What makes fantasy baseball special – besides how long it is – is the endless number of formats you can play in. While the general ideas are the same – roto, categories, points, draft-and-holds – you can tweak the settings to adjust with the current game that we see on the field and move off of the more traditional scoring settings that fantasy baseball was founded on.
I won’t league-shame anyone. If you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.
But the one change I recommend for players who want to try something new without it being too overwhelming is shifting from batting average to on-base percentage leagues.
The rest of the scoring can stay the same, but swapping out batting average for on-base percentage allows players who have the valuable skill-set of getting on base to have fantasy value, and not just those who get on base by getting a hit.
But how should it change your strategy for building your team? Should it at all?
Below, I’ll cover how I approach OBP leagues and the lessons I’ve learned from playing in a ton of leagues that use this format.
What makes fantasy baseball special – besides how long it is – is the endless number of formats you can play in. While the general ideas are the same – roto, categories, points, draft-and-holds – you can tweak the settings to adjust with the current game that we see on the field and move off of the more traditional scoring settings that fantasy baseball was founded on.
I won’t league-shame anyone. If you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.
But the one change I recommend for players who want to try something new without it being too overwhelming is shifting from batting average to on-base percentage leagues.
The rest of the scoring can stay the same, but swapping out batting average for on-base percentage allows players who have the valuable skill-set of getting on base to have fantasy value, and not just those who get on base by getting a hit.
But how should it change your strategy for building your team? Should it at all?
Below, I’ll cover how I approach OBP leagues and the lessons I’ve learned from playing in a ton of leagues that use this format.
OBP Leagues Primer
Don’t Put Too Much Emphasis on the Category
One change we see right away when shifting to OBP leagues is that fantasy players will move players up a ton if they have a high OBP and way down if their OBP isn’t that great. While yes, there should be some movement, OBP is still just one category that you’re drafting.
It’s easy to get caught in the trap of investing too much draft equity into quality OBP players where you ignore the nine other categories in general.
Calibrate but calibrate effectively.
Identify the Risers and Fallers
That said, it’s still important to have an idea of what your team builds will be like with players since the shift is happening from batting average to OBP. Just like drafting too many Joey Gallos in the past can hurt your average, the same can be said with OBP.
In 2022, the league average OBP was .312 – down from .318 in 2018. There were 78 hitters last season who had an OBP of .318 or higher.
A few of the biggest outliers between their OBP and average are:
There are more, of course, but finding those who help your OBP compared to those who hurt your AVG can give you a nice leg-up in your league. You also want to find those who take the biggest hit, too. Last year, the average batting average was .243.
Here are some players who take a big hit that batted at least .250 last season.
Target Players with High Walk Rates
It should come as no surprise, but players with higher walk rates have a higher OBP. I tend to look at BB/K rates to find players with good plate discipline. The average walk rate last year was 8.2 percent across the league, and the average strikeout rate was 22.4 percent.
Here are some players who Steamer expects to have a walk rate north of 8.2 percent this year and a strikeout rate below 22.4 percent.
Three’s a Crowd?
I wanted a better sub-headline, but that’s what I landed on. Don’t hate me.
We never want players to get hit – especially intentionally – but it is part of the game. While it does count toward a player’s OBP, it also increases the chances of a player getting hit. But some players get hit more than others, and it could be an extreme tiebreaker to look at in your OBP leagues.
Some players who have a good OBP and who were hit by a high number of pitches (10-plus) last year include:
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
