Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategy: Rules for Building Perfect Fantasy Roster

Entering your fantasy baseball draft with a strategy in mind often represents the difference between a championship roster and one that misses the playoffs. It's amazing how many people just try to wing it, and more often than not it ends up costing them in the long run.

Let's take a look at three simple rules to help you build the best possible team on draft day. They will markedly improve your chances of winning the league.

Target Weak Positions

One of the biggest mistakes owners make is waiting far too long to address positions with limited talent. The two best examples are second base and shortstop. The gap between elite players and average ones is much larger there than at other spots.

For example, if you're selecting in the middle of Round 1, picking Troy Tulowitzki will put your roster in better shape than Ryan Braun or Adrian Gonzalez. There are plenty of talented first basemen and outfielders, but there are only a select few productive shortstops.

Try to identify some sleepers you like at deep positions, which will make waiting on them less of a worry. Then you can fill the weak positions early and give yourself a major advantage.

Avoid Bench Hitters

Baseball is unlike any other sport since teams play virtually every day. In fantasy terms that means your starting hitters will out there most days, so there's really no reason to waste spots on your bench with players you won't use anyway.

Players like Edwin Encarnacion and Stephen Drew are popular late-round picks, but the chance of them becoming major contributors for teams are minimal. Owners are better off loading up their bench with as many extra starting pitchers as possible.

Potential steals include Brandon McCarthy, Clay Buchholz and Mike Minor. All of them are being drafted in the same range as the aforementioned hitters, but will provide more value to your team.

Don't Punt Categories

A plan of attack that has become more prominent in recent seasons is punting, or surrendering, certain categories. Most commonly, owners will simply not try to win stolen bases or saves as a way to improve their team in other areas.

In reality, this hurts a team's chances of winning. Categories like batting average, ERA and WHIP are so volatile during any given week, that you can't sacrifice another one and expect to win consistently. There are just too many variables involved to start the week down by a full category.

There will always be cheap sources of saves and steals available late in the draft. Print out a list of projected steal leaders and every team's closer to make sure you have a balanced lineup.