Three Players Set To Bust At 3B In Fantasy Baseball In 2024

The best part of the fantasy baseball season is drafting your team. Over the next couple of weeks, fantasy baseball leagues will begin to draft, and that means now is the perfect time to start prepping for your league. Luckily, RotoBaller will have you covered all year.

The MLB regular season will officially begin on March 20 between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea. That means the 2024 campaign is quickly approaching. With teams heading out to Spring Training, the fantasy baseball season is also right around the corner.

In this article, I will tackle three third basemen who could bust in fantasy baseball in 2024. These three players won't be valuable picks in fantasy this year for various reasons and are going a bit too high in drafts. So, let's dive in and see which third basemen make the list.

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3B Royce Lewis, Minnesota Twins

It pains me to put Minnesota Twins third baseman Royce Lewis on this list. He's an extremely talented player, who just broke the record for most grand slams hit to start a career. Lewis hit five grand slams -- four coming last year -- in just 66 games played. The former number-one overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft also put together a fantastic 2023 season.

In just 58 games, Lewis hit 15 home runs and 52 RBI with a slash line of .309/.372/.548. The talent and power are clearly there for the 24-year-old third baseman. But health remains a huge question. That's ultimately why he landed on the bust list for the 2024 season.

Lewis has dealt with his fair share of injuries over his short career, which included tearing his ACL twice in a one-and-a-half-year span. He first tore his ACL in February of 2021 and then again in the same knee in May of 2022. Even when he returned last year, the injuries continued to pile up. He missed more than one month with a left oblique strain and then landed back on the injured list with a hamstring injury at the end of the season.

Lewis has only played in 118 games (Minor League included) over the last four seasons. If the right-handed slugger does stay healthy in 2024, he will be a fantastic value pick. But it's hard to bank on him staying healthy. He's too much of a risk in fantasy drafts this year, considering he's the seventh third baseman off the board and usually selected inside the top 70.

3B Ha-Seong Kim, San Diego Padres

Ha-Seong Kim of the San Diego Padres has a ton of position eligibility (2B, SS,3B) on various platforms, so he can be a part of any of those groups. But we're going to group him with the third basemen for the sake of this article. 

Kim came out of nowhere last year to contribute solid numbers for the Padres. The infielder did a little bit of everything, which was useful in Roto leagues. He hit .260 at the plate with 17 HRs, 60 RBI, 23 doubles, and 38 stolen bases. Kim also walked 75 times and finished the season with an incredible 12% walk rate, which landed him in the 86th percentile among all Major League players in 2023.

Kim might still provide some solid walk numbers and stolen bases. But there's a good chance he could take a step back at the plate in 2024. For starters, his 2023 numbers suggest that the infielder might have gotten a little lucky at the plate. His average exit velocity (86.2 mph) was in the bottom seven percent of the league, and his hard rate (26.7%) was in the bottom three percent -- meaning he struggled to hit the ball hard last year.

If you are looking for steals and possibly walks in a Roto league, Kim could be a nice selection. The problem is his ADP and the fact that he likely won't contribute much in other departments. He is currently the 10th third baseman off the board in drafts and is getting drafted inside the top 80 this year. That's too high for a player that will likely regress at the plate in 2024.

3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh Pirates

The last third baseman to make this list is Ke'Bryan Hayes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hayes signed a massive extension with Pittsburgh before the 2022 season for eight years worth up to $70 million. While his defensive skills are certainly on notice, his offense is still a work in progress.

Hayes finished the 2023 season with a .271 batting average, 15 HRs, 61 RBI, 31 doubles, and seven triples across 124 games. Those were career numbers for the third basemen, who now enters his fifth Major League season in 2024.

However, there is very little upside for Hayes in fantasy baseball this year. He plays for a Pirates team that is expected to struggle on offense again, meaning he will likely see fewer RBI chances and runs scored. Last year, Pittsburgh averaged 4.27 runs per game, which ranked in the bottom half of the league. The 27-year-old third baseman also doesn't stand out in any one category. His 31 doubles last year were solid, but outside of that, everything else is average at best.

Hayes isn't going anywhere near the top of the draft, so you won't need to worry about him early on. However, once you hit the later rounds, there are other players you should take over the Pirates' third baseman -- players who have more upside at the plate. 

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