2025 Fantasy Baseball: Ian Happ Profile, Preview, Predictions
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Consistency has entered Ian Happ's profile over the past two seasons. His one weakness is his batting average, but he takes walks while setting a high floor in runs, home runs, and RBIs.
Ian Happ go-ahead home run in the 10th! pic.twitter.com/jkvG1GkOJJ
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 27, 2024
OF – Ian Happ, CHC (ADP – 132.1)
Happ comes off a string of three seasons with 1,989 combined plate appearances (663 per year). His growth in playing time led to him ranking 61st (0.82) and 39th (1.97) in FPGscore over the past two years. He set career highs in runs (89) and RBIs (86) in 2024 while becoming a better hitter with runners on base (RBI rate – 17).
He has a slow start in April (.216/16/1/12 over 12 at-bats), followed by four productive months (.248/61/22/64/11 over 367 at-bats) in counting stats. Happ hit .250 in September with 12 runs, two home runs, 10 RBIs, and two stolen bases.
His exit velocity (90.8) and hard-hit rate (44.9) was a four-year high. He finished with a career-high fly-ball rate (41.8), with an uptick in his HR/FB rate (14.9) and launch angle (15.1). Happ has a top-of-an-order walk rate (12.2) with regression in his strikeout rate (25.6 – 22.1 in 2023).
Chicago gave him 47.1% of his at-bats in the leadoff spot in 2024 and 27.8% in the five-hole.
Fantasy Outlook: His rising average hit rate (1.819) gives Happ a chance to push his home run output over 30 in 2025. The change in stolen base rules led to more stolen bases (27-for-32) over the past two seasons, adding to his fantasy value. Adding Kyle Tucker will either help his runs or RBIs, depending on where he hits in the batting order. At best, I see a neutral batting average if Happ regains some of his lost approach. When drafting him, a fantasy manager hopes he repeats his overall success over the past two seasons. Think steady and safe rather than high upside with bust potential.
RANKINGS
Top 5 Catchers | Catchers 6-10 | Catchers 11-15
Top 5 First Basemen | First Basemen 6-10 | First Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Second Basemen | Second Basemen 6-10 | Second Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Shortstops | Shortstops 6-10 | Shortstops 11-15
Top 5 Third Basemen | Third Basemen 6-10 | Third Basemen 11-15
With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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