Fantasy Baseball

There's nothing like seeing your late-rounder blossom and become one of the stars of your fantasy baseball team.

There will always be waiver-wire wonders, but sometimes all you need is a good draft of sleepers to give you that edge over the competition.

Plus, there's nothing like beating an unsuspecting foe with players he never even thought of before.

Chad Billingsley, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Picking out quality starting pitching for your fantasy baseball team can be a fickle enterprise, given how difficult it is to project how well any given MLB hurler will fare from year to year.

Not to mention how few and far between aces tend to be.

The catcher position is very deep this year, and that means you can afford to wait to grab a backstop in upcoming fantasy baseball drafts.

Granted, the position is a little weaker at top. 

No. 1 Mike Napoli exploded last year, and it's tough to justify paying for a career year. No. 2 Carlos Santana struck out 133 times and hit a pedestrian .239 in 2011.

Guys such as Buster Posey and Joe Mauer are obviously terrific, but they are injury-prone. 

Fantasy baseball—quite possibly the most complex and exhausting fantasy sport there is.

Fantasy baseball managers are often burying their heads in rankings, projections and even articles such as this one. But why? Fantasy baseball isn't much more than a game of statistics and a player's history. It doesn't take an "expert" to tell you that Albert Pujols is consistent or that Buster Posey has upside: The numbers say it all.

Too often in baseball drafts, I see guys coming off injuries from the previous season being forgot about. And from what I've seen so far, Johan Santana has fallen victim to this phenomena.

I realize that Santana is coming off major surgery and hasn't played a regular season inning since 2010, but he's still a great talent and the unquestioned ace pitcher for the New York Mets.

With the 2012 MLB season just a few weeks away, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty of the fantasy baseball sleepers for this season.

This piece will discuss the top three sleeper sluggers that fantasy owners can wait a few rounds longer on and still reap the rewards.

All of the following MLB stars will have stellar 2012 seasons, so feel free to grab them as late as physically possible.

Fantasy baseball is a time for players to hunker down and figure out which stars will have the best seasons, which young stud prospects will emerge and everything in between. All that time spent studying numbers and trends brings you to this point: raft day.

What we wanted to do for you, the loyal readers, is provide you with a first-round mock draft with 12 teams to show you who you need to look for and players that you should be wary of taking in such a high spot.

Welcome to the very first edition of Starting Pitcher Weekly for 2012!

Throughout the season we’ll look at pressing issues like upcoming pitching match ups, two-start pitchers, waiver wire possibilities and injuries. 

But there will be plenty of time for that.  After all, baseball is grueling marathon of a season that can seem to run on forever at times, and there isn’t too much pressing in spring training when it comes to starting pitching. 

Third base is generally considered a weak position, but in AL-only formats, it doesn’t look so bad. 

While he may not be an ideal option, would only complain about a potential 20-plus HR hitter in Edwin Encarnacion? 

What about a potential 30-plus SB option like Chone Figgins? While there may be good options (especially once Miguel Cabrera gains eligibility), that doesn’t mean there aren’t some options that are better than others. 

The Detroit Tigers will be the best team in baseball in 2012, so if you're looking for fantasy baseball sleepers, they are probably a good roster to check out.

Superstars like Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are given fantasy studs, but they aren't the only players on this roster that put up big numbers.