Fantasy Baseball 2025: One sleeper from every MLB division primed to break out

Fantasy baseball drafts are around the corner, and most fantasy managers are beginning to prepare their big boards in advance of draft day

While most will sweat over their first-round pick, championship winners know that fantasy baseball is won and lost in the middle and late rounds. Those who can identify quality sleepers give themselves a huge leg up compared to their big-name-focused contemporaries.

With that said, these six players are the top sleepers worth targeting in their respective divisions.

AL East: Junior Caminero, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays

Although he debuted late in 2023 as one of the game's top prospects, Junior Caminero is probably a name that a lot of baseball fans are still not very familiar with. Due to injury in 2024, Caminero didn't have a signature rookie campaign like other recent top prospects such as Gunnar Henderson, Corbin Carroll, or Julio Rodriguez. Regardless, the 21-year-old has all the tools to produce at a high level in 2025.

Caminero has only appeared in 50 games in his big league career thus far, posting a middling slash line of .246/.296/.412 with seven home runs. Assuming he remains healthy, you can pencil him in for at least 130 games at third base for the Rays in 2025. With regular playing time, I believe he will tap into his offensive potential.

Caminero's offensive ability is highlighted by his big frame (6'1" 220 lbs) and elite bat speed (77.2mph), both of which result in top of the line exit velocities. In 2024, only 14 qualified big league hitters topped his max EV of 116.3 mph. When he's not hitting the seams off the ball, he's still running into a lot of hard contact, producing an 11.8 barrel% and a 45.7 hardhit%.

Another important note on Caminero is that the Rays will be playing in George Steinbrenner field in 2025, which is much friendlier to power hitters than Tropicana Field. Add this on top of his advanced metrics, and Caminero might be in for a huge year.

Oh, and it's worth noting he's playing out of his mind in the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) at the moment, giving baseball fans a glimpse into what he can become.

AL Central: Parker Meadows, OF, Detroit Tigers

While the Detroit Tigers are a team with a lot of fun, young pieces, Parker Meadows can often times get lost in the shuffle between guys like Tarik Skubal, Riley Greene, and Kerry Carpenter. Meadows gave baseball fans a nice introduction to his game in the 2024 postseason where he posted an .806 OPS and a 131 wRC+, and can build upon that success in 2025.

Similar to Caminero, Meadows doesn't quite have a full season under his belt yet and should benefit from a lot more playing time. Because of his solid defense in center field, he should get upwards of near 130 to 140 starts in 2025. Over 119 games in the big leagues across 2023 and 2024, Meadows has been a pretty average hitter with 12 home runs, 17 stolen bases, and a slash line of .241/.317/.413. However, it was in the second half of 2024 where he started to break out.

Over 201 plate appearances in the second half, Meadows hit .296/.340/.500, good for an .840 OPS, and then leveraged that into a solid postseason performance. It's also important to note that he was actually better at Comerica Park than opposing ballparks in that time frame, a stadium that has notoriously been pitcher friendly in recent seasons.

Meadows's batted ball profile fits that ballpark very well as he is more of a gap-to-gap, line drive hitter with speed, which produces a lot of extra base hits.

If Meadows can stay hot and healthy in 2025, you are very possibly looking at a 20 home run/20 stolen base campaign for the 25-year-old. There is a lot of upside for Meadows moving forward and a lot of reason to believe he can outperform expectations this year, especially since he's projected to bat leadoff in an upstart lineup.

AL West: Bryan Woo, SP, Seattle Mariners

There are not a lot of starting rotations in Major League Baseball that can say theyhave depth quite like the Seattle Mariners can. Bryan Woo is the number five starter for Seattle but would likely be the at least the No. 3 starter for a lot of other clubs, and for that reason, Woo has flown under the radar for a lot of baseball fans. At 24 years old, he had one of the better seasons in baseball on a rate basis.

Woo battled some nagging injuries early on in 2024, but still managed to log 22 starts and 121.1 innings. Among starters with at least 100 innings, Woo's 2.89 ERA ranked eighth, while his minuscule 2.8 BB% was the best in baseball.

For fantasy owners that like pitchers that don't issue walks, you'll be wooed by Woo (sorry). He spends a whole lot of time filling up the strike zone, and hasn't paid a price for it as opposing hitters have below-average contact quality numbers against him.

Given that he doesn't walk very many hitters and doesn't give up a lot of hard contact, the floor for Woo is pretty high. The catch is that his ceiling hasn't proven to be super high because he has yet to tap in to his strikeout stuff. His 21.4 K% was below the league average of 22.6%, but I believe he can boost that number with the stuff he has.

Woo displays five pitches — a 4-seam fastball, sinker, slider, changeup, and a sweeper. Of the five, his sweeper is his best pitch across the board, but is only thrown 9.1% of the time, the lowest usage% of his five offerings. He used it mostly for right handed hitters, but it was still a good weapon against lefties as well. Assuming he uses that pitch more in 2025, Woo will provide a lot more in the strikeout department.

NL East: Clay Holmes, SP, New York Mets

Clay Holmes has had an interesting career as a pitcher thus far, and not a whole lot went right for him in 2024. He blew 13 saves for the Yankees which led all of baseball by a wide margin.

New York is a tough market to play in, especially in the Bronx, and with the season Holmes just had, the media would lead you to believe he's simply not a good pitcher. I think that's far from the case. I believe Holmes really just ended up running into a lot of bad luck in 2024.

Holmes's numbers across the board were just about in line with his career averages. His ERA (3.14), FIP (3.02), and K-BB% (17.0) did take slight dips from 2023 — arguably the best season of his career — but those are still above-average numbers. His 1.302 WHIP was pretty steep, but you can attribute that to a lot of batted ball luck as his BABIP against was .322, but his BB% from 2023 to 2024 actually improved.

As Holmes is making the move across town to Queens, the Mets actually plan to move him to a starter role. I believe this move will bode well for Holmes.

First of all, he is the best in baseball at inducing ground balls. His 65.0 GB% was second among all pitchers in 2024 and he has not yielded a GB% lower than 60% since his rookie year in 2018. Over the course of potentially 150+ innings, that is going to result in some solid production for Holmes, especially in front of a solid infield defense with the Mets.

I'm not too worried about Holmes adjusting to the workload of starting either. He's thrown the tenth most innings out of the bullpen since the start of 2021 and has never been a max-effort pitcher. He features a sinker, slider, and a sweeper, all of which miss bats and barrels. The addition of a more traditional fastball or changeup might help supplement his arsenal in his transition, but it should be a lot smoother than he's been given credit for regardless.

NL Central: Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals

Good offensive catchers are few and far between, and Ivan Herrera might be the best offensive catcher that you're unaware of. At 24 years old, Herrera has not yet put up a full season's worth of numbers, but he might be slated to do so in 2025 for the Cardinals with Willson Contreras seemingly making the move to becoming a full-time first baseman.

Herrera split time behind the plate with Pedro Pages in 2024 while Contreras was injured, and over 259 plate appearances he posted a slash line of .301/.372/.428, which was good for an .800 OPS. Among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances, he led all catchers in average, ranked second in OBP, and fourth in OPS.

Herrera's advanced metrics track pretty well with his raw numbers too, as he ranked second among catchers in xBA (.293), ninth in xSLG (.453), and led in xwOBA (.366). He also managed to walk more and strikeout less than the average catcher while displaying above-average plate discipline and contact skills. These are all numbers that should fair well over the course of a full season.

The unfortunate news for Herrera is that his defensive ability lags behind his offensive ability. The good news for fantasy owners is that defense does not matter.

Because of his below average defense, Herrera and Pages will likely continue to split time behind the plate, but Herrera's bat should still get him playing time as a DH when he's not catching. If that's the case, you should be able to pencil Herrera in for upwards of 130 games in 2025.

NL West: Michael Toglia, 1B, Colorado Rockies

Wrapping up my fantasy sleepers is Michael Toglia, perhaps the most intriguing player featured here. Toglia fits right in on this list as he also doesn't really have a full season under his belt, however, he did log 100 games for the first time in 2024. 2023 was a very poor year for him as he produced -1.1 fWAR, but he had a solid turnaround in 2024 with more playing time.

Over 458 plate appearances, Toglia hit 25 home runs with a prototypical power hitter slash line of .218/.311/.456. Furthermore, his 11.8 BB% and 32.1 K% fit the power profile as well. While his overall numbers don't jump off the page, his performance in June and July of 2024 give a better picture of what his ceiling could look like.

Over those two months, Toglia hit 14 of his 25 home runs while putting up a .529 SLG and an .833 OPS. Given the power he has in his bat, that feels like it should be an average season for Toglia moving forward, especially given the home ballpark he plays in.

His 17.2 barrel% ranked sixth among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances, while his 92.2 average EV, 50.0 hardhit%, .503 xSLG, and .358 xwOBA all ranked within the top-25. He was also one of just four players with less than 500 plate appearances to hit at least 25 home runs in 2024.

While his contact rates are less than ideal, Toglia doesn't chase a whole lot, which helps set his sights on pitches in the zone he can mash. It's a similar profile to Kyle Schwarber, but the cherry on top for Toglia is that he's also a switch hitter, meaning the Rockies shouldn't do too much platooning with him in 2025. If he plays a full season, you're looking at a potential 40 home run threat.

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