Spring Training has started and that means fantasy baseball leagues are back. I find the competition with friends and the challenge to put together a winning team very entertaining. I also find the draft room to be addicting.
After much anticipation, I completed my first fantasy baseball draft last night. It was a long two-hour draft, but everybody showed up, which is always a good sign for an active, competitive league. My baseball teams last year were very average so I decided to switch things up a little bit and institute a new strategy. Previously I used to try to stock up on aces and fill in the rest of my position players later in the draft.
Reasoning: There are always players that come out of nowhere to have huge years. These players can often be picked up out of the free agent pool. One example from last year was Mark Reynolds who hit 44 HRs, drove in 102 runs, and stole 24 bases. He produced first round numbers, but wasn't drafted in the majority of leagues. Another example was Adam Lind who batted .305 with 35 HRs and drove in 114 runs. Previously, he had never hit more than 11 HRs. There are always gems that can be picked up after the draft that can be huge additions to any lineup.
Problem: I have to be quick to pick these guys up, which is the case for all fantasy sports. I missed out on the likes of Darren Collison and Andray Blatche this year in basketball because I was hooping at the ARC (Damn you, Grant). Another problem is that the aces I used early round picks on only play one out of five days. Maybe it has worked for others, but this has not been a winning formula for me.
Instead I decided to draft hitters, hitters, and more hitters. I know this is a complete 180 from last year's strategy, but I feel like I can stock up on hitting and be strong in those categories and then try to find some pitching talent later in the draft. I would post my lineup from the draft I just completed, but you guys are going to steal my sleepers!
I feel like I'm going to find my strategy needs to be a happy medium between the two, but we'll see. If all else fails, there's always next year!
