Jose Miranda, 2023 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper

Already gave you my Jordan Walker fantasy. Really, really like him. Already gave you my Gunnar Henderson fantasy. I really, really, really like him, by the by. Already gave you my Josh Jung fantasy. I really like him. Okay, so I didn’t put those in order, but you can count the “really”s. I mention these guys because I tried to give you 3rd basemen sleepers, because that position is the dog’s breakfast, and the dog ain’t eating eggs and bacon in the morning with a side of pancakes, barely chewing it and spitting it into your mouth, so it’s still yummy. This is to give you context. If Jose Miranda were an outfielder, I’m not sure I’d be here telling you about how he’s a great 2023 fantasy baseball sleeper. I might not be telling you about this great Jose Miranda 2023 fantasy baseball sleeper, if he were only eligible anywhere else besides 3rd base, tee bee aitch. Jose Miranda has no speed, so he needs to excel in the other four categories, or I need to read myself the Miranda rights. “You have the right to remain silent about fantasy baseball sleepers. Anything you say can and will be used against you around June/July, when some random commenter brings up your sleeper post from December, and your sleeper looks like crap. You have the right to blame Steamer for their projections if they also liked the player and, if they didn’t, then you have the right to blame an unforeseen injury, swing change or bad luck. If you can’t afford to be bothered to come up with a decent excuse, then you will be dragged mercilessly.” So, what can we expect from Jose Miranda for 2023 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?

Psyche! Before we get into the Jose Miranda sleeper post, just wanted to announce that I’ve begun to roll out my 2023 fantasy baseball rankings on our Patreon. It’s an early Hanukkah miracle! Or late Hanukah miracle, depending on when Hanukkah is this year. The Jews should really decide on one day to start Hanukah each year, and stick with it. It’s better for branding. Anyway II, the Jose Miranda sleeper:

Last year, Jose Miranda went 45/15/66/.268/1 in 444 ABs, as a 24-year-old. He’ll turn 25 in June. A 18.8% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate with a .307 BABIP. You should be able to infer a lot from that. Not unlucky, and good contact for a rookie, so .268 could be very accurate, and predictive. In fact (Grey’s got more!), Steamer projections have him down for .269. Two is the only way to sixty-nine, by the way, I learned that in sex ed. So, everyone’s pointing to .269, and I’m going to now do some dreamcasting that gets him a higher average.

In Triple-A, his strikeout rate was 13.1% and 14.7% in two years. Prior pro levels, he had K-rates of around 11% or lower. Sure, the majors are not the minors, hence the different name, but Jose Miranda always had elite contact. It’s actually the one thing the Twins teach. They’re all about the strike zone, whether it’s their hitters or pitchers. So, why did he hit .268 last year if he’s Mr. Hit Tool? Jose Miranda started his career .094/.143/.189 (.332 OPS) through his first 14 games. If you throw out his May (.176), he has June through October when he hit .286. He hit .286 as a rookie if you throw out his first 20 games! I’m sorry, you can’t cut a rookie three weeks of slack to get used to being in the majors? Really? Damn, you’re tough, and quite possibly a Ding Dong. Jose Miranda is a Hit Tool Guy, and only doesn’t appear it because of a silly sample size happening from his first 20 games. Miranda is a .285 hitter. That might be low-end. He hit .343 in Triple-A; .345 in Double-A and could cut an already very low strikeout rate. Sorry, it’s belaboring at this point, but when you have no speed, you can only give average or power. About that power…

It’s there.

SECOND-DECK WALK-OFF HR ?

Jose Miranda knew it right away ? pic.twitter.com/dfes3K1acC

— ESPN (@espn) July 13, 2022

Jose Miranda clearly has power, hence the 2nd deck. How’sever, that’s a 3-5 homer per month swing. As I see it, that’s a quick to the ball swing, that won’t lend itself to 30+ homers. He could have hot months. In Triple-A, he hit 17 homers in 80 games (343 ABs). So, even in Triple-A, he wasn’t shown to be a 30-homer hitter. I struggled with whether or not he was the 2nd coming of Jeimer Candelario, but I ended up falling on the side of things that he’s not.

Jose Miranda can hit 25 homers with that power, but that might be the ceiling. He can hit .310, but that might be the ceiling. 22/.285 absolutely plays because he’s the Twins 2nd best hitter for fantasy, and, at worst their third best in Baldelli’s eyes, even if Buxton is healthy and Polanco bounces back. So, you figure Miranda will be sitting at worst as their five-hole hitter and at best as their three-hole hitter. This is absolutely because 3rd base is a wasteland, but Jose Miranda has upside and a very nice floor. Think of him as an upside version of a younger Justin Turner. Call him Thisjustin Value. For 2023, I’ll give Jose Miranda projections of 79/22/90/.283/1 in 551 ABs with a chance for more, especially on average.