Drafting Your Fantasy Baseball Team
What type of player should be at the top of my fantasy baseball draft board?
It really depends on the year, but the best players to have at the top of your fantasy baseball roster are the players that combine power and speed. There are not too many of these guys. Jose Reyes of the Mets is going to be one. He's going to be, barring injury, around the top 5 to 10 players every year for a long time. Alex Rodriguez is another player who is worth a lot every year: great power, great consistency and great speed. You don't necessarily need power and speed. If a player is very consistent every year, that's worth a lot, like a player like Albert Pujols. Starting pitchers are really the only pitchers that are worth considering at the top of your baseball draftboard; relievers tend to go much later.
What are some tips as to how I should select my players for my fantasy baseball team?
Firstly, you want for look for reliable, consistent players for your fantasy baseball team. I think you want to look for value. You want to look for players who can do multiple things. If they are a pitcher, that means they are good at ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, and hopefully wins. If they are a hitter, hopefully they help you in a number of categories: runs, batting average, RBI, stolen bases. The more fantasy baseball league categories they are can help you in, the better. One thing that is very important when you are selecting your fantasy team is position scarcity. A good catcher is worth a lot more than a than a good first baseman because there are not many good catchers. A good short stop is worth a lot more than a good outfielder because not many short stops are great. You'll see that a lot of the short stops, catchers and middle infielders tend to go early in the drafts because there are not many elite players.
What type of research should I do in preparation for my fantasy baseball draft?
Just check out all the fantasy baseball sites in preparation for your draft. RotoWorld, who I work for, is a great site for fantasy baseball information. Fox Sports is going to have a lot, as is ESPN. Staying on top of the news and injuries that happen is really crucial. Pick a site that you really like and look at their fantasy baseball rankings. That at least can guide you before you draft to who are the most valuable, because sometimes some guys you haven't really heard of too much will be worth a lot in fantasy leagues, whereas in real life they are not worth as much or you haven't heard of them. Just go around to all the web sites and pick one you like and pretty much stick with it.
What are some common drafting mistakes made by first-time fantasy baseball managers?
In fantasy baseball, you have to make sure your players healthy. Injuries change so much, so make sure that you don't take a ton of injury-prone players, even if they're healthy at the time. I see a lot of guys take big name players who are big injury risks at the top of the fantasy baseball draft. That's another thing that's a big mistake: taking big-name players. Sometimes, the New York or LA market players tend to be more famous than they are good, whereas there are some players in Milwaukee or Kansas City that are great - they don't have the big names, but all that matters in fantasy baseball are the numbers. You want to go back, look at the numbers, see who has an upward trend, and target those players in fantasy drafts.
What type of offensive statistics should I look for when drafting my fantasy baseball team?
First, you look at stolen bases. There are only going to be so many people that are good stolen bases people per year, so it's good to know who those people are before the fantasy baseball draft. Other than that, the key offensive statistics are the power stats - home runs, RBI-ing runs are going to be consistent on a year-to-year basis. You don't have to worry about defense; you don't have to worry about arm strength, or anything like that. If you're looking for offensive statistics beyond the traditional stats that are good, on-base percentage and slugging percentage are both stats that indicate a quality baseball player. Sometimes, a player with very high slugging percentage or on-base percentage maybe didn't get that many RBI or runs the year before, but they should get it over time because RBI-ing runs are a little bit based on luck. I like looking at those power stats, and if you're looking for more, definitely consider slugging percentage and OBP before the fantasy baseball draft.
What type of pitching statistics should I look for when drafting my fantasy baseball team?
The main pitching statistic to look at before the draft is strikeouts. It took me a while to learn this in fantasy baseball, too. Strikeouts end up leading to everything else. If someone gets strikeouts they get wins, they're more likely to get your A, they're more likely to get a good ratio. ERA especially can go up and down a ton based on the year. Wins can go up and down a lot' a lot of luck is involved. You want to look for guys on good teams for your fantasy baseball draft, because they'll get more wins, but honestly I think you start with strikeouts and move on from there.
After I have drafted my starters, what type of players should I draft for my bench on my fantasy baseball team?
What are some tips on how to choose a reliever for my fantasy baseball team?
I tend to think that relievers get overvalued in fantasy baseball leagues. Guys who get big saves get taken really high in fantasy drafts. I tend to look for guys that aren't as famous but still get a decent amount of saves. If you're a closer, you're going to get thirty saves. Look for a guy that maybe hasn't been around for as long, and he's going to go in the middle of the fantasy baseball draft. As long as you're sure he has the job, you won't have to go to the top of your draft for a Mariano Rivera. You can wait a little bit, I think, and fill out your other positions. The other thing I look for in relievers is just job security. Closers change so much during the year, so you want to look for the guys that definitely have the job, and aren't going to lose it if they blow a couple of saves.
What is a 'stadium effect' and how does it influence what types of players I should acquire on my fantasy baseball team?
Every stadium has an effect on the player numbers and who plays there. I will give some examples. If you play at Coors Field in Denver, that's the most famous one, that's going to inflate a lot of hitting statistics at that ball park. Even if a player isn't that good, if he plays half his games in the stadium in Denver, that's gonna help his stats. On the other side of that, you want to avoid pitchers from Denver in your fantasy baseball team, because all of their stats are going to be really poor, because they pitch in such a hitters' park. What you want to do - it does change a little bit from year to year - is go through a list of parks. You can find this online, and see which stadiums are the ones that have lot of home runs, see which ones are pitchers' parks, like San Francisco and Oakland, which are two pitchers' parks and they really deflate hitting stats. You want to really figure out who that is and then maybe adjust your ranking based on who plays there.
Should I draft any rookies onto my fantasy baseball team?
You can draft rookies in fantasy baseball - just probably don't draft them if they're super-hyped. A lot of guys get really hyped up before their rookie year and it takes a while to adjust to the major leagues. There are still a ton of rookies every year that are definitely worth owning - it's all just about value. How early do you take them? If there are guys that are pumped up as potential rookies of the year, more times than not they're going to be disappointments. It's not just that they'll be bad, they just won't be worth what the veterans are at their positions. I like going for second or third year players in fantasy baseball drafts because you kind of forget about them. There's less hype, and that's when they tend to start doing better.
