I love trying to find sleepers. It’s the hunt. It’s like the ultimate big-game hunting, only I’m not on safari asking a guide, “Did I just get malaria from that mosquito? No? Great.” Then three minutes later, “Do you think I just got malaria from that mosquito? No? Terrific.” Then three minutes later in perpetuity for the next two weeks. It’s that without mosquito-borne diseases. That’s me, bros and five sisters! Jordan Westburg, he came to me in a flash-bang while I was out big-game sleeper hunting. I was perusing Statcast for exit velocity, as a nerd might do. Thought to myself, “Hey, I don’t have enough 2nd basemen sleepers,” so I searched by 2nd basemen only, saw Jordan Westburg hit the ball hard, and that gave me pause. Then I looked at his stats for last year: 21 homers, 10 steals between Triple-A and the majors in 476 ABs. More like Jordan Wowburg. More like Michael Jordan Westburg. More like how is no one talking about this guy? Could people be worried about Jackson Holliday replacing him? Okay, how about Kjerstad at 1B, Holliday at 2B, Gunnar at 3B and Westburg at SS? Doesn’t sound too shabby to me. Trade Mountcastle for peanuts to someone without a nut allergy, trade Mullins for an arm and maybe Santander. Am I 4D chess’ing? Yeah, maybe, but Westburg has a starting job right now, and let’s worry about Holliday when the time comes to worry about him. So, what can we expect from Jordan Westburg for 2024 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
First off, Jordan Westburg had a 28.9 ft/sec, 88th percentile sprint speed. In the majors, with speed going bazinga, he could steal 20 bags easily. As said many times before, speed is often about want more than ability, or team’s desire. No idea if Westburg steals 20+ bags. I’m merely saying that isn’t off the table as some projections systems will have you believe with their 7-ish steal speed projections. Not going to say one way or the other that they’re right or wrong, but ability can mean more steals. He was on pace for five triples last year. He can motor. Maybe it takes him longer to get going, but the speed is there. About the power:
Jordan Westburg is at it again.
The @Orioles‘ No. 3 prospect swats his third homer in 6 games and is now hitting .313 for the @NorfolkTides. pic.twitter.com/mzxvLYNPSv
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 1, 2023
He kinda looks like Mark Reynolds here:
Jordan Westburg – Baltimore Orioles (1)
pic.twitter.com/TQH95YNmGr— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) July 24, 2023
Just in facial appearance, he’s not Mark Reynolds in any other way. One more, because this is giddy up:
? 105.9 mph
? 400 feetFourth-ranked @Orioles prospect Jordan Westburg smoked his eighth homer of the year for the @NorfolkTides: pic.twitter.com/AXyicJN5Hk
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 6, 2023
He actually has more power than speed. Camden Miles sucks, clearly. ACKSUALLY, he hit three homers in the majors in 208 ABs, but he would’ve hit 9 HRs if he called Atlanta home. He’s going to get cheated a bit. Prolly should’ve started from this place, but Itch said on June 11th, “ (Westburg) has 33 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 143 Triple-A games, which feels like a lot of Triple-A games for a first-round pick who’s slashing .305/.383/.601 on his return to the level, and I’d like to level Grey.” C’mon, man! Westburg is a 30/15 guy at 2nd base and going around 325th overall? Oh…*walks the Appalachian Trail*…kay.
I know what you’re thinking, “What’s the deal, he strike out a lot? Gonna hit .205?” Well, he hit .295 in Triple-A with a 21.3% K% and hit .260 in the majors with a 24.6% K% as a 24-year-old rookie. He had a .336 BABIP, but as mentioned earlier, he’s got some speed, and hits the ball hard and are we sure he’s not already a star? It’s weird to me how some 1st round draft picks are called up, perform well, and are still forgotten. Not sure what’s going on here, but Jordan Westburg is a no-brainer sleeper. I can’t believe he’s going 100 to 150 picks later than he should. For 2024 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Jordan Westburg projections of 63/21/71/.272/14 in 503 ABs with a chance for more, especially on power and speed.
