Just as I went around the league and highlighted 2017 fantasy baseball rookies, I will now do the same with 2017 fantasy baseball sleepers. These sleepers are gonna be so butter margarine gonna be like, “Yo, you got me, I’m not real.” These sleepers are gonna be so terrific they’re gonna call up the West Virginian woman, Terri Fic, and tell her to change her name. These sleepers are gonna be so illuminating they’re gonna explain WHAT THE HELL IS THE HARMON FAMILY HIDING?! Seriously: what is Pam Dawber, her husband Mark Harmon and their kids, Sean Harmon and Ty Harmon hiding with all of these blocked accounts? If they are living in a log cabin somewhere in the mountains, I say send in the U.S. Marshals! We want answers, Mark Harmon and Co.! Does NCIS stand for Notably Cloaked In Secrecy? I want to know! So, our first sleeper is Byron Buxton. Hayzeus Cristo! I just wrote Buxton’s name and ran into the bathroom while screaming, “Give me five minutes of peace and quiet I need to explore myself!” No, there is no particular order with these sleepers, but I am kinda goofy crazy for Buxton. Last year, he disappointed with 10 HRs, 10 SBs and a .225 average. Luckily, this isn’t last year, fantasy baseball fans and fans of Mark Harmon conspiracy theories who found us in Google. So, what can we expect from Byron Buxton for 2017 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
The book on Byron Buxton read: he can hit for average, steal bases and the power should come. Should come? He had ten homers in only 298 ABs last year in what was a terrible year. Awful. Atrocious. Miserable effin’ year. He was a consensus number one prospect in all of baseball only a few years ago and he’s still only going to be 23 years old this year. If he clicks this year, he could have ten years as a number one outfielder. Don’t think he can get there? In September, he had 7 HRs with a .277 average. Meh, just a 40+ homer pace. Whatevs. This is you, “I’m old school, I like to draft Beltran and talk about when Vince Vaughn was funny.” Redd Foxx would call you a big dummy. Of course, I don’t think Buxton is legitimately a 40-homer guy, but 20 HRs from a guy who showed he can hit 7 HRs in one month? That’s hard to reconcile in your mind? Don’t be daft, please, it’s not a good look. So, there’s some power there, but what about steals? That’s what he’s got without trying! He could steal 40 bases. Now, again, I don’t expect that, but could becomes will without shifting out of ‘try hard.’ Next up, where does he bat? He burned the Twins pretty good last year, but I think they’re smart enough to realize he needed time to adjust. Jorge Polanco is much more of a bottom-of-the-order hitter than Buxton. I’d say at worse Buxton jumps between hitting 7th, 8th, 9th and 2nd. As you can see, lots to like here. The one big drawback — No! Why do we need to drawback?! — Sorry, Non-Parenthetical Interruption. Buxton might K at a 30% rate. So, without a .380 BABIP, he might hit .230. That’s an issue, but an outside chance for a 20/40 season disinfects a lot of my batting average concerns. For 2017, I’ll give Buxton the 2017 projections of 65/18/57/.232/26 in 522 ABs with upside in every category.