Everyone has their own strategy for fantasy baseball. And, while everyone thinks that theirs works best, including me, there are some general strategies that you can follow to help make the best out of your draft. Drafting a good team is not necessarily about drafting the best players. Fantasy is nothing more than conjecture or guesswork at times. However, if you follow a few of my simple strategies, you should be in good shape to make that playoff run.
1. Research and Mock Drafts
Knowing who to draft is one thing. Knowing how to take advantage of draft position can take your fantasy teams to another level. Your season won't be made in the draft, but understanding how to draft a team can definitely get you off to a good start. And, don't think you can just show up on draft day and be ready. Go out and research. Looking at depth charts, trends, ballpark factors, and past stats will definitely help you understand where a player is going. Doing mock drafts is a big help too. Mock drafts allow you to draft a team so you can try out different strategies. This is a great place to put that research you did to good use.
2. Draft Thin Positions First
We all know the names Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun, Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder, and Miguel Cabrera. What do they all have in common? They are First Basemen or Outfielders. I point this out because those positions are among the deepest in fantasy baseball compared to positions like shortstop or third base. To put it into perspective:
1B A: 115 R/42 HR/118 RBI/.312 AVG/ 14 SB
1B B: 113 R/33 HR/108 RBI/.256 AVG/ 0 SB
Player A was Albert Pujols who finished as the top 1B in fantasy baseball once again in 2010. Player B? Mark Teixeira who happened to finish 9th in the rankings. Let's look at some shortstops.
SS A: 92 R/21 HR/76 RBI/.300 AVG/32 SB
SS B: 59 R/10 HR/65 RBI/.269 AVG/17 SB
In this example, Player A was Hanley Ramirez who also finished as the top player at his position. Player B was Ian Desmond who finished 10th.
The Point? There is a bigger drop-off in the numbers at shortstop than at first base. Draft accordingly. If you have the first pick, I would pick Hanley because you can always get a good first baseman later.
3. Wait on Starting Pitching
All too often, people try to take all the elite starting pitchers. The problem with that is you forget to draft hitters. Pitching is one part of fantasy and a part the you can wait on, quite honestly. Its ok to take a Roy Halladay or Tim Lincecum but dont go after both because you will most likely lose out on a key position player. If your team is full of pitchers but no hitters, you have trading chips. Pitchers do not carry as much value in trades as hitters do and therefore, you won't get that Halladay for Pujols trade you thought you could. Its good to have a strong pitching staff but don't make it at the cost of your lineup.
4. Don't Pay for Saves
Ahh, closers. Another over-drafted position. I say this because saves are only one-tenth of fantasy scoring. In a 25 round draft, do you really want to waste a 6th round pick on Mariano Rivera? Folks, its all about perspective. You can win a fantasy league without recording a single save, though its not recommended. Closers are great to have because getting one save can win your week, but at what expense. I find that closers provide little value and carrying more than one or two is just not worth it.
5. Have Fun!
The worst thing you could do on draft day is not have fun. The best way to accomplish this is to get together with everyone in your league and do a live draft. The human interaction you find in a live draft is way better than looking at a screen with with lowly chat box. It promotes a sense of true ownership because everyone knows each other and can connect on a more personal level. Not only that, but talking smack and watching other owners make draft day blunders is so much more fun in person.
That's all I got folks. The latest episode of the podcast should be up over the weekend. Don't forget to email the show at touchemall@rocketmail.com. Until next time...
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