Fantasy Punts: Finding Upside Beyond The Top 400

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  • By Nathan Baker

    Last Updated on February 3, 2026 11:00 am by Anthony Kates | Published: February 3, 2026

    Sleepers articles are great for finding those mid to late round value picks to round out your roster, but they leave out the annual bracket of players who rise from draft irrelevance to fantasy stardom; the type of players who hold ownership percentages below 5%, with ADP’s below 400. Evaluating which players can make this leap is difficult, but there is always a combination of upside and opportunity that leads to the possibility of someone meriting a late round punt, and I’ll be going through eight of those names today, from ADPs 400-500.

    Anthony Volpe – 420 ADP
    Starting off with our hardest player to draft, Volpe is coming off of a third successive underwhelming offensive season, but there’s more to like from Volpe from ‘25 than what we’ve seen in years past. His chase rate dropped over 5% from 2024 to 2025, and his all around game improved as a result, OPS’ing just under .800 through the end of April. He suffered a shoulder injury that he played through for the remainder of the season, where his performances at the plate and in the field got progressively worse, which ultimately led to him losing his starting job, and undergoing surgery in the off-season. Volpe won’t be guaranteed a starting role, but will be given every chance to earn it, and if he manages to stay healthy this time around, he’s got a great chance to put his swing improvements into practice over a full season.

    Jonah Tong – 430 ADP
    Tong was the best pitcher in minor league baseball last season, posting a 1.43 ERA and 0.92 WHIP over 113.2 IP last season, striking out 179. His major league debut came after just two Triple-A starts to fill in for the injury ravaged Mets rotation, and while he showed flashes of brilliance, the results were not great across five big league starts. The Mets have plenty of competition in their starting rotation, so there’s every chance that Tong won’t break camp with the big league club, but with the injury track records for many of their starters, he’ll likely be given an quick opportunity if he does start the year in the minors. His freakishly unique fastball headlines legitimate ace upside, which he could tap into this season if he’s able to refine his fastball command and his slider.

    Andrew Painter – 460 ADP
    Going from one of the best prospects in all of baseball in the middle of 2022, to one of the worst pitchers in the international league in 2025 has to be a jarring drop off, but his recovery from Tommy John’s surgery has been a lot more successful than the numbers would indicate. The ERA of 5.40 and WHIP of 1.55 is ugly, mcn but his velocity has been mostly retained from his pre-surgery self, and despite some decline in fastball shape, he’s still got the tools to become an excellent major-league pitcher. The Phillies look prepared to hand him an opening day roster spot, which is great news for fantasy purposes, although it’s worth adding that despite the certainty of opportunity, he’ll need to make some significant improvements in his second full season back from TJS to tap into that frontline starter upside.

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    February 3, 2026, 11:00 am