When I took this job four years ago, friends and family members alike commonly expected me to sit down and talk about their draft prep for two hours. While I would love to do that, the lead up to fantasy baseball season is a mad rush with over 60 articles and 100,000 words written in the past two months plus over 20 podcasts. There just isn’t enough time in the day so I started building this cheat sheet and just giving it to them when they asked for advice. I decided to make it a public article awhile back so here it is for the 2020 fantasy baseball season. I hope you all enjoy! For any more specific questions, feel free to hit me up on Twitter.
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My Favorite Targets by Position
- Catcher (Salvador Perez 14th rd, Wilson Ramos 15th)
- 1st Base (Josh Bell 7th rd, C.J. Cron 20th, Wil Myers 24th)
- 2nd Base (Gavin Lux 13th rd, Scott Kingery 16th, Starlin Castro 20th)
- Shortstop (Adalberto Mondesi 5th rd, Marcus Semien 7th, Elvis Andrus 13th)
- 3rd Base (Rafael Devers 3rd rd, Justin Turner 12th, J.D. Davis 17th)
- Outfield (Juan Soto 1st rd, J.D. Martinez 2nd, Yordan Alvarez 4th, Marcell Ozuna 8th, Luis Robert 9th, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 15th, Lorenzo Cain 16th, Kyle Tucker 17th, Avisail Garcia 20th, Nomar Mazara 21st, Ryan Braun 22nd, Corey Dickerson 24th)
- Starting Pitchers (Clayton Kershaw 3rd rd, Tyler Glasnow 6th, Corey Kluber 8th, Madison Bumgarner 10th, Zac Gallen 11th, Dinelson Lamet 11th, David Price 13th, Kenta Maeda 14th, Julio Urias 14th, Carlos Martinez 15th, Lance McCullers Jr. 16th, Luke Weaver 16th, Josh James 22nd, Brendan McKay 25th, Chris Archer 25th, Elieser Hernandez 25th)
- Relief Pitchers (Ken Giles 11th, Hector Neris 12th, Nick Anderson 15th, Giovanny Gallegos 16th, Keone Kela 16th, Ryan Pressly 24th, Dellin Betances 24th, Hunter Harvey 25th, Jose Alvarado 25th)
My Favorite Targets by Round
- 1st (Christian Yelich 1st, Juan Soto 5th, Trea Turner 7th)
- 2nd (J.D. Martinez 13th, Bryce Harper 15th, Rafael Devers 21st)
- 3rd (Devers, Stephen Strasburg, Yordan Alvarez, Clayton Kershaw )
- 4th-5th (Kershaw, Adalberto Mondesi, George Springer, Ozzie Albies, Manny Machado, Zack Greinke, Noah Syndergaard)
- 6th-7th (Syndergaard, Tyler Glasnow, Giancarlo Stanton, Marcus Semien, Josh Bell, Luis Robert, Corey Kluber)
- 8th-9th (Robert, Kluber, Eddie Rosario, Marcell Ozuna, Madison Bumgarner, Zac Gallen, Dinelson Lamet)
- 10th-12th (Gallen, Lamet, Franmil Reyes, Justin Turner, Elvis Andrus, David Price)
- 13th-15th (Price, Gavin Lux, Julio Urias, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Nick Anderson, Salvador Perez, Kenta Maeda, Carlos Martinez, Kyle Tucker, Wil Ramos)
- 16th-18th (Tucker, Ramos, Lance McCullers Jr., Scott Kingery, J.D. Davis, Luke Weaver, Giovanny Gallegos, Keone Kela, Nick Senzel)
- 19th-23rd (Avisail Garcia, Starlin Castro, Nomar Mazara, C.J. Cron, Ryan Braun, Josh James, Dylan Carlson)
- ADP 275+ (Ryan Pressly, Wil Myers, Dellin Betances, Corey Dickerson, Chris Archer, Brendan McKay, Hunter Harvey, Elieser Hernandez, Jose Alvarado)
Players I’m Avoiding Near ADP
- Gerrit Cole 6th
- Fernando Tatis Jr. 21st
- Jack Flaherty 23rd
- Jose Altuve 29th
- Blake Snell 36th
- Aaron Nola 45th
- Josh Hader 48th
- Anthony Rizzo 52nd
- DJ LeMahieu 61st
- Bo Bichette 71st
- Brandon Woodruff 89th
- Andrew Benintendi 106th
- Trey Mancini 112th
- Carlos Carrasco 113th
- Hyun-Jin Ryu 119th
- Edwin Diaz 121st
- Craig Kimbrel 134th
- Brandon Workman 142nd
- Hansel Robles 162nd
- Sean Manaea 164th
- Will Smith (catcher) 168th
- Marcus Stroman 191st
- Aristides Aquino 201st
- A.J. Puk 222nd
- Jo Adell 234th
General Strategy
- Get one of the top 7 catchers
- Don’t worry about reaching at any other position
- If you can’t decide between two players and one is an outfield, take the non-outfielder
- Load your league settings into our auction calculator and use it for rankings
- Practice from your spot in the draft using our 5-minute mock draft tool
- Know your league settings and adjust your rankings/targets accordingly
- Decide if you are using a strategy (see below) and stick to your guns
- Don’t drink too much at your draft
- Don’t shy away from boring players or those who have burned you in the past
- Be careful in auctions to avoid bidding wars or bidding someone up
- Get your guys. It is more fun that way.
- Make sure to draft Corey Kluber
My up to date rankings (this will update nearly every day until the 28th)
My Strategies for Re-Draft Leagues
My Dynasty Articles
- 40 MLB Prospects Who Will Breakout in 2020
- Top Amateur Prospects (2020 MLB Draft, 2021 MLB Draft)
- 2020 MLB Top International Prospects
- Top 400 MLB Prospects Worldwide
- Top 1000 Dynasty Rankings
- If 2019 Rookies Were Still Prospects
My Podcast
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