2025 Fantasy Baseball: Sean Manaea Profile, Preview, Predictions
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The Mets lost Sean Manaea to an oblique injury in late February, creating a possible buying window in fantasy drafts due to his falling ADP. He has four to five weeks to get ready for opening day, but Manaea should open up the season on the injured list.
SP – Sean Manaea, NYM (ADP – 181.6)
After reasonable success in 2021 (3.91 ERA, 1.227 WHIP, and 194 strikeouts over 179.1 innings), Manaea underperformed expectations the following two seasons while pitching in two favorable home ballparks (San Diego and San Francisco). His strikeout rate (9.3) over this span graded well, but he allowed too many home runs (43 over 275.2 innings – 1.3 per nine). Manaea posted a losing ERA (4.73) with a better outcome in WHIP (1.273).
Pitching for the Mets led to similar results in his command (walk rate – 3.1 and strikeout rate – 9.1) while cleaning up the damage from home runs (1.0 per nine) and being more challenging to hit (.202 BAA – .234 in 2023 and .254 in 2022). Manaea struggled with his WHIP in April (1.432) due to issuing 18 walks over 29.1 innings. Over 127.1 innings in May, July, August, and September, he went 9-3 with a 3.32 ERA, 0.958 WHIP, and 125 strikeouts. Batters has success against him in May (5.40 ERA and 1.320 WHIP).
Manaea pitched higher in the strike zone (fly-ball rate – 43.1). His average fastball (92.2) was the second-best of his career, behind 2023 (93.7), due to pitching more in relief. He added a cutter (.186 BAA) and lowered the usage of his slider (.201 BAA), sinker (.228 BAA), and changeup (.232 BAA). Manaea also mixed in four-seamers (.182 BAA).
Fantasy Outlook: The success of his arm last year was driven by the improvement of all of his pitches, especially against right-handed batters. The Mets signed him to a three-year $75 million contract in December, showing their trust in his arm. Lefties can reinvent themselves over time, and he’s coming off his best season. Trending higher, making Manaea a viable complementary arm on a path to help fantasy teams again in ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts.
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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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