This is a big weekend for fantasy baseball drafts, with Opening Day set for Thursday, following this week’s Tokyo Series. For some last-minute preparation, we turn to Yahoo fantasy analyst Scott Pianowski, who offered up some tips to help you lead your team to success this season. Here are 10 pieces of his expert advice for becoming an expert fantasy manager.
1. Before you start any draft, ask yourself what positions or resources you can probably fill later in your draft, or on the waiver wire. This upside-down approach will help you shape a good strategy.
2. Shortstop is the deepest of the positions, by far. This does not mean one of your early picks can't be a shortstop, because there are superstars at this position. But just know you will always look at this pool and find something that interests you.
3. Corner infield used to be a deep fantasy position. It's not as deep as it used to be. If I see similar early-round candidates and one of them covers a corner, that's a good way to break the tie.
4. If your league requires just one starting catcher, wait. Austin Wells is a nice value pick, likely opening the year as the Yankees leadoff man.
5. Save striation has been a fact of fantasy life for several years. This is actually a good thing for us -- it means we need fewer saves to be competitive; it takes some stress away from the rat race. If you're considering a reliever who's not a dedicated closer, focus on the winning teams. We want as much exposure to possible wins and saves as we can -- and relief pitchers keep getting a bigger share of those wins, as MLB clubs continue to ask less of their starting pitchers.
6. As the years go by there is less differentiation with the ballparks. Most of them settle somewhere in the middle. But we need to mind the outliers. You want your hitters in Colorado or Boston or Cincinnati. The homers fly freely when the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies or Brewers are at home. Meanwhile, you want your pitchers getting work in Seattle or San Francisco, when possible. San Diego isn't a bad homer park but it's still harder than average for scoring.
7. If one of your pick candidates is mostly defined by speed, make sure he owns a good batting slot. You don't want your rabbits hitting 7-8-9, all else equal. I want my players hitting in the top five of a lineup (usually top three) whenever possible, anyway. Volume is your friend. When in doubt, sort by the runs-scored column.
8. In most competitive leagues, "Wait for Proof" is a dead strategy. The moment you recognize plausible upside is the moment you need to strongly consider a move.
9. You want to draft fun upside players at the end of your draft but don't fall in love with those guys, either. You want a fluid roster. Players who look interesting through production in real games deserve more weight than someone whose value is mostly speculative. Keep the bottom portion of your roster fluid. And if you never make a mistake with an add/drop, you're playing far too conservatively.
10. Most power hitters will strike out a lot. Some speedy players will have mediocre batted-ball metrics. These are not necessarily bad things, they're actually playing to their strengths. You want a slugger to swing for the fences. You want a fast guy to put the ball in play, even if the exit velocity is ordinary.
For Pianowski’s full list of tips, click here.
