what do you think of this draft strategy?

Question

So i was thinking about this draft strategy....what do you think?

Since most people go for power or speed in the first few rounds...I was thinking about going for only pitchers in the first 5 rounds, 3 starters and 2 relievers, and then go for position players while everyone else is looking for pitching.

Since H2H scoring is equal between pitching and batting categories, I would virtually win all pitching cat's every week, and try to do okay in batting....what do you think????

Answer 1

A heavy pitching strategy CAN work, but it's hard. Generally speaking, pitching is only half as reliable as hitting, which is why most people go hitters in the early rounds. You can pick up pitchers who will perform in the later rounds. You cannot replace the kind of five-tool guys you pass on in the early rounds, though.

If you want to go pitcher heavy, do not invest more that two of your first five picks. And then only if you can get good values at both.

Just remember, hitting is more predictable, so you will want to look there in the early rounds just like everyone else. One ace and one reliever in the first five rounds is as heavy as I would go.

Answer 2

Bad strategy. Picking up a couple relievers early is good but last year I won 6 of 8 Yahoo leagues and never drafted a starting pitcher before the 9th round. Pitching is far to easy to come by in the later rounds and if the quality starters get drafted then pick up the stud setup men and take the 5 or 6 wins they will give you along with the microscopic ERA and Whips and huge K/per inning (I wont tell you who these guys are...do the research but there are 5 or 6 of them that can give numbers along the lines of the top starters without eating inning and only sacrificing wins). Bats are real hard to come by late in the draft, there are some good sleeper picks butthey are sleepers because we think we know what to expect but reality sometimes isnt so kind. The dropoff from the top 6 SS and 3rd basemen to the rest is incredible, the dropoff after the top 25 outfielders is equally incredible and a smart person will draft solid pitching and score say an ave. of 7 or 8 per category in pitching and a 9 or 10 hitting....where will that leave you when you get 10 or 11 in each pitching category(unless 1 or 2 of your guys struggle or blow out an elbow) and a 3 or 4 in all the hitting categories? And what happens when someone jumps on this years hot kids (last year gave us Liriano, Verlander, Sanchez, Olsen, Hamels, Cain, Wang,Papelbon,C. young,Kazmir,Bedard,Josh Johnson,Harang, Putz,Ray,Saito, and Gonzalez and almost none of them were drafted at all or in relatively few leagues). Guess who i got fat stats with? Along with 4 or 5 good later picks I did okay using this strategy and will do the same this year (I do draft 2 top closers early every draft). get the hitters before they are gone....pitching is way too deep to employ that strategy.

Answer 3

Pitching fluctuates more than offense so it would work in theory but it's not very good for fantasy. I would, however, use half of your strategy (2 or 3 picks) if you like but you better start picking offense sooner than you want.

The strategy would work better with roto league but H2H will crush your strategy each time Santana, Peavy, Zambrano, Oswalt, etc. have 1 bad game. It won't be often but it will happen. 1 or 2 bad games of offense is an 0-9 while the other hitters will balance that out much better.

example: 3-22 but the rest of your team went 25-85 (which isn't that good) is still .288 total

6 ER in 3 IP but your team did 6 in 20 innings makes 4.69

Answer 4

Dont like it. Pitching fluctuates from year to year. Drafting 5 pitchers in a row could get you a thrown out arm or an inconstent year. Going batting first three rounds at least is almost guaranteed success in my opinion.

I think I should get the points for actually using the word "fluctuates".

Answer 5

Good idea go for it