Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2021: Sleepers from model that called Will Smith’s strong season

Over the last eight years, Nolan Arenado has cemented himself as one of the league’s top players with 235 home runs and 760 RBIs. However, after the Rockies traded him to the Cardinals this offseason, where does he belong in your 2021 Fantasy baseball rankings? Playing in the thin air of Coors Field historically juices numbers, so should Arenado still be one of your early-round 2021 Fantasy baseball picks?

That’s just one of the difficult questions many Fantasy baseball owners will be contemplate as they begin their 2021 Fantasy baseball draft prep. A reliable set of 2021 Fantasy baseball rankings can help you make informed decisions while also helping identify the 2021 Fantasy baseball sleepers who will define the upcoming season. Before you go on the clock, check out the 2021 Fantasy baseball cheat sheets and rankings from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Last season, SportsLine’s Projection Model identified several top Fantasy baseball sleepers, including Dodgers catcher Will Smith. The 25-year-old was No. 6 catcher in Fantasy baseball last year, outperforming Yasmani Grandal, Mitch Garver and Gary Sanches, who were all drafted well ahead of him on average. Smith wound up hitting eight home runs with 25 RBIs and posting a .980 OPS that was over 70 points better than in his breakout season in 2019.

The team at SportsLine was all over Smith as a Fantasy sleeper from the start. Their model had him listed much higher than expert consensus rankings, and anyone who listened to their advice was well positioned for a league title. 

Their model is powered by the same people who powered projections for all three major Fantasy sites. And that same group is sharing its 2021 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 an injury occurs or there’s a change on a depth chart, the team at SportsLine updates its Fantasy baseball cheat sheets.

In fact, when it came to ranking players in Fantasy football, SportsLine’s Projection Model beat human experts last season when there were big differences in ranking. And the model was the closest to the hole overall, meaning it best pinpointed where every player would finish each week. That could literally be the difference between winning your league or going home empty-handed.

Now, the model has simulated the entire 2021 MLB schedule 10,000 times and revealed its top 2021 Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts, and busts. You can get its Fantasy baseball cheat sheets 2021 here.

Top 2021 Fantasy baseball sleepers

One of the 2021 Fantasy baseball sleepers the model is all over: Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong. The 30-year-old veteran signed a two-year, $18 million contract with the Brewers this offseason.

Wong spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Cardinals and slashed .265/.350/.326 with one home run, 16 RBIs and five stolen bases over 53 games in 2020. Despite hitting just one home run in the shortened season, Wong has shown power at the plate throughout his career. In fact, he’s recorded at least nine homers in four of his last six full seasons in St. Louis, while racking up at least 100 hits four times during that span.

Fantasy baseball owners, however, are sleeping on Wong this year, waiting to draft him until the 16h round on average. SportsLine’s model has him ranked higher than fellow second basemen like Luis Guillorme and Jake Cronenworth, both of whom are flying off the board at least four rounds earlier.

Another sleeper that SportsLine’s Fantasy baseball rankings 2021 are extremely high on: Marlins second baseman Jon Berti. The 31-year-old didn’t make his MLB debut until 2018 with the Blue Jays and then finally received regular playing time in late 2019 with the Marlins. That season, Berti posted .755 OPS with six home runs, 24 RBIs and 17 stolen bases.

Last year, he had a respectable .738 OPS with two home runs, 14 RBIs and nine stolen bases despite playing just 39 games. His 15.4 percent walk rate, solid bat-to-ball skills, and foot speed give him the potential to be a terror on the base paths in an era where stolen bases are hard to come by. That’s why the model lists him as a top-10 option at second base despite the fact that he’s been the 29th two-bagger off the board, according to the latest 2021 Fantasy baseball ADP.

How to find proven 2021 Fantasy baseball rankings

SportsLine is also high on a first baseman with a Fantasy baseball ADP 2021 barely inside the top 10 who finishes ahead of studs like defending AL MVP Jose Abreu and Yankees first baseman Luke Voit. This pick could be the difference in winning your league or going home with nothing. You can see who it is here.

So which 2021 Fantasy baseball sleepers should you snatch in your draft? And which undervalued first baseman can help you win a championship? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Will Smith’s huge breakout last season, and find out.