Knowing which players provide value and which players are carrying red flags going into a draft can make or break a fantasy baseball season. That’s why I’m sharing with you an easy, straight-forward collection of names that I am repeatedly plucking from draft boards heading into the 2019 season.

These are the guys who typically either under performed last season or who are primed for a big breakout. The players who underperform in the previous season often frustrate enough managers that their draft value is lower than it should be as a result. Players have bad seasons. It happens. I look for those who played through injuries and who have every reason to rebound with good health.

Then there’s the breakouts, and the thing about breakouts is they come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes the breakout potential is so clear that the draft cost doesn’t leave much room for return. Other times the post-hype value is there and the real breakout comes when less people expect it. The post-hype sleeper is a real thing. I love those guys.

So most of the fantasy players on the board below fall into one of the two above categories.

Players coming off of injuries like Josh Donaldson, Yu Darvish, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, and Brian Dozier, to name a few, all will return value if they just return to their historical production.

A lá Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell of last season, the guys who I think could breakout and give fantasy teams a huge boost are names like Luis Castillo, Nick Pivetta, Shane Bieber and Eduardo Rodriguez.

Finally, one last category worth mentioning is the “no respect” guys. Travis Shaw, Aaron Hicks and Carlos Santana (points league) all qualify.

TARGET

ROTO

EARLY

Jose Altuve, 2B
Andrew Benetendi, OF
Ronald Acuña, OF

MIDDLE-TO-LATE

Gleyber Torres, 2B-SS
Travis Shaw, 2B-3B
Daniel Murphy, 2B
Brian Dozier, 2B
Eduardo Rodriguez, SP
Luis Castillo, SP
Josh Hader, RP
Tim Anderson, SS
Jose Peraza, SS
Michael Conforto, OF
Aaron Hicks, OF
Nick Pivetta, SP
Shane Bieber, SP
Colin McHugh, SP

FLIERS

Michael Wacha, SP
Domingo Santana, OF
Byron Buxton, OF
Josh James, SP

POINTS LEAGUES

EARLY

Jose Altuve, 2B

MIDDLE-TO-LATE

Yu Darvish, SP
Cole Hamels, SP
Eduardo Rodriguez, SP
Nick Pivetta, SP
Shane Bieber, SP
Carlos Santana, 1B
Aaron Hicks, OF
Colin McHugh, SP

FLIERS

Josh James, SP
Marcus Stroman, SP
Willians Astudillo, C-3B-OF