Fantasy Baseball: Strategic Drafting

Once you have a fantasy baseball roster that you are happy (or at least content) with, you will face the intraday struggle of where to place your players. The following strategy allows me to maximize the offensive value of each position.

By placing my best hitters in less-traditional positions, I am able to use my Utilities (MI, CI, U) for better offensive hitters. Maximizing your roster positions to get optimal results is a bit tricky, and it is different for each league depending on how big your bench is and how many roster positions are active.

Here’s an example of this strategy in action.

I have Elvis Andrus playing SS, and Yunel Escobar as my MI. This gives me better numbers than it would if I had Escobar on my bench, as he is currently hitting above .400 for the 2011 season. It also gives me more flexibility if one of these two players has a day off or gets injured.

I can rotate one out and put someone off my bench into an active slot and still have a top SS playing for me. Having a lot of strength at one or two positions is the secret to this strategy.

However, this either requires you to draft more in depth or to be a very active mover and shaker in regards to trades, pickups from the waiver wire and free agents. Drafting a few positions strongly also gives you better leverage when proposing trades to other team managers.

You can give up a strong player if you know you still have his position accounted for. This will inevitably leave some holes in your lineup, but these will eventually be filled if you have a good eye for making trades.

Remember, it is better to have two or three categories in which you are very strong than it is to be average across the board. You can fill in gaps, but you can’t make an average player into a star.

Having a strong category in a roto league will get you more points, and you will be able to fill in your weak positions as the year progresses.