Having the perfect draft day strategy fall apart is nothing new, but it does not have to happen. Following these simple rules will help ensure that your fantasy baseball draft is a success, even if things do not go the way you had planned:
The First Round of a Fantasy Draft is the Least Important
The number one mistake that fantasy baseball managers make is putting too much emphasis on the first round of the draft. They spend hours trying to decide whether to take Hanley Ramirez over Jose Reyes, but fail to consider what they might do if both All-Star shortstops are gone when their pick comes around. Their entire team is based around a player that is no longer available, and they are forced to rework their entire strategy during the draft itself.
The best first round strategy is not to have a strategy at all. Take the best available player, and build around that person. No matter who you end up with in the first round, they are going to be good. Even if you have the last pick in a 16-team league, based on James Ray’s list of Top-50 Fantasy Baseball Players, you will still end up with Johan Santana – not a bad place to start.
Let the first round take care of itself, and spend your time studying the players you want to go after in rounds three through eight; that is where a little extra research can help you put together the core of a solid fantasy baseball team.
Don’t Always Believe the Fantasy Baseball Experts
There are a lot of fantasy baseball experts on the Internet, and they can be a valuable resource helping you find sleepers and breakout players that can give your team the edge it needs. But while these expert opinions can help your team, they can also steer you in the wrong direction.
A lot of fantasy advice is based on instinct and opinion, and every year it seems like there are a handful of players that draw the wrath of fantasy baseball experts, whether they deserve it or not.
Scott Kazmir provides a prime example. The experts pessimistically point to Kazmir’s inflated ERA and walk numbers in the second half of 2008 as reason to approach the hard-throwing lefthander this season with caution. The end result – fantasy owners shy away from a pitcher who has had an ERA of 3.77 or less the past four seasons, averages more than a strikeout per inning, plays for the defending AL champions and is only 25 years old.
Take fantasy advice with a grain of salt; Josh Beckett may get injured, Jake Peavy might continue to get no run support, Cliff Lee may not win 22 games again, and Kazmir may have control issues from time to time, but that does not mean you should necessarily pass them by on draft day to take a flyer on the latest rookie prospect.
Fill Shallow Fantasy Positions First
One might think this should go without saying, but countless fantasy owners each year come away from draft day with a team that is stacked in one area at the expense of all the others. Whatever your draft day strategy, be sure you are aware of the positions where the talent pool is not very deep; namely second base, shortstop and catcher.
If you are faced with a decision between two players, always go with the one that plays the more difficult-to-fill position, especially in AL or NL-only leagues. You might really want to use that third-round pick in your AL fantasy league on B.J. Upton, but taking Brian Roberts instead to fill that gap at second base means you might not have to settle for Placido Polanco later in the draft. Yes, you lose out on Upton, but outfield is such a deep position that you can come back and pick up Jacob Ellsbury the next round and get almost the same production.
That is not to say, though, that you should stretch to fill a difficult position; there is no need to draft a catcher in the first round. Be reasonable, but also realize that it will be far easier to find quality outfielders, starting pitchers and relief pitchers late in the draft than it will be to find a second baseman, shortstop or catcher that will help you in multiple categories.
Use Your Fantasy Baseball Bench
Those bench slots are not there just so you can pick a few sentimental favorites from your hometown team – they have a purpose, and if you use them the right way, they can give you a lot of flexibility that the other teams in your league do not have.
While other owners hesitate on Alex Rodriguez or Joe Mauer because of their pre-season injuries, you can pick them up a few rounds later (or a few dollars cheaper in auction drafts), knowing that you can use one of your bench slots to grab a solid, if unspectacular, replacement until they come back.
Bench slots are a popular place to stash a few of those hyped-up prospects you have been reading about, but it can also be a great place to speculate on saves. At any given time, there are three or four closers whose jobs are on shaky ground; having a few solid set-up men on the bench to start the season could turn into valuable saves later on.
Every fantasy baseball owner has their own opinions on who to take and who to pass up on draft day. But it is not just who you draft, but also how you draft that determines how well your team will match up to the rest of the league. Use these tips to help form a solid fantasy baseball strategy that is easy to stick with on draft day.
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