Fantasy Baseball 2024: Sleepers, Busts and Final MLB Mock Draft

Think of the two-game set played between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea as the soft opening of the 2024 MLB season.

This coming Thursday, then, is the official grand opening of the campaign as all 30 teams will be in action, 28 of them for the first time.

For fantasy baseball managers, that means it's go time.

This should be the busiest fantasy baseball draft weekend of the year, so let's make sure you're fully prepared for it by running through a two-round mock draft and highlighting a couple of sleepers to target and busts to avoid.

Two-Round, 12-Team Points Mock Draft

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PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 11: Ronald Acuña Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves looks on during singing of the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Round 1

1. Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Atlanta Braves

2. Mookie Betts, 2B/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers\

3. Spencer Strider, SP, Atlanta Braves

4. Juan Soto, OF, New York Yankees

5. Freddie Freeman, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers

6. Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros

7. José Ramírez, 3B, Cleveland Guardians

8. Shohei Ohtani, DH, Los Angeles Dodgers

9. Matt Olson, 1B, Atlanta Braves

10. Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees

11. Corbin Burnes, SP, Baltimore Orioles

12. Yordan Álvarez, OF, Houston Astros

Round 2

13. Zack Wheeler, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

13. Corbin Carroll, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

14. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals

15. Julio Rodríguez, OF, Seattle Mariners

16. Luis Castillo, SP, Seattle Mariners

17. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays

18. Marcus Semien, 2B, Texas Rangers

19. Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox

20. Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, San Diego Padres

21. Pablo López, SP, Minnesota Twins

22. Logan Webb, SP, San Francisco Giants

23. Ozzie Albies, 2B, Atlanta Braves

24. Corey Seager, SS, Texas Rangers

Sleepers

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - MARCH 21: Michael King #34 of the San Diego Padres throws in the 5th inning during the 2024 Seoul Series game between San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers at Gocheok Sky Dome on March 21, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images)

Michael King, SP/RP, San Diego Padres

King was all-caps AWESOME last season, and while he spent a big chunk of it in a relief role, he was equally effective as a starter. In fact, he was even sharper when given a chance to spread his wings, as his nine starts produced a 2.23 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP and 51 strikeouts against only nine walks in 40.1 innings.

There are some risks involved, as his injury history isn't the cleanest, and the 104.2 innings he threw last season were (easily) a career-high. Still, the reward is truly spectacular, as his upside is nothing short of being one of baseball's best pitchers—again.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr., OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

Sleepers don't always have to be players perceived to have untapped potential. Anyone being undervalued can qualify, meaning the proven, "boring" types can still qualify, so long as the fantasy community isn't giving them their proper due.

That's the sleeper case in a nutshell for Gurriel, whose consensus average draft position sits outside of the top 200, per FantasyPros. That's really good value for someone who's tallied better than 20 homers and 80 RBI in two of the past three seasons. It wouldn't be shocking to see his bat level-up into 30-homer territory, and his run production has some upward mobility in this ascending Arizona offense.

Busts

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JUPITER, FLORIDA - MARCH 08: Jazz Chisholm Jr. #2 of the Miami Marlins at bat during a spring training game against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium on March 08, 2024 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)

Jazz Chisholm Jr., OF, Miami Marlins

Chisholm admittedly tantalizes, and if this is the year where everything goes right, he could be phenomenal. But his stat sheet shows more absences than anything, as his career games count is only up to 302 despite the fact he debuted in 2020.

If you could bank on 140-plus games for him, he'd be the kind of power-speed contributor (19 homers and 22 steals in 97 games last season) you could build a fantasy lineup around. But you can't even say for certain he'll be on the field for 100 games, so his consensus ADP of 41 isn't enough of a discount for the injury risks he presents.

Blake Snell, SP, San Francisco Giants

The idea of getting the reigning NL Cy Young winner outside of the top 100—Snell's consensus ADP is 106—sounds borderline bust-proof, doesn't it? Well, if said Cy Young winner was anyone other than Snell, it might be.

With him, though, a career's worth of consistent inconsistency and availability issues makes even this draft cost an elevated price. The first time he won a Cy Young, he followed up by pitching to a 6-8 record with a 4.29 ERA and 40 walks in just 107 innings. Last season was only the 31-year-old's second with 130-plus innings, and he wasn't as sharp as that hardware suggests, as he had a huge gap between his actual ERA (2.25) and his expected ERA (3.77, per StatCast) and led the NL 99 walks.