Fantasy Baseball: 5 Late-Round Players to Target in 2018

Matt Harvey, SP, New York Mets

Normally you don't look too closely at spring numbers when deciding whether or not a player is going to be good that season. So often, pitchers look like world-beaters playing against the ham-and-eggers of non-roster invitees and future AA and AAA players in Florida or Arizona. But sometimes, for some pitchers, a good spring can be important.

That's the case for New York Mets hurler Matt Harvey, who is trying to bounce back from two down seasons and a shoulder injury that limited him to just 92.2 innings with a horrific 6.70 ERA last year. Since his 6.5 fWAR season in 2013, Harvey has had Tommy John surgery, missed all of 2014, come back strong in 2015, and seen his strikeout rate drop steadily since then. It was 24.9% in 2015, 18.9% in 2016, and 15.6% last year with a walk rate that ballooned to 10.9%.

It's clear the injury seriously messed the 28-year-old up. But this spring, his velocity is back (throwing 95 mph in his last outing), and he's piled up 18 strikeouts and just 6 walks in 20 innings pitched with a 4.50 ERA. In short, he's looked good.

Harvey is currently being drafted 335th overall, in the 27th or 28th round of 12-team drafts. In some drafts, he's not getting selected at all. He's not an ace anymore, but if he is even partially back to normal, he'd be a huge get at that stage in the draft.