It’s time to get your fantasy baseball strategy ready. Sure, the snow isn’t yet melted on the ground and winter weather is far from over. But pitchers and catchers are reporting this week for Major League Baseball, giving us hope that spring is right around the corner.
The concept of fantasy baseball isn’t difficult. Fantasy owners need to collect players who can deliver quality statistics in certain categories. Obviously the players who can contribute in multiple categories are valued higher, but don’t dismiss those players who are superior in a specific category.
Here’s three strategies for the 2016 fantasy baseball draft to make sure you’re not on the outside looking in when the playoffs roll around in the fall.
Find an anchor at starting pitcher
Most fantasy experts will say to wait on a pitcher. That’s sound advice that I attempt to follow.
However, the most successful fantasy owners have a bell-cow at the starting pitcher position. That doesn’t mean to reach on the pitcher position. Instead it means not to simply ignore the position until later in drafts or wait until the end of auction drafts to pick up starting pitchers.
Right now, Clayton Kershaw is the highest rated pitcher with an average draft position of four, according to Fantasy Pros, which evaluates multiple fantasy draft platforms and aggregates 29 fantasy experts’ rankings. Kershaw is the fifth-ranked player.
From there, it’s quite a drop. Max Scherzer is ranked 20th and currently has an ADP of 15th, while Jake Arrieta is 24th with an ADP of 17th.
Kershaw is good, but we’re not wasting a first-round draft pick. But, it wouldn’t be out of the question to go with a second-round grade on a Scherzer or Chris Sale, who has an ADP of 23.
Having a solid starting pitcher will go a long way in accumulating stats in the pitching category. Wins, ERA and strikeouts are at a premium, and one solid starter will be the best solution to defeating the opposition on a weekly basis.
Get power early
We’ll talk until we’re blue in the face about the need to not ignore batting average and on-base percentage in fantasy baseball. That accounts for two of the generally six offensive categories (RBI, HR, SB, OBP, AVG, R). It’s important, but an often overlooked part of fantasy baseball.
With that being said, though, those players who shine in batting average and on-base percentage, can usually be found later in drafts. It’s the guys who display power, helping fantasy owners in the RBI, home runs and on-base percentage, who are higher in demand.
It’s rare to find the big-time RBI and home run hitters. Only nine batters hit 40 or more home runs in 2015. For RBIs, only 13 tallied 100, with six of those having 110 or more. Those players are at a premium, and what’s important about those players, is that the top-five in RBIs all had 39 or more homers.
That’s why when you’ve exhausted your first-round pick on a multi-tool player, like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper or Andrew McCutcheon, it’s time to focus on power.
Be great in some categories, not average in all
If you’re terrible at home runs and RBIs, be great in other offensive categories.
Fantasy baseball is all about winning specific categories and defeating your weekly opponent. It’s nice to win by a wide margin, but it’s about just winning the week, whether that’s by a slim or large amount.
That’s how you should approach the draft. If you see yourself losing out on the power players, focus instead on the players who can dominate in runs, stolen bases and batting average. If you’re the best at stolen bases, then you can guarantee that category each week, which is a nice bonus for fantasy owners.
The same applies for pitching. If wins won’t be your bag, instead focus on high-strikeout pitchers and closers.
If you’re pretty good in every category, that usually means you’re pretty good at losing each week.
