Fantasy Baseball 2012: How to Draft a Decent Pitching Staff

Drafting a pitching staff in fantasy baseball is a tricky thing to do. Most people draft their first pitcher way too early, and it causes lineup issues for the rest of the season. 

Remember, a starting pitcher will only play twice in a week if you are very lucky. Closers and other relievers are even tougher to gauge because it takes a lot of things to go right for them to just get into the game, let alone the fact that they still need to pitch well.

Follow these general guidelines of how to build a pitching staff for a head-to-head league, and you're sure to compete in the pitching categories every week.

1. Don't Start Drafting Pitchers Until at Least the 5th Round

The biggest mistake is drafting pitching too early. 

Starting in the fifth round is a pretty general rule of thumb, though many people wait until around the ninth or tenth round to start grabbing pitchers. If you can go eight rounds without drafting a pitcher, your lineup should be in good shape. 

Remember, there are guys like Josh Johnson, Ricky Romero and Mat Latos who will be available in the 10th round, and all three are viable "aces" for a fantasy staff.

2. Draft for a Stat Category

Before you start drafting pitchers, know what stat categories you want to try to compete in. If you have a dominant lineup, you really only need to win two pitching categories a week.

With how volatile the wins category can be, you should avoid drafting for wins. 

The main two to draft for are strikeouts and saves. Take a look at the strikeout leaderboard for MLB in the past two seasons. You will notice a decent amount of similarity. Most of them are young power pitchers and will be that for a few more seasons, so it is a good bet that they will have similar numbers this upcoming season. If you can get a couple of strikeout pitchers later in the draft, you will be in good shape.

Saves, however, are a bit trickier. They are a situational stat, so in order to have a good shot at saves every week, you need at least two closers. If you can get three, even better, but don't pick three closers in consecutive rounds unless you can wait until the twelfth round to start drafting dominant ones.

3. No Matter What, Do Not Draft a Pitcher Because He Plays for a Good Team

Drafting a player based off his team can sometimes help with a position player. If the team hits well, he can get an extra few at-bats each week because of the guys around him.

Unfortunately, the same theory doesn't always apply to pitchers.

Some pitchers struggle to pitch with a big lead. Some pitchers struggle to pitch well when the team is having a bad day. There are a lot of variables that go into pitching, and to think that a pitcher will have a good season just because he pitches for a good team is a horrible misconception that some people buy into. 

Don't be one of those fantasy owners that believe it.

Conclusion

These are three simple, straight-forward points about how to build a staff, but remember, none of them will do you any good without the proper pre-draft work. 

Know who should still be on the draft board in the round you want to start taking pitching so you can plan what categories you want to go after accordingly.

Also keep in mind that whenever in doubt about taking a pitcher or a hitter, take the hitter.  There are always a few pitchers who will come out of seemingly nowhere every season, so it is completely realistic to nicely supplement a pitching staff through the waiver wire.