One of the keys to winning a fantasy draft is identifying the deep sleepers in baseball and drafting them to your team.  As important as it is to make your first couple of draft picks count it is equally important to a very good back end of your draft.  Every year teams will draft someone or pick someone up in free agency who winds up being one of the best players on their team.

Last year Kole Calhoun carried my team for stretches at a time and he was one of the last players that I drafted.  Make sure you are ahead of the game and already have sleepers identified when you are going into the draft and your chances of winning your fantasy league increase exponentially.
 

1)Danny Espinosa, Washington Nationals, Second base

This may seem like an odd choice as for years now people have seen the skill set that Espinosa has and have been nothing but disappointed with his results.  He has the rare combination of speed and power but has never been capable of hitting for a high average.  His batting average woes may be partially solved though for this season as he is giving up on batting from the left side of the plate.  Batting from the right side of the plate last season Espinosa batted .277 with two homeruns as opposed to batting .196 with four homeruns from the left side of the plate.  Even though he ahs never faced a right handed pitcher from the right side while in the MLB one would imagine it can’t be worse than his stats from the left side.  Espinosa has 20/20 potential if he can get a starting job with the nationals.  If the switch to being a right handed batter can elevate his average to around the .265 mark with the powerful Nationals lineup surrounding him he could rack up the RBI and be a very valuable fantasy asset.  

2)A.J. Pollock, Arizona Diamondbacks, Outfield

Pollock hadn’t accomplished mush through his first two seasons on the Diamondbacks but broke through nicely last season.  Pollock managed to bat .302 last year, hit seven homeruns, and steal 14 bases in only 75 games.  With Pollock’s speed he should be able to at least bat .290 which provides plenty of value.  Pollock should find himself batting at the top of the order again which will give him plenty of opportunities to score runs and be a double, double player with at least ten homeruns and 20 or more steals.

3)Jake Odorizzi, Tampa Bay Rays, Starting Pitcher

Odorizzi has been in the league for three seasons now while producing fairly average numbers.  He has a 4.13 career ERA and a 1.283 WHIP.  There is hope on the horizon though for a breakout season this year.  Last year Odorizzi had a 3.75 FIP and managed to strikeout 174 hitters in 168 innings.  Without an innings limit this year Odorizzi should be able to rack up the strikeouts and if his FIP is any indicator he should be able to lower his ERA making him a real option in all fantasy formats.  The only thing holding back Odorizzi is that he will lose command of pitches are start issuing too many walks.  If he managed to fix the control issues during the offseason watch out for a breakout season.

4)Didi Gregorius, New York Yankees, Shortstop

Gregorius has yet to establish himself as a threat at the plate thus far in the major leagues but he could be a sneaky pick in fantasy drafts this season.  The main thing that Gregorius has going for him is that he bats from the left side of the plate where hitters have a much easier time hitting homeruns.  Gregorius doesn’t have a ton of power as he only hit six homeruns last year 80 games, but moving to New York and a full 162 game means Gregorius should hit somewhere between 15-20 homeruns.  The one thing holding back Gregorius is his batting average.  Gregorius only hit .226 last year but that had a lot to do with bad luck.  Last year Gregorius had a hard hit rate of 20.4 which was right up there with the greats of the game.  The problem is that on those hard hit ball Gregorius only hit .536 when the major league average is .700.  If lady luck is on his side this season Gregorius could be a solid pickup for your team for a weak shortstop position

5)Avisail Garcia, Chicago White Sox, Outfield

After an injury derailed pretty much Garcia’s entire season many fantasy owners may have forgotten about him or may be skeptical about drafting him.  Garcia if fully healthy though has a great chance at breaking out in 2015.  In his first two season Garcia hit .313 and .283 both of which are good averages.  It’s not the batting average that makes Garcia an enticing option though.  The power potential in this youngster plus the ability to swipe some bags makes him a multi talented outfielder worth taking a flyer on this season.  Garcia dropped some weight in the offseason (15 pounds), but said he did it in a way that won’t affect his power, he wants to be a multi talented asset for many years to come.  If it gets to the 20th round of your fantasy draft, and Garcia still hasn’t been drafted it’s time to pull the trigger on him as has the type of potential that can be game changing.