There are many ways to draft a winning team in Fantasy Baseball. While the draft is just a piece of the entire puzzle to building a winning team, it is essential to have a strategy in place come draft day. There are a variety of methods that you can employ, but for this article, we will discuss how to approach the draft when building around hitters early.

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Reasons to Draft Hitters Early

1. The 2022 pitching pool seems deeper than previous seasons.
2. Hitter production is more consistent year-to-year as opposed to pitchers.
3. Position scarcity is a real thing. Third base and catcher bottom out quickly. Some hitting positions are worth addressing early due to replacement level value.
4. Hitters get injured less often than pitchers.
5. There are more lineup spots for hitters than pitchers.
6. You can find plenty of pitching value going late.

So let’s say you want to deploy this strategy of taking hitters early. What are the critical things to do during the draft?

Hitter Approach: Power/Speed

Early in the draft, getting hitters who provide high power and speed floor is essential. Stolen bases are down more than ever. Last season, there was a league-wide total of 2,924 stolen base attempts. Just ten years ago, in 2011, that number was 4,540. The need for speed is real!

Using ATC projections, only 16 players are projected to steal 20 or more bases. Thirteen of those players are being drafted in the top 100. Twelve of those players are projected to hit 15 home runs with 20 stolen bases. Only one of those 12 is going after pick 80 on average in drafts, Akil Baddoo (OF – DET).

For hitters projected to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases, the average ADP is 19.82. Stolen bases are pushed up more than ever due to a lack of steals across the board. Players who hit for power and steal bases are rare. Getting those players early in drafts is crucial if you build with hitters early or even mix in pitchers.

Hitter Approach: Build a Solid Batting Average Floor

It is easy to find late power, but it usually comes with a significant drop-off in the batting average department. If you can build a solid foundation in the batting average department early, it will carry you a long way. Check out the graph below and see how the ATC projected batting average compares to ADP.

ATC Projected Batting Average (Min 450 PA) vs NFBC ADP. pic.twitter.com/KkZ3kYEjy1

— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) February 28, 2022

Finding the rare hitter who can hit for both average and power and has speed will take you a long way. That is much easier said than done. Only four hitters are left when filtering projections with a batting average of .275 or better and 20 or more home runs and stolen bases. Those include Trea Turner (2B,SS – LAD), Bo Bichette (SS – TOR), Fernando Tatís Jr. (SS,OF – SD), and Ronald Acuña Jr. (RF – ATL) If we drop the batting average requirement to .260, it adds Jose Ramirez (3B – CLE), Cedric Mullins (CF – BAL), and Shohei Ohtani (SP,DH – LAA) to the list. The small list shows how hard it can be to grab several of these players on the same team.

We add a few more names when using the standard of a projected .275 or better batting average but lowering the home run and stolen base threshold to 15 each. Tim Anderson (SS – CWS), Kyle Tucker (RF – HOU), Starling Marte (CF – NYM), and Luis Robert (CF – CWS) made the updated list. If you can draft several hitters who meet these power and speed thresholds while also providing a solid batting average, they will carry your team a long way.

Pitching Approach 

Let’s say you draft hitter heavy early. What are the things you need to think about later? Pitching, obviously, but how should you approach in general?

Let’s hypothetically say you are in a 12-team league, and you spend your first five picks on hitters. You have missed the pool of aces. But, that doesn’t mean you are out of luck when it comes to pitching. I love the 60-80 range for ADP when looking at Fantasy Pros Consensus. You can draft starting pitchers like Jack Flaherty (SP – STL), Max Fried (SP – ATL), Jose Berrios (SP – TOR), Logan Webb (SP – SF), Luis Castillo (SP – CIN), Joe Musgrove (SP – SD), and Frankie Montas (SP – OAK). If you need saves, you can draft Raisel Iglesias (SP – LAA) or Edwin Diaz (RP – NYM).

Chasing upside with pitchers is fun, but you need a higher floor approach and pitchers who can provide plenty of innings if you draft hitters early. This range of pitchers provides that. You also need saves, so getting Iglesias or Diaz is more than ideal in this spot. You won’t be able to draft them that high in an NFBC league with an overall component, but in a standalone league, it’s doable.

I feel pretty good if I drafted hitters in the first five rounds, then drafted one of Fried, Berrios, or Musgrove to pair with either Iglesias or Diaz. According to Fantasy Pros ADP, Yu Darvish (SP – SD) has an ADP of 90, and Dylan Cease (SP – CWS) and Trevor Rogers (SP – MIA) come in at 95. Drafting one of them as my SP2 would be very nice!

You could follow that up by going for the upside play with Shane McClanahan (SP – TB), Blake Snell (SP – SD), Carlos Rodon (SP – CWS), or Justin Verlander (SP – HOU) as your SP3.

If you go hitter heavy early, the cards have to fall right to build a solid pitching staff. It’s not impossible, though.

League context also matters. If you are in a standalone league, you can afford to go hitter-heavy. But, the deeper the league gets, and if an overall component is included, the more of a need for balance. But, if you are drafting several leagues, try this strategy and see how it plays out for you! Check back soon to see my approach for drafting pitching early.

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