Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2019: Sleepers from advanced model that predicted Mike Moustakas’ strong season

We’re already a couple of weeks into MLB spring training and the intensity is ratcheting up, with league-wide Opening Day just a couple weeks away on March 28. Starters in good health are beginning to build their arm strength by pitching deeper into games, while less fortunate pitchers like Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, Yankees stud Luis Severino, and Cardinals flamethrower Carlos Martinez are all battling shoulder inflammation. That could impact their value in 2019 Fantasy baseball rankings and create opportunities to pick up proven studs later than their talents suggest. Identifying 2019 Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts is also key to winning a championship, which is why you’ll want to consult the reliable 2019 Fantasy baseball rankings from the team at SportsLine before your draft.

Last season, SportsLine’s Projection Model identified several top Fantasy baseball sleepers, including Brewers third baseman Mike Moustakas. Drafted No. 137 overall on average, Moustakas hit 28 home runs and drove in 95 runs, the most of his career, to finish as the No. 45 overall player in all of Fantasy.

The team at SportsLine was all over Moustakas as a Fantasy breakout from the start. Their model had him listed much higher than expert consensus rankings, and anyone who listened to their advice was well positioned for a league title. 

Their model is powered by the same people who powered projections for all three major Fantasy sites. And that same group is sharing its 2019 Fantasy Baseball rankings and cheat sheets over at SportsLine, helping you find Fantasy Baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts long before your competition. Their cheat sheets, available for leagues on many major sites, are updated multiple times every day. Any time an injury occurs or there’s a change on a depth chart, the team at SportsLine updates its rankings.

In fact, when it came to ranking players in Fantasy Football, SportsLine’s Projection Model beat human experts last season when there were big differences in ranking. And the model was the closest to the hole overall, meaning it best pinpointed where every player would finish each week. That could literally be the difference between winning your league or going home empty-handed.

One of the Fantasy Baseball sleepers you need to be all over in 2019, according to the model: Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Charlie Morton. 

Morton’s career has been completely revitalized in the last two seasons after nine years as a mostly run-of-the-mill starter. However, he broke out in 2017 and made his first All-Star appearance last year thanks to an augmented arsenal that saw him shy away from the sinker he used heavily throughout his career in lieu of a four-seam fastball with more rise. 

The results were staggering, with his K/9 rate raising from 7.1 over his first nine seasons to 10.4 the last two years. Yet, plenty of Fantasy baseball owners are still treating Morton like a flash-in-the-pan talent who is benefiting from an extraordinary amount of luck, which is why his ADP is just 29 among starting pitchers. 

Morton’s success is no fluke, though. His BABIP has stayed between .283 and .326 the last four seasons, while his real ERA has been higher than his FIP three times over that span. With his average fastball velocity up nearly five miles per hour and climbing every year, there’s nothing to suggest that what Morton is doing isn’t sustainable. In fact, SportsLine’s Fantasy baseball rankings 2019 project him to finish among the top 20 starting pitchers. He’s one of the top 2019 Fantasy baseball sleepers to target.

Another sleeper that SportsLine’s Fantasy baseball rankings 2019 are extremely high on: Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor. 

The 28-year-old spent the majority of his season at shortstop, but he could wind up with eligibility at a number of positions and is likely to play plenty of second base. After a breakout year in 2017, Taylor’s numbers came back down to earth last season, but there were also some encouraging developments that most owners are sleeping on entering this season. 

Taylor raised his hard-hit contact rate from 32.4 percent to 38.4 percent from 2017 to 2018, while his line-drive rate went from 22.6 percent to 27.5 percent. His BABIP leveled off from .361 to .345, but that’s at least one reason to believe he saw the ball better last season than he did in 2017.

Currently, Taylor’s ADP is the No. 22 shortstop off the board, but SportsLine’s 2019 Fantasy baseball rankings predict he’ll finish the season as the No. 14 player at that position. Add in the versatility and there is a lot to like about Taylor’s Fantasy prospects for 2019.

SportsLine is also high on a starting pitcher who didn’t finish in the top five in Fantasy points at his position last year but is ranked higher than starters like Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale and James Paxton. This pick could be the difference in winning your league or going home with nothing. 

So which Fantasy Baseball sleepers should you snatch in your draft? And which undervalued pitchers can help you win a championship? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy Baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Scooter Gennett’s huge breakout last season, and find out.