San Francisco Giants Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Breakouts
The Giants' roster this season has a blend of sleepers, fade, values, and breakout players.
Deep Sleeper: Tyler Fitzgerald, San Francisco Giants
In early March, Fitzgerald was the 23rd shortstop drafted. The Giants list him as their starting second base, and he will some time in the outfield. For a team willing to give away some edge in batting average, Fitzgerald has a streaky bat with a high floor in home runs and steals when putting the ball in play. In my first run of the projections, I have him hitting .226 with 60 runs, 20 home runs, 62 RBIs, and 22 steals over 484 at-bats.
Value: Ryan Walker, San Francisco Giants
The Giants named him as their closer in mid-February, but San Fran still has Camilo Doval (92 career saves) waiting in the wings if Walker trips up. I like the direction of his arm, and his top handcuff is priced low enough (ADP – 402) to pair the two arms together. The Giants bullpen ranked first and second in innings pitched over the past two seasons, suggesting plenty of relief chances for Walker. Call me interested, as his 10 saves in 2023 could turn into 40+ this year.
Fade: Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
The Giants gave him 379 of his 573 at-bats (66.1%) hitting third and fourth in the batting order. Buying Chapman’s added value in stolen bases could be a trap. Over the past five seasons, he hit .232 while averaging 83 runs, 26 home runs, and 73 RBIs if given 550 at-bats. Pretty much low average power, with a glass ceiling for someone expecting a much better season in 2025.
Fade: Willy Adames, San Francisco Giants
The switch to Oracle Park invites a lower batting average and a potential step back in power. Adames wants to hit home runs, but he projects to have a drop of 100 RBI chances. The Giants should hit him in a favorable part of the batting order. Last year, Milwaukee ranked second in stolen bases (217) compared to 29th by San Francisco (68th). I only see a .240/80/30/85/5 hitter, painting a much lower value in FPGscore (13th in 2024 – 5.82). On the positive side, he looks fairly priced based on the early ADPs.
Breakout Players: Robbie Ray, San Francisco Giants
Ray will enter 2025 with only 34.0 innings pitched over the previous two seasons. Despite his struggles with command last season, his best two pitches were still challenging to hit, highlighted by his career-low hard-hit rate (35.4) and weaker exit velocity (86.8 mph). On the downside, he did pitch up in the strikeout zone (fly-ball rate – 53.1 – 39.5 in his career), inviting more home runs. Ray struggled with left-handed batters (7-for-21 with two home runs) last year.
In his breakout season in 2021, his stuff showed more upside in spring training. I would look for that pattern again this year (two runs and seven hits over 7.1 innings with no walks and 19 strikeouts), giving him a flashing green light for fantasy teams this year.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.