Fantasy baseball draft sleepers! Let’s dive into a few late-round fantasy baseball draft picks to make that could turn into this year’s crop of fantasy baseball sleepers.
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Fantasy Baseball Sleepers for RBIs
Many of MLB’s top RBI guys are the league’s best hitters. However, fantasy baseball gamers who need to bolster their RBI contributions in the middle and late rounds might be in luck. The following RBI fantasy baseball sleepers have an average draft position (ADP) outside the top 180 picks, and most of them are picked after the first 19 rounds in 12-team mixed leagues.
Kerry Carpenter (OF – DET) | Hitter #117/189.5 ADP
According to FanGraphs, in 87 games and 296 plate appearances in 2024, Kerry Carpenter had 18 homers, 57 RBIs, a .284 batting average, .587 slugging and .303 ISO. He brought power to the dish and tallied most of his plate appearances in the heart of Detroit’s lineup, with 43 batting third and 167 hitting cleanup.
Carpenter has established his excellence against righties. In 734 plate appearances against righties since reaching the Majors in 2022, Carpenter has swatted 40 homers with a .290 batting average, .550 slugging and .260 ISO. He should remain a mainstay in the middle of the lineup against righties.
Carpenter is more appealing in leagues with daily lineup changes than weekly ones. However, Carpenter hopes to prove he can face more lefties this year, increasing his opportunities for counting stats if it comes to fruition.
Jorge Soler (OF – LAA) | Hitter #135/231.8 ADP
Jorge Soler is a one-dimensional power source. Fortunately, he’s routinely slotted third or fourth in the Angels’ lineup in spring training and should begin the regular season in the middle of the order. In the previous two years, Soler was often utilized as a high walk rate, slugging table-setter.
Getting bumped down in Los Angeles’s lineup would be an ideal change for boosting his potential for RBIs. In 1,154 plate appearances since 2023, Soler has smashed 57 homers with a .246 batting average, .477 slugging, .232 ISO, average exit velocity of 90.9 miles per hour (MPH), 115.4 MPH maximum exit velocity, 17.8-degree launch angle, 13.6 Barrel% and 45.9 HardHit%. Soler’s power is aging well, and he has the thump to drive in baserunners. Furthermore, Taylor Ward, Mike Trout and Luis Rengifo are candidates to hit before Soler and have the on-base chops to award Soler ample RBI opportunities.
Byron Buxton (OF – MIN) | Hitter #139/236.3 ADP
Byron Buxton has been a regular on the injured list (IL) throughout his career. He’s surpassed 400 plate appearances only once (2017) in his career. Thankfully, injuries haven’t stripped him of his hitting ability, and he had one of his best showings at the plate in his career in 388 plate appearances last season.
In 2024, Buxton hit 18 homers with a .279 batting average, .264 expected batting average (xBA), .524 slugging, .502 expected slugging (xSLG), .245 ISO and 56 RBIs in 102 games. He had 49.7% of his plate appearances in 2024 from the third, fourth or fifth spot in Minnesota’s lineup. Buxton should once again claim a spot in the middle of the lineup, awarding him chances to contribute RBIs for the Twins and fantasy squads as long as Buxton is healthy.
Brendan Donovan (2B, 3B, OF – STL) | Hitter #152/257.3 ADP
Brendan Donovan doesn’t have massive power. Still, he swatted 14 homers, 34 doubles and three triples in 652 plate appearances last season. Donovan also makes up for his underwhelming power with excellent bat-to-ball skills.
Donovan had a career-low 12.4 K% last year and tallied a .278 batting average and .277 xBA. He doesn’t have a typical middle-of-the-order hitting profile. Nevertheless, Donovan often hit fifth or cleanup for the Red Birds down the stretch last year. He’s regularly hit fifth in spring training, indicating he’ll also slot there in the regular season. Donovan should be an asset for batting average (.280 career hitter) but could be a sneaky source of RBIs after tallying 73 last year despite logging 239 plate appearances from the leadoff spot.
Joey Bart (C – PIT) | Hitter #177/307.5 ADP
Joey Bart was buried in the Giants organization before they DFA’d him in early April and ultimately traded him to the Pirates. A change of scenery was optimal for Bart.
In 282 plate appearances last season, Bart launched a career-high 13 homers with a palatable 25.9 K%, .265 batting average, .247 xBA, .462 slugging, .431 xSLG, .198 ISO and 45 RBIs in 80 games.
In Bart’s final 32 starts last season, he batted third 12 times, cleanup 14 times and fifth six times. He’s batted third and cleanup in spring training, which suggests Bart is ticketed to remain in the heart of Pittsburgh’s order this season after finishing 2024 in that spot. Bart’s an underrated gamble at catcher who can help fantasy squads in RBIs when he starts.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.