It is true that I’ve called two different Orioles sleepers. We know I haven’t completely lost my mind because they’re not pitchers. Is Ubaldo still pitching for them? No, okay, who cares. Finding value on discarded teams is no exact science, unless you have a BS from the Fantasy Baseball College of Charleston. Why I tend to like late-round gambles from garbage teams is they have nothing to play for. If you’re not sure what I mean, check out how many games Freddy Galvis has played in the last few years. If collecting garbage at-bats was an art, Galvis would be in the MOMA with a statue of David made out of reclaimed coat hangers. My hope is Cedric Mullins can do a series of water lilies with secondhand Hypercolor t-shirts from Goodwill — call it Goodwillies. Anyway, what can we expect from Cedric Mullins for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
He’s your high floor type , like the 17th floor in a 30-floor building. Maybe 18th floor, but only if he steals a shizzton. One fatal flaw of his game is he’s a switch hitter who doesn’t seem like he can hit lefties. At least not yet. In 2017, he hit .208 vs. lefties, then .222 in 2018 (both minor league numbers), finally, he hit .156 vs. lefties in the majors. Like a tree falling in the woods with no one around, if you can’t hit lefties while a righty, are you really a switch hitter? There’s no answer for that, don’t wrack your brain too much. Because of these splits are shizz, it’s why he won’t hit .285 or higher, while still maintaining great strikeout and walk rates. In Triple-A, he had 5 HRs and 12 SBs in 59 games. He does walk and doesn’t strike out much. He’s the type who could be 18/25/.270 in 2019 and be extremely interesting or 8/17/.260 and completely forgettable. (Sounds like every preseason conversation ever about Kevin Kiermaier.) Steamer is expecting 17/17/.257, which, if you didn’t know, is almost exactly the projections for Kiermaier. However, let’s remember — I’m your fantasy baseball ginkgo biloba! — if Kiermaier could stay on the field, we’d all be more than happy about drafting him. Of course, Mullins is only 24 years old, and could fix his splits or just steal a bunch of bases because the O’s are short for O-man-gross. Not to mention, I see no reason why Mullins won’t be a top three hitter for the O’s (they really are that bad). Essentially, he’s a guy who can get into 15 homers, steal 25+ bases but might hit .250 or lower. If he gets into a groove, he’s Starling Marte about 25 rounds later. For 2019, I’ll give Cedric Mullins the projections of 74/15/49/.249/22 in 544 ABs with a chance for more.
