Obviously, it is important to know who to draft and when to draft them. But the flip side of the coin is also important:

Knowing who to avoid in drafts.

There are always going to be players that just do not live up to their pre-season draft price.

And avoiding drafting them goes a long way in helping you bring home that coveted title.

Let the staff here at Sports Ethos guide you through some key names to avoid in drafts. .

This article will focus on the bats you need to avoid.

Jeff Clowers – Follow on X @EthosJeff

Heliot Ramos – OF

Play on words intended, Heliot was one of the biggest helium players to come out of last season. Always billed as a power-over-hit outfielder, the hitting ability suddenly appeared overnight and allowed him to get to his power in game settings, putting forth a batting line of .269/.322/.469 with 22 home runs after never getting his average above the Mendoza line (.200) in his prior brief promotions in 2022 and 2023.

Though his ability to shave his strikeout rate from north of 30% down to a much more manageable 26.3% is commendable, Ramos still posted a 27th percentile whiff rate and a 36th percentile walk rate, so this is a free-swinging type where things look pretty when they’re working – and not so pretty when they don’t. The 2024 season showed us what a great example of the former but I’m seeing a few reasons to believe we’ll see the latter come 2025.

Firstly, let’s break down his season into halves.

In his first 60 games, he hit 14 of his 22 home runs while hitting .298 but then followed that up with a mark of .242 over his next 61 games in the second half. Could that have something to do with his BABIP cratering from .371 to .292? Whatever the reason, he fell back to earth from an OPS of .888 across those first 60 appearances, to just .695 the rest of the way – good for a wRC+ eight percent below league-average even though that number gets boosted by the spacious dimensions of Oracle Park.

Secondly, his BABIP as a whole. A mark of .329 was fairly fortunate, even when factoring his 20.1 percent line drive rate, considering Ramos is a stocky 5’11”, 188lbs and (generously) has 45-grade speed. Steamer expected natural regression to take him back to a mark of .305 in 2025, pushing his average below .250 along the way. If he ends up as a .250 hitter and his luck with flyballs turning into home runs (17.3% HR/FB in 2024) dries up a bit, which wouldn’t be a shocking development for a Giants batter, he could go through some ice-cold spells despite playing in the California sun.

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