Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2022: Best sleepers from computer simulation that nailed Franmil Reyes’ big year

Baseball can be a tough sport to predict, and that’s something Fantasy players know all too well. Jorge Soler, for example, hit 48 home runs in 2019 before falling way off in 2020 and early 2021 for the Royals. After the Atlanta Braves acquired him at the deadline last year, he smacked 14 home runs in 55 games and went on to win World Series MVP. Now he heads to the Miami Marlins on a three-year deal, and Fantasy players must figure out which version of this boom-or-bust player will show up.

A reliable set of 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings can help you place players like Soler at the right spot in your 2022 Fantasy baseball draft prep. Finding the 2022 Fantasy baseball sleepers that come out of nowhere, can help you make a run for your league’s championship as well. Before going on the clock, be sure to see the 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Last season, SportsLine’s Projection Model identified several top Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts, including Guardians designated hitter Franmil Reyes.

Reyes had a 2021 Fantasy baseball ADP outside the top 200 but the model predicted that he’d outperform that draft position. The result: Reyes hit 30 home runs and drove in 85 in 115 games for Cleveland and slashed .254/.324/.522 for an OPS+ of 127. Anybody who followed its advice and picked up Reyes late in their Fantasy baseball drafts received a huge power boost in their Fantasy baseball lineups.

The SportsLine model is engineered by the same people who powered projections for all three major Fantasy sites. And that same group is sharing its 2022 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 more MLB news comes out about the updated 2022 MLB schedule, free agency signings or Fantasy baseball injuries, the team at SportsLine updates its projections. Go to SportsLine now to see these proven Fantasy baseball cheat sheets.

Top 2022 Fantasy baseball sleepers

One of the 2022 Fantasy baseball sleepers the model is projecting: Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford. The 35-year-old is coming off a career-year offensively in his 11th MLB season and it was largely the result of some approach changes that seemed to begin during the shortened 2020 season. After posting an OPS+ at or below league average (100) from 2017-2019, Crawford started generating more lift and saw his OPS+ climb to 115 in 2020 and then 141 last season.

After hitting the ball on the ground 48.6 percent of the time during one of the worst seasons of his career in 2019, he slashed that rate to 40.2 percent in 2021 and saw his fly ball rate improve from 18.9 percent to 28.7 percent. That helped him take fuller advantage of the above-average power he’s always had and he hit a career-high 24 home runs. He also set new career-highs in RBIs (90), steals (11), average (.298), OBP (.373) and slugging (.522). However, he’s still coming off the board in the 14th round on average. The model predicts he’ll outperform contemporaries like Wander Franco and Carlos Correa, who are being drafted at least five rounds earlier on average.

Another sleeper that SportsLine’s Fantasy baseball rankings 2022 are extremely high on: Phillies starter Kyle Gibson. Gibson was traded to Philly from Texas at the deadline last season, and finished 4-6 with a 5.09 ERA, but prior to the trade, he was 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA for the Rangers.

In the 12 games he pitched for the Phillies before the end of last season, two of those came against new division rivals, the New York Mets, and he finished with 12 strikeouts and a 2.84 ERA in those starts. Last season, two Phillies starters — Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola — finished in the top 20 National League pitchers in terms of run support per nine innings pitched. Gibson should be pitching with more confidence this season, which is why the SportsLine rankings project he will finish as a more valuable option than higher-drafted players like Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff or Framber Valdez.

How to find proven 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings

SportsLine is also high on a surprising starting pitcher who lands in the top five of its positional rankings. This player is barely going off the board in the top 100 picks, but is projected to outperform starters such as Julio Urias, Max Scherzer and Lucas Giolito. This pick could be the difference in winning your league or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So which 2022 Fantasy sleepers should you target in your upcoming drafts? Visit SportsLine now to get 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Franmil Reyes’ big season, and find out.