The 2022 MLB season is just over a week away with MLB Opening Day scheduled for April 7 and there will be thousands of Fantasy baseball leagues drafting between now and then. Rays shortstop Wander Franco looked solid enough to finish third in AL Rookie of the Year voting a season ago despite playing only half the season and was rewarded with an 11-year, $182 million contract extension during the offseason. Franco’s upside is tremendous as he barely scraped the surface of his offensive potential with an OPS of .802 last season.

Can Franco be among potential 2022 Fantasy baseball breakouts with a 2022 Fantasy baseball ADP of 59.67, or is he still a couple of seasons from realizing his true offensive capabilities? A reliable set of 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings can help you answer that question and help ensure that you nail your mid and late-round picks to put together a roster capable of taking you deep into the Fantasy baseball playoffs. Before going on the clock, be sure to see the 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Last season, SportsLine’s Projection Model identified several top Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts, including Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

After struggling to realize his middle-of-the-lineup potential his first two seasons, Guerrero had a 2021 Fantasy baseball ADP outside the top 50 and the model predicted he’d outperform that position significantly. The result: Guerrero finished second in AL MVP voting with 48 home runs and 111 RBIs while slashing .311/.401/.601. Anybody who followed its advice and picked up Guerrero in their Fantasy baseball drafts received a top-10 talent for a fourth or fifth-round price.

The SportsLine model is engineered by the same people who powered projections for all three major Fantasy sites. And that same group is sharing its 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings and cheat sheets over at SportsLine, helping you find Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts long before your competition. Their cheat sheets, available for leagues on many major sites, are updated multiple times every day.

Any time more MLB news comes out about the updated 2022 MLB schedule, free agency signings or Fantasy baseball injuries, the team at SportsLine updates its projections. Go to SportsLine now to see these proven Fantasy baseball cheat sheets.

Top 2022 Fantasy baseball breakouts

One of the 2022 Fantasy baseball breakouts the model is projecting: Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. The 25-year-old was a consensus top-15 prospect in the MLB ahead of the 2021 season after posting a staggering 1.124 OPS over 95 plate appearances late in 2020. However, the son of former MLB third baseman Charlie Hayes wasn’t nearly as productive during his first full season in the big leagues. 

Hayes slashed .257/.316/.373 and only had six home runs and 38 RBI over 396 plate appearances. But Hayes still showed plenty of raw power with an average exit velocity of 90.2 mph and a pretty advanced plate approach with a 22 percent strikeout rate and a 7.8 percent walk rate. As he gets more comfortable, expect him to start more confidently generating lift and taking advantage of his bat speed to produce more power. Which is a big reason why the model ranks him ahead of established third basemen like Anthony Rendon and Eduardo Escobar.

SportsLine’s Fantasy baseball rankings 2022 are also high on Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize as a breakout. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft had a solid rookie season with a 3.71 ERA but he didn’t have a lot of run support and finished with a 7-9 record while only striking out 118 over 150 1/3 innings.

While Mize may never be Jacob deGrom when it comes to overpowering hitters, his stuff is certainly good enough for him to improve his strikeout rates and the Tigers could be poised to make a jump with a strong farm system. Mize hasn’t allowed a run and has struck out nine through five innings of spring training work and he has four pitches in his five-pitch mix that opponents hit .225 or worse against last season. That’s a big reason why the model ranks him ahead of starters like Shane McClanahan and Pablo Lopez, who are being drafted five rounds earlier on average.

How to find proven 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings

SportsLine is also high on a surprising starting pitcher who lands in the top five of its positional rankings. This player is barely going off the board in the top 60 picks, but is projected to outperform starters such as Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber. This pick could be the difference in winning your league or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So which 2022 Fantasy breakouts should you target in your upcoming drafts? Visit SportsLine now to get 2022 Fantasy baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s big season, and find out.