What positions should I stock first in Fantasy Baseball?

Question

I just started playing fantasy sports. Football and Basketball I already knew, but I quit watching baseball in 97. So I joined a MLB league and realized the players I knew are either retired or injury plagued. Anyway where do I start in the draft? What are the critical positions in a h2h league?

Answer 1

You want to draft someone that is more offensive minded and plays every day. For starters a person to grab would be 1B Pujols who has a high batting average (AVG.), Hit total, Home Run Total and RBI total. Another person I would draft would be OF Ichiro because he is a high average and speed guy so he will get your stolen bases for you too. He also will not strike out much. Both of these players have shown also not to be injured.

For pitchers someone like Brandon Webb of Arizona (consistent and high K total). Santana of Minnesota is a consistent guy. Also you need a reliable closer such as a Trevor Hoffman or a Joe Nathan.

You have the right idea by staying away from the injury plagued players. A good player, but injury prone would be Rich Harden, a pitcher for the Oakland Athletics. But, if you are the risky type, then go ahead and draft someone like a Harden. It pays big dividends in the end and everyone will be asking you for advice for next year.

When drafting players, I usually will try to get Pitchers first follwed by Catchers, 2nd, 3rd and SS since its hard to get them in the later rounds. There are plenty of 1B and OF positions to go around. If you are lucky to draft in the Top 5 then all that goes out the window because you want to pick up the best players (aka Pujols, Howard, etc.)

Overall though I think that Fantasy Baseball is a crapshoot because you can never really predict what is going to happen over a course of a season. The guy who hit .150 last season with 1 hr and 10 rbi might have a career year and hit .300-25-86.

Good Luck

Answer 2

The first 3 or 4 rounds you should take the best players available no matter what position they play (you can always trade them later for something good no matter what)... then i would start to fill some of the positions with little depth, such as SS, 2B, and RP... the reason is because each of those positions have some great guys available in the earlier rounds but terrible guys available later... don't worry about a position like starting pitcher - it is very deep this year and almost every year some great pitchers emerge that are available (i.e. - Liriano, Verlander, Hamels, Cain, etc.)... so definitely take the good guys at the scarce positions before you are left with nothing and don't worry about the deep positions...

Answer 3

Basic tips Remember that your largest contributors are going to be your offensive players so take posistion players in the first two rounds then pitchers. Try to draft guys early that are rare talents and are in a weak fantasy posistion - for instance their are very few high qualty 2b so drafting a great guy like Chase Utley is a good idea. Do not - DO NOT waste a 1st through 10th round pick on a closer - Saves always come from the strangest places and oftentimes the guy you pick up off the waivers will do better than your draft pick. Go and buy the fantasy b-ball guides that are soon to start popping up. They have in-depth analysis and draft tips. Many websites like Roto-wire and others have some great advice also.

Answer 4

Um it really depends how u wanna look at it. By now you know that catcher, 2b, 3b are pretty limited on the talent pool, while 1b and OF have plentiful players at each position that produce. Of course not everyone is albert pujols or ryan howard, but they will suffice. It hangs on how u want to play this out. Do u want to draft a top player statwise regardless of position? Or do u want to implement a little strategy in drafting someone like utley/wright/mauer over soriano/pujols howard/vladamir due to the excess amount of talent at OF/1B? i mean, if you have ever played Fantasy football before, u can argue that TE was a useless position stat/point wise, but still a position u had to fill. LT and LJ probably scored more points than all of the TE's combined. Do u want to waste a higher draft pick on someone like shockey/gates/gonzalez instead of drafting a better WR/RB? It is a very tough question, and it normally hinges on a draft tiem decision. One tip is, watch what the other teams are drafting, especially the ones directly to the left and right of u. If they seem to have tier 1 (meaning elite) position players at a position, they are less reluctant to stock up in that position. For example, if someone drafted pujols, would he go right back and draft a paul konerko/justin morneau or probably( 99% of all cases) draft an elite pitcher or maybe an OF? ive gotten some steals using this method,. where ppl would draft someone like mauer and martinez early, leaving me with hernandez to draft without wasting an earlier pick. My 2 cents. Enjoy.

Answer 5

In my experience starting pitching and positions such as C,2B,SS with little depth are the key. In the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft go for the best player available regardless of position. As the draft goes on start taking players that are the elite of these key positions.After the few great pitchers the talent goes down fast ( the same goes for the non-power producing pos.). Many 1B,3B,OF players later in the draft will be comparable to those taken earlier. RP is overrated as well because even bad closers will record many saves.

Answer 6

I was surprised with the answers here seeing all the experts say hitters. I agree after being in many leagues over the last three years that pitching wins leagues. you need three great closers and atleast 3 top tier starters. Good outfielders help because you usually have to play atleast three so depth is important. you can always somewhat hide a position like 2nd base because everyone is in the same boat.

Answer 7

Outfield and First Base, because power hitters are much more valuable than hitters for average or speedy hitters.The reason is power hitters affect more stats categories than the other players.(AB=Hits=HR=RBI=Runs=Total Bases)
It's also better to get a lot of good closers, and 2-3 great Starting Pitchers. Instead of a lot of Starters, and no good closers. You can add/drop Starting Pitchers after just one game, and keep rotating so you can get mor wins and innings.

Answer 8

Relief pitchers and outfielders, its a plus if u can find a good catcher, considering most catchers arnt the best hitters, but not a necesity like a good closer. Id pick up one or maybe 2 real good starters, and most of the others u can alter by watching the waiver wire and who is hot or not. Hope that helps! Good luck!

Answer 9

It really doesn't matter what positions, you just have to make sure the player you pick is good. Since the first pick is always the best player, you shouldn't be worry much, the later round is the hard part.

Answer 10

generally I take best available in all postions 1st 3 rounds and then begin filling in with best available players for open positions. I like stocking up on pitchers and relievers before others grab the best ones:)