Michael Brantley (OF, CLE) - 2018 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers & Draft Values

BALLER MOVE: Target ~195

CURRENT ADP: 255

ANALYSIS: Michael Brantley has had a full offseason to safely come back down to the baseball diamond after dealing with injuries over the past two years. He will be welcomed back with a spot in the middle of the order on a team that produced the third-best wRC+ (107) last season. Even in a shortened year, Brantley was nearly on pace to hit the 40 HR+SB mark (9 HRs, 11 SBs in 375 PAs) and had a 20/20 campaign as recently as 2014. He’s a career .292 hitter, let alone hitting well above .300 over his last three seasons combined, and has been caught stealing exactly once in each of those three seasons.

Durability has been a concern throughout his career, but at least his most recent ankle injury shouldn’t have long-term effects compared to the nightmare shoulder injury from ‘16. He had a minor setback after an ankle injury at the end of last season, but appears to be good to go. While he is not the fantasy beast that he has been in the past, it is too hard to pass him up at the later part of drafts.