Sleepers & Busts for Every Team: NL East
I give out one fantasy baseball sleeper and one bust pick for every team in the league. I take on the NL East in this first piece.
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Braves
Sleeper: Drake Baldwin
Travis d’Arnaud has left town, so there’s an opening for the job that shares playing time with Sean Murphy. Baldwin hit .278/.372/.427 with 16 homers in the minors last year on a shiny 17% K% and 13% BB%. is contact rate was strong at 81%, and he posted a 10% Brl% in AAA. He seems like a guy with a good shot at immediate offensive production (relative to other catchers, at least), and the Braves felt good enough about him to let d’Arnaud end up with the Angels.
Bust: Chris Sale
This is a boring one. But I wouldn’t advise people to buy into Sale as their fantasy team’s SP1. The injury risk is too much for me. My draft strategy in the early rounds is elite hitters and safe pitchers, and Sale is neither of those.
Bust: Marcell Ozuna
I’ll give you a second one because I felt that Sale pick was too cheap. Ozuna is 34 now, and it’s not like he’s been a stud hitter his whole career. Just two years ago, he was a poor power hitter. It’s hard for me to buy into a huge breakout in a guy’s thirties.
Probably, he’ll be fine, but I’d rather not be using a premium draft pick on a 34-year-old DH.