Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2012: Underrated Players Who Provide Terrific Value

By the time Friday ends every MLB team will have played at least one game while Saturday will see the first full slate of games this season. That means time is running out to draft your fantasy team without having to worry about losing a bunch of games.

Here are three undervalued players to draft in the later rounds or to snag off the waiver wire before another opportunistic owner beats you to the punch.

Francisco Liriano

One of the biggest boom-or-bust options in all of baseball, Liriano illustrated terrific form during Spring Training. While most exhibition game stats are worthless, his have been a good indicator of future performance in recent seasons.

His strikeout rate always makes him an attractive fantasy option. When he's able to showcase even a little bit of control to go along with it, the Minnesota Twins lefty becomes an elite player. That's not a bad investment for somebody with an average draft position of nearly 250.

Liriano should be able to get his ERA back below four without much problem and everything else will be icing on the cake.

Mitch Moreland

Moreland will see a lion's share of the starts at first base for the Texas Rangers. He possesses tremendous power, which should continue to develop in his third season at the major league level as long as he showcases more patience at the plate.

He should see plenty of RBI opportunities in the Rangers' deep lineup. Add in the fact his home park gave up the most home runs in baseball last season and everything would seem to be setting up perfectly for him to have a breakout year.

His poor batting average has been a product of some bad luck, so look for that to rebound closer to .270 to go along with 20 home runs and 75 RBIs.

J.P. Arencibia

If Arencibia played another position, he would only have fringe fantasy value. But since he plays a catcher spot with so few meaningful contributors, his power potential makes him worth waiting on instead of using an early pick on a backstop.

He's only played the equivalent of one season in the majors, so he will benefit from more experience against elite pitching. Once he settles in, his numbers should improve across the board and his home run total has a chance to be the most among catchers.

All told, owners can expect him to crush 25 home runs and drive in about 70 runs. It's rare to find that type of production in the final few rounds at a weak position.