2025 Fantasy Baseball: Hunter Brown Profile, Preview, Predictions
Finding value diamond aces is a big part of dominating fantasy baseball leagues. Some are hidden gems; others are identifiable and worth fighting for in drafts. Don't sleep on Hunter Brown in fantasy leagues in 2025.
Hunter Brown's 3Ks in the 6th.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 24, 2024
8Ks thru 6. pic.twitter.com/Yu3YwdfUY7
SP - Hunter Brown, HOU (ADP - 102.6)
Brown came into last draft season with potential breakout upside, and he reached that plateau on some levels. When the lights came on for 2024, he buried fantasy teams in ERA (9.78) and WHIP (2.217) by the end of April due to three poor outings (20 runs, 29 baserunners, and four home runs over nine innings). For the remainder of the season, Brown delivered ace stats (11-5 with a 2.51 ERA, 1.122 WHIP, and 155 strikeouts over 147.0 innings). He did have two other disaster showings (12 runs, 22 baserunners, and two home runs over 11.0 innings with 13 strikeouts) over this span.
His arm had risk against right-handed batters (.279 BAA). Brown cleaned up his damage in home runs (1.0 per nine) but lost some of his strikeout ability (9.5 per nine – 10.3 in 2023). Batters had a much lower hard-hit rate (30.3) and exit velocity (86.2 mph – 90.8 in 2023). His groundball rate (48.9) remains high, leading to a low fly-ball rate (30.5).
He added a sinker (.263 BAA) and cutter (.196 BAA) last season, resulting in a sharp decline in the usage of his slider (3.4% - 25.0 in 2023) and fewer curveballs (.225 BAA). Brown also trusted his changeup (.203 BAA) more. Unfortunately, his only pitch of value against right-handed batters was his cutter (.191 BAA).
Fantasy Outlook: Hidden in his pitch mix was growth vs. righties over the final five months while showcasing a dominating profile against left-handed batters. Brown’s ticket to stardom starts with better location in and out of the strike zone against righties. He is on the verge of a sub-3.00 ERA with 15 wins and 225 strikeouts, plus some growth in his WHIP. Player to fight for in 2025.
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Paul Skenes Profile, Preview, Predictions
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.