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Fantasy Baseball Utility Players With Multi-Position Flexibility - Under-The-Radar Picks

Christopher Morel - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Zach's top fantasy baseball utility sleepers to target with multi-position flexibility. Check out his favorite undervalued utility players to target based on ADP.

Many Major League Baseball teams are carrying utility players or "super-subs" on their roster who can play multiple positions. These players offer a wide variety of specialties while being able to fill in for injuries and also step in when players need a rest. The same principles can apply to your fantasy team as well, and some great targets are available late in drafts who bring eligibility at multiple positions and increase your roster flexibility.

Make sure you take a close look at your league's eligibility minimums to track exactly where these options can fill in for your team. Some of them start the year with multiple positions already, while others may add to them as the season goes on.

Depending on what you need, some of these players can be a perfect fit as you round out your roster bringing speed, batting average, and even a little power. Their versatility will help you reshape your lineup if players get hurt or even just when certain players are getting a night off and you are shuffling players around.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

 

Christopher Morel, 3B/OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Morel is expected to spend most of his time this season in the outfield for Tampa Bay, but last year between the Cubs and Rays, he started 20 games at 2B, 73 games at 3B, and even logged a pair of games at SS. He can slide into lots of spots, and he brings a solid bat with breakout potential in his first full season with the Rays.

Last year, Morel only hit a combined .196 with 21 home runs, eight stolen bases, and a .280 wOBA. The majority of his production came before the All-Star break when he hit 18 of his 21 homers and had a .303 wOBA. The Rays will hope to get the first-half version of Morel this year, or maybe even further back to the 2023 version that hit 26 homers and posted a .347 wOBA in 107 games with the Cubs.

One reason to be optimistic about Morel's power returning is that he'll be playing his home games in a different park this season. He especially struggled at Tropicana Field and could be a much nicer fit for George M. Steinbrenner Field, the minor league park the Rays will call home in 2025.

Another reason to like Morel is that when he hits the ball, he usually makes good contact. He had a 50.0 percent hard-hit rate in 2023 and a 40.4 percent hard-hit rate last year, per Statcast.

The problem is that he struggles to make consistent contact and has often posted a high strikeout rate, especially toward the end of last season. He adjusted his swing this offseason as you can see below, and if he can get some of the "swing and miss" out of it while still hitting the ball hard, he could have a huge bounceback.

He's still just 25 years old, and the Rays are planning on letting him focus on his hitting by keeping him in left field, according to manager Kevin Cash. Even if he stays put for the Rays, you can still use his multi-position eligibility to your advantage, especially since he's going fairly late in drafts with an ADP over 250.

 

Josh Smith, 3B/SS, Texas Rangers

Another very late-round option with plenty of positional eligibility is Rangers utility man Josh Smith. Smith joined the Rangers in 2021 at the trade deadline in the trade that sent Joey Gallo to the Bronx.

The lefty has played parts of the last three seasons with the Rangers but broke out last year. He played 149 games, with most coming at 3B and SS, but also played five games in the outfield. Earlier in his career, he also played 2B, although last year, he only played two innings in one game at that spot.

Smith hit .258 last season with a career-high 13 home runs, 67 runs scored, 62 RBI, 30 doubles, and a .323 wOBA. He won the first Silver Slugger Award of his career at the utility spot and added 11 stolen bases as well.

Even though he may not have an everyday position, he is expected to get full-time playing time. With a solid blend of power and speed countable stats and the ability to get hot and carry your team for a stretch, he's a very valuable late-round option to add since he gives you depth at multiple spots and a good upside.

 

Kristian Campbell, 2B/3B/OF, Boston Red Sox

Campbell may start the season in the minors, but when he arrives in Boston, he will have the potential to fill in multiple holes. Depending on how your league categorizes rookie positions, he could be eligible at 2B, SS, and outfield. He even started five games at 3B last year in the minors, so it just depends on how eligibility is calculated.

Coming into the year, Campbell was expected to mostly play 2B in spring training, but with Wilyer Abreu (illness) possibly missing Opening Day, Campbell played 20 innings at second base and 21 innings in left field in the early part of the spring.

The Red Sox have stated that they want to keep Ceddanne Rafaela (another great utility player) in center field this season "for the most part," and one way they could do that is by keeping the versatile Campbell on the MLB roster out of spring training.

Wherever he plays on the field, Campbell's bat makes him a potential fantasy star and gives him the highest long-term ceiling of any of the players on this list. Last year, he played in High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A and mashed at every level. He finished with a total of 20 home runs and 24 stolen bases in 115 games while compiling a .330 batting average and .447 wOBA.

He may not be quite ready to make an impact yet, but stashing him as a super-sub or grabbing him when he's called up could be a strategy that gives you many different roster alignments. His ADP has crept into the top 300, but he's worth stashing if you can given his extremely high ceiling.

 

Jose Caballero, 2B/SS, Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are the masters of multi-positional versatility, so it makes sense that they have multiple entries in this top five. The Rays acquired Jose Caballero from the Mariners in a trade last January on the same day they also added another versatile contributor, Richie Palacios. Both play multiple positions with strong defense and light hitting, but Caballero brings one extra asset -- speed.

Caballero played at least 30 games at 2B, 3B, and SS last year, and this spring training, he has also been working in the outfield. If the Rays do leave Morel in one corner spot without moving him around much, Caballero could end up as the primary backup for Jonny DeLuca in center in addition to slotting in all around the infield.

Last year in his first season with the Rays, the 28-year-old from Panama hit just .227. He did add a little thump with nine home runs and 44 RBI, but his main contributions were on the basepaths. He led the American League with 44 stolen bases, three more than Jose Ramirez of the Guardians and four more than Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Yankees.

With the Rays expected to use their young prospects as primary starters in the infield this season, Caballero may need to get his playing time in the outfield, so it's good to see the experiment going well in spring training.

The advantage of stashing Caballero is that he's a specialty player. You can slot him in just enough to get you the win in category leagues and manage his at-bats so his batting average doesn't drag you down. If he does get outfield eligibility, he'll bring some great flexibility while providing in a category where it can be very hard to make up ground as the season goes on.

 

Jared Triolo, 2B/3B, Pittsburgh Pirates

The rise of "utility player" as a legitimate position over the last few seasons has resulted in not only their own Silver Slugger Award, but also a Gold Glove category.

Triolo won the Utility Gold Glove last year while playing 125 games. He played 61 games at 3B and 47 games at 2B and also added nine at 1B and nine at SS. He should be eligible at every infield spot in most formats and even played a couple of innings in the outfield last year as well.

Most of his value is in his versatility and defense since he hit just .216 with nine homers and a .275 wOBA last year. However, he could have a bounceback year at the plate in 2025. In 2023, he showed more potential with a .298 batting average, three homers, and a .350 wOBA. His hard-hit rate went up from 32.8 percent to 38.8 percent, per Statcast, but his fly-ball rate went up eight percentage points while his line drive rate dropped 8 percent.

Triolo made a swing adjustment toward the end of last season and hit .273 (27-for-99) with three home runs and three stolen bases over his last 30 games. He had six extra-base hits, a 40.9 percent hard-hit rate, and a line drive rate that almost matched his 2023 level.

Coming into this year, Triolo is expected to continue to move all over the field. He could spend the first part of the season getting plenty of playing time at 1B, where Spencer Horwitz (wrist) will miss at least the first few weeks of the season.

If he can build on his strong finish to last year, there's still enough potential in his bat to make him a solid end-of-the-draft or waiver-wire solution in deep leagues who can fill in all over the field for your fantasy team just like he does for the Pirates.



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