In the average fantasy baseball draft this season, outfielders and starting pitchers were the first to fly off the board, which such big names as Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw high on everyone’s lists.

However, several positions were overlooked because of the star power in those names. Three positions: catcher, shortstop and second base are at a premium this year, and there is a huge drop off after some of the bigger names at those positions, and were an afterthought in many drafts. Thankfully, there are several sleepers who may still be available in your league that can help sure up some of those positions. Especially in keeper leagues, these positions are important to keep an eye on, as younger players prepare to take starting jobs toward the end of this season heading into 2014.

Catcher

Heading into this season, owners knew catchers were going to be a serious concern. Only one player, Buster Posey, was inside the top 50 on Yahoo!’s pre-season rankings. Even behind Posey, there isn’t much else at catcher to interest fantasy owners outside of Joe Mauer, Carlos Santana and the surprising John Buck.

For fantasy owners who have had their drafted catchers slip at the early part of the year, thankfully there are some lesser-known catchers who have performing fairly well. The aforementioned Buck has seven homers already this year on top of 22 RBI. He is worth a pickup if he’s still available in your league. While it’s not known how much longer he can hold onto this hot streak at 32 years old, he is a great play at least for now.

Only five catchers are in the top 100 rankings right now in Yahoo! leagues, but Bryan McCann could be up there once he returns from his shoulder injury. He has been dropped by a good amount of fantasy owners since sustaining this injury, but he’s bound to put up huge numbers in this hot Braves lineup. McCann may have to split time with Evan Gattis who is playing very well in McCann’s absence, but he is a proven player at an otherwise lacking position in 2013.

Outside of Buck and McCann, some other solid catchers that could plug holes in any fantasy roster are Francisco Cervelli with the New York Mets and the surprising Chris Iannetta with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Shortstop

Shortstop was the perfect example of a position that has a huge number of big names at the top of the list, but falls off very quickly. In Yahoo! pre-season rankings, there were three players inside the top 50, but only two of those players have stayed inside that group after four weeks into the season. Any team who picked up Troy Tulowitzki or Jed Lowrie in the draft is looking good at shortstop for this year, but there has been a decline this season at that position, especially after the Jose Reyes injury. Other players that were ranked fairly high at the beginning of the year at short have fallen off, including Starlin Castro, Jimmy Rollins and Elvis Andrus.

Two shortstops have made a name for themselves early on this season: Josh Rutledge and Brandon Crawford. Rutledge is only hitting .221, but has scored 18 runs and has driven in seven others. Stolen bases have also been huge for Rutledge, as he has five through 21 games. Crawford’s hitting numbers have been much better than Rutledge, as the San Francisco Giant has been hitting .320, and has scored 15 runs.

Shortstop has traditionally been a weak position in the past few seasons, but there are lesser-known options out there who could be more than serviceable at that position, especially with the Reyes and Hanley Ramirez injuries. Going in to the draft, fantasy owners probably felt confident at short, but players taken higher in the draft over fear of missing out on a good shortstop have fallen short of their expectations thus far this season.

Second base

Second base hasn’t traditionally been talked about as a weak position in past years, but 2013 could really pose a problem to any team who missed out on one of the few great second base players. Robinson Cano is the no-brainer here, as it went early on in the first round of every fantasy draft, and rightfully so. Ian Kinsler has also been preforming up to expectations so far this season, as has Brandon Phillips and Dustin Pedroia.

After those four, there are some second basemen who have slipped through the first four games. Jason Kipnis has really struggled, only hitting .170, and Aaron Hill currently has a broken left hand. Many fantasy owners were also hoping Rickie Weeks would have a rebound season with the Milwaukee Brewers, but he is only hitting .169 and he only has three RBI.

To fill in any holes left by struggling second basemen, the previously mentioned Rutledge qualifies at second, and Howie Kendrick and Everth Cabrera have both quietly had solid seasons so far. Kendrick has been one of the better offensive players for the Los Angeles Angels, hitting .300 and driving in 14 runs.

Kendrick is still out there in 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and would certainly be worth a pickup at second. The same goes for Cabrera, who is un-owned in 20 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and has six stolen bases for the San Diego Padres. Some of the slumping second basemen could certainly turn it around in a few weeks, but there is no counting on that, and second is certainly thinner than it was last year.