2018 Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep: 16 players who Scott White keeps drafting

Whether he targets them or just happens into them, these are the players our Scott White drafts the most.

• Draft Prep Tiers: C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | SP | RP
  
• Heath's Sleepers | Breakouts | Busts |
  
• Scott's Top 100 prospects | Sleepers | Breakouts | Busts

I have my sleepers, and I have my breakouts.

And then I have my guys.

I don't always aim for them to become that. Often, it's just by happenstance. Or maybe I come to find out through repeated mock drafts that they oh so perfectly meet that certain need at that certain point in the draft.

Whatever the reason, they're the players I end up drafting most often, and while I might rather have some of my sleeper or breakout picks, there's still a reason I'm drafting these 16.

And I'll tell you about it now.

Note: The numbers beneath each player's name show his ADP (average draft position) in CBS Head-to-Head points leagues and CBS Rotisserie leagues, as well as his FantasyPros consensus ADP using data from different sites.

Yes, I prefer to see the glass half full for Robbie Ray, a pitcher who took an ace turn about mid-May last season, exceeding six innings in nine of his final 20 starts with a 2.24 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. And seeing as the biggest blot on his resume is a league-high hard-contact rate, the installation of the humidor should help him more than anyone.

In Rotisserie leagues, Tommy Pham is particularly attractive in that Round 5 range as one of the last hitters you could reasonably expect to help in batting average, home runs and stolen bases. But did you know he walks a ton, too? His point-per-game average last season was about that of a second-rounder, so he could take a step back in a couple of those areas this year and still live up to his ADP in either format.

The power spike is the only part of Whit Merrifield's 2017 stat line that should really be in question, but seeing as a return to his minor-league fly-ball rate was the biggest reason for it, I'm buying it. He's my primary steals target in every Rotisserie league since he's good at other things and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and for you Head-to-Head owners, he averaged the fifth-most points per game among second basemen last year.

This one is more happenstance than a conscious effort on my part and maybe just the result of repeatedly drafting with verified Eric Hosmer haters Heath Cummings and Chris Towers, but I find that in mixed leagues he's one of the last hitters I draft with complete confidence I'll be starting him all season long. For Rotisserie leagues, he's rare batting average help in the middle rounds, and for Head-to-Head points formats, his above-average place discipline helps set him apart.

When I first started preparing for 2018 drafts (which is much earlier than you did, presumably), I assumed Alex Wood's cost would exceed my expectations for him, but instead I'm finding he's one of the better bets not to sink my ERA and WHIP in the middle stage of the draft. And while his total number of innings was on the low side last year, start for start he put himself in a good position to win.

Another player who has grown on me since my draft preparations first started, Chris Taylor earns high marks for all-around handiness. He's eligible at both second base and the outfield, two positions I'm often itching to fill in the middle rounds of a Rotisserie draft, and he's not a complete zero in stolen bases. He significantly altered his swing before last season, so the gains are less fluky than you think, and he's expected to hit leadoff.

I'm more willing to give Johnny Cueto a pass for his ugly 2017 than I am, say, Jon Lester because he has, to me, the more valid excuse. He was pitching with a blister on the predominant finger of his predominant hand. Most pitchers would have packed it in, but he didn't succumb until the All-Star break, when the struggles really began to mount. The "potential ace" is a particularly elusive concept in 2018, but this former ace certainly qualifies.

This one's a recent development for me. I want all the Ronald Acuna I can get. He had the sort of spring that makes you sit up and take notice, just as Kris Bryant did in 2015. Also like Bryant in 2015, it's a forgone conclusion he'll be up after the silly 14-day wait, and yet his recent demotion may have stalled his surging ADP -- good news for someone like me. The steals potential gives the 20-year-old a nice safety net, but regardless, I think a lot more can go right here than wrong.  

My favorite mid-round power source homered 47 times between the majors and minors last year and, judging by his fly-ball, hard-contact and pull percentages, seems like as good of a bet as anyone not named Stanton, Judge or Gallo to exceed 50 this year. His strikeout rate isn't as inhibitive as two of those three either. 

If I don't get Carlos Santana in a points league, I've messed up somehow. His floor is so high in that format thanks to a near 1-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio that he might as well be Jose Abreu, and I can only assume his Rotisserie reputation causes him to slide. Really, though, the Roto cost isn't bad for a respectable home run, RBI and run source whose batting average is just a little suspect.

Maybe it's Brandon Morrow's reputation as a perpetual injury risk or the fact he wasn't the for-sure closer on the day he signed, but goodness gracious, the guy had 2.06 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings as a high-leverage reliever for the high-minded Dodgers last year. Now he's closing for a sure-fire contender, and as volatile as that role is in general, his 2017 numbers are as much security as you can reasonably ask for.

You'd never know it from his ADP, but Chase Anderson is the ace of a club with playoff aspirations. And you'd never know it from his ADP, but he had a 2.74 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings last year. It was actually a 1.94 ERA over his final 16 starts, when he saw a jump in velocity, and between that and refining his secondary arsenal, I think his emergence was mostly for real.

Everyone else's disbelief makes it too easy to play the optimist for Scooter Gennett, who's probably my single most drafted player this year. While I can see the upside in other late-round hitters, I actually know Gennett is capable of early-round production. Why? Well, look what he just did. From the day he took over as the starter to the end of last season, he was Whit Merrifield in terms of Head-to-Head points per game, and while nothing in his track record supports that kind of performance, nothing in his peripherals say he can't do it again.

As desperate as everyone is for stolen bases, getting them from a player who also provides some power and isn't a drain on batting average seems too good to be true at the point where Kevin Kiermaier is going. Two years in a row now, he has flashed 20-homer, 25-steal potential, falling short only because of injuries, and those injuries were fluky things that probably shouldn't factor into his projection. He's most useful in categories leagues, but his H2H ADP is possibly even more outrageous.

I don't like paying for saves since they're too often fleeting and too essential to the value of the players providing them, which makes Brad Brach the perfect kind of closer for me. No one wants the guy who appears certain to lose his job at some point, but for goodness' sake, Zach Britton could be out until the All-Star break. Half the guys we're expecting to close now will have lost their job by then. Brach's last three seasons make him about as trustworthy as Alex Colome in the meantime.

Between the rib cage injury that wrecked his 2017 and the likelihood of him beginning the year in the minors, David Dahl is sort of a forgotten man in Fantasy, but the potential is still through the roof and only half realized since he didn't even show us how good of a base stealer he could be in 2016. He's showing us this spring. He may start out in the minors, but it's an easy path to the majors for this five-category threat, making him a must for me in five-outfielder Rotisserie leagues.