Friday, February 1, 2013

Fantasy Sleepers: Rob Brantly

Today, we continue our fantasy sleepers series with our fantasy sleeper catcher. Yesterday, I talked about a sleeper second baseman in Matt Carpenter. We look today at catcher Rob Brantly of the Miami Marlins. Brantly was acquired by the Marlins in the Anibal Sanchez trade; while Jacob Turner was the quote/unquote big name in the trade, Brantly provides what I believe will be the net win for the Marlins.  Turner replaces Sanchez in the rotation but Brantly gives them a young, affordable and team-controlled catcher for 6 years. Brantly should also still be eligible for Rookie of the Year honors in the NL as well in 2013. Let's take a look at Brantly and what he could provide next year for you in fantasy.

Let's extrapolate some data, shall we? Brantly took over the catching position in the middle of August, and registered a .290/.372./.460 line with a solid .832 OPS.  For those of you non-sabermetricians, Brantly registered a .290/3 HR/8 RBI line with 29 hits in 100 at-bats (convenient) and a solid 13 BB to 16 K ratio. Baseball Reference conveniently shows what that stat line can produce over a 162 game average: .290/16 HR/42 RBI with 152 hits in 591 at bats and a still great 68 BB to 84 K ratio. Brantly's stat line in the minors in 2012 through 96 games is comparable: .298/5 HR/41 RBI and a 20 BB to 51 K rate, with a .298/.340./412 line and a .752 OPS. Brantly should register somewhere in-between his MLB projection and his MiLB stat line. A solid average in the .290 range and very good plate discipline. One of my rules in fantasy is that you can take one "crazy" pick or one 'risk.' If the rest of your team is solid, Brantly can be a very nice late round, under the radar pick. Take a flier on Brantly as your last offensive starter - I guarantee a solid catcher will be available on the waiver wire if he falters, but Brantly clearly has the gig open in Miami, so give him a go.

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