardest-hit balls (101.9 mph), tied for 41st in fly ball/line drive exit velocity (95.8 mph) and tied for 41st in hard-hit rate (48.4%) among 343 batters with at least 150 batted-ball events in 2023. His power should be amplified by Great American Ball Park, the home of the highest park factor for homers (1.406).
Encarnacion-Strand isn’t a statute, either. He had a slightly above-average sprint speed, which made his four stolen bases in 547 plate appearances among Triple-A and MLB last year legitimate. Encarnacion-Strand is the 94th-ranked hitter in ADP and has the 92nd-best value-based-ranking (VBR) output for his Zeile consensus projection. Yet, he’s projected for only 446 at-bats, with a clearer path to surpass without Marte. Encarnacion’s upside drastically exceeds his ADP.
Wyatt Langford (OF – TEX) | 159.6 ADP
Wyatt Langford was the fourth pick out of the University of Florida in the 2023 MLB Amateur Draft. He didn’t waste time getting acclimated to professional baseball. Instead, Langford started the year in the Complex League before advancing to High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. At those stops, he had a 194 wRC+, 192 wRC+, 224 wRC+ and 177 wRC+, respectively.
In 200 plate appearances in his first professional season, Langford had an 18.0 BB%, 17.0 K%, .360 batting average, .480 OBP, 10 homers and 12 stolen bases. He’s a box-score stuffer. Langford also had an elite, one-of-one combination of in-zone contact rate, chase rate and 90th-percentile exit velocity.
The winter didn’t cool off Langford’s white-hot bat. The 22-year-old prospect has hit four homers with a 12.5 BB%, 31.3 K%, .346 batting average, .438 OBP and 213 wRC+ in 32 plate appearances in spring training. Jon Morosi from MLB Network thinks Langford has earned a spot on Texas’s Opening Day roster.
“At this moment, I would be surprised if Wyatt Langford is not on the Opening Day roster for the Texas Rangers.” – @jonmorosi pic.twitter.com/OUyz0RGakp
– MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 8, 2024
Langford could make the Opening Day roster and face a demotion if he stumbles. Still, he’s a five-category contributor if he hits the ground running and can potentially be a fantasy championship squad building block.
Expert Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
