Fantasy Baseball 2012: 5-Tool Players Are Overrated

People in fantasy baseball drafts seem to go ga-ga over Matt Kemp, Shane Victorino and any other number of players they see as being solid in the five traditional fantasy baseball categories: runs, RBI, homers, stolen bases and batting average.  

They go ga-ga to the point of reaching a round or two to get those players or building their entire strategy around a single five-tooler.

In one fantasy draft I was in, one guy bragged that every single batter he drafted was a five-tool player.

I do not buy into the argument for five-toolers for the following reasons: 

Shouldn't focus on just one player

What if that player gets hurt?  What if he tanks?  And even if he has a brilliant season, three-quarters or more of your stats are going to come from the other members of your team (and that's just offensive stats; throw in pitchers and it's closer to 85-90 percent).  It's better to a have a good team rather than one or two good players.   

Can just get players who are good at two or three tools

Rather than obsess on five-toolers, my approach is to balance out my team with players good at hitting for average, players who hit for the fences and speed players.  A quintessential example of this would be my eight-team, league-winning outfield of Matt Holliday (for average), Chris Young (for fences), and Michael Bourn (for speed).   

No need to reach if you want them

Quick question: In want rounds can you get a player who bolsters your stats fairly evenly across four or five categories?  Most, if not all, of them!  It should be noted that the aforementioned Chris Young steals 20 or 30 a season and can be gotten in the 130s or 140s.  There are even balanced attacks in the early 200s if you know where to look.    

Sometimes it's better to concede categories

If you're drafting nothing but five-toolers, you'll end up with a team that's average in every category.  Sometimes it's better to concede one category (for example, in one draft, I conceded stolen bases) in an effort to be stronger in the other four.  Sometimes, especially in custom leagues, it's best to focus on a single category that is a predictor of other categories (three that come to mind are total bases, OPS and bases on balls. I recently built a team around the last, as I felt that it predicts both scoring and power of players).  

By the way, the same advice holds true for pitching as well.

Bottom line: Five-tool players aren't worth the fuss