Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy: Power Ranking Deepest Positions in 2012

Filling out a fantasy baseball roster in the draft is an art form. You have to know when to wait to draft certain positions, and you have to know when to jump on a certain position before all the good players run out.

It helps to know which positions are deeper than others. For example, you know there are always going to be more talented outfielders than there are talented catchers. You could draft a stud outfielder with a given pick, but you don't want to risk being stuck with a catcher who's not going to bring anything to the table.

Most of us are going to be drafting our fantasy baseball teams in the near future. Now is as good a time as ever to familiarize yourself with how deep each position goes.

I figure I'll make it easy on you. Here's how the six key offensive positions stack up.

6. Shortstop

I remember the days when shortstop was the most-stacked infield position in fantasy. Those were the days.

Nowadays, there is exactly one sure-fire first-rounder at the shortstop position—Troy Tulowitzki. After him, you have high-ceiling guys like Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez. Of the three, Reyes is an injury risk, Cabrera is a regression candidate and Ramirez is a headcase.

Aside from the four guys I've mentioned, the shortstop position is the wild west. There are a lot of guys who are intriguing, but none of them really stand out from the rabble. This is going to be a very tough position to draft.

5. Catcher

Joe Mauer used to own the catcher position, but now, the top spot is between players like Carlos Santana (27 homers in 2011), Alex Avila (.895 OPS), Brian McCann (24 homers in 466 at-bats) and Mike Napoli (30 homers).

Beyond them, there really aren't many catchers that qualify as fantasy studs. Mauer and Buster Posey are both intriguing bounce-back options, and they could pay off in a big way, but they're also question marks that you don't want to target too soon.

There are no catchers who even come close to being first-round options. You'll probably see somebody reach for Santana, McCann or Napoli in the third round, and that could open the floodgates.

If the catchers start to come off the board, don't hesitate to grab one for yourself. The good ones won't last.

4. Second Base

At the tippy-top of the second-base crop, you have Robinson Cano—one of the very best hitters in the game. He's a borderline first-round pick, and he certainly shouldn't leave the second.

Right behind Cano are Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler. Just behind them are Ben Zobrist, Rickie Weeks and Brandon Phillips. And so on.

All told, seven different second basemen posted OPSs of better than .800. Dan Uggla could get to that point if he puts the bat on the ball more regularly in 2012 and so could Chase Utley if he stays healthy.

Though Cano is the only first-round worthy stud in the second-base crop, there are a lot of rock-solid guys who will be on the board after he's gone. 

3. Third Base

Jose Bautista has third-base eligibility, and he's one of the best hitters in baseball. Big points for the third-base crop because of him.

Beyond Bautista, you have studs like Evan Longoria, Adrian Beltre and Pablo Sandoval. All three of them are solid.

What makes third base so intriguing this year is the number of high-ceiling players. Alex Rodriguez could be due for a bounce-back year, and the same goes for David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman and Kevin Youkilis.

In addition, you can target youngsters like David Freese and Brett Lawrie. Third base may not be top-heavy, but it's pretty deep.

Oh, by the way, Miguel Cabrera is going to have third-base eligibility this season. Fantasy owners can thank Prince Fielder for that.

2. First Base

Want average? Want home runs? Want RBI?

Then you want a first baseman. The position is always fairly loaded with studs who can hit the ball a long way consistently, but it seems more loaded than usual this year.

Here's a few names: Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Joey Votto, Prince Fielder, Paul Konerko and Michael Morse.

All of those guys has OPSs over .900 in 2011. Cabrera is the best of the bunch, and the other six guys are all studs.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the first-base crop consists of solid players (Mark Teixeira) and high-ceiling prospects (Eric Hosmer).

1. Outfield

No surprise here, right?

Nope. Outfield is where all the multi-purpose guys reside. Matt Kemp and Jose Bautista are at the head of the class, and they are followed pretty closely by Jacoby Ellsbury, Justin Upton, Curtis Granderson, Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and so on and so on and so on.

There are also some pure power guys as well, namely Mike Stanton, Matt Holliday and Josh Hamilton.

The reason I'm not mentioning Ryan Braun is because we don't know how his pending suspension is going to play out. If he ends up being suspended for 50 games, he'll be a draft-and-stash guy later in the draft.

If he doesn't get suspended, he's a first-rounder.