An auction draft is comparable to you and your friends being locked in a room with a bunch of unscratched lottery tickets and everyone has a fair chance to get the tickets they feel are best.
- Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Simulator
- 2024 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
- Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Baseball Projections
Some of your friends will be conservative, understanding the variance impossible to predict within lottery tickets. Waiting out the excitement of other players to find what they consider almost blind value, non-contingent on the player but more on the value based on consensus.
Others will trust their gut, bet on themselves, buy the lottery tickets they want and take chances on other lottery tickets later on. They also understand the variance impossible to predict within lottery tickets but choose to take that greater chance later on.
Is one inherently better than the other?
Yes.
One creates a solid foundation based on player performance being a premium expense for drafters, one creates a foundation of perceived value based on pre-draft consensus.
Let’s get you prepped.
Salary Cap Draft Strategy: Stars & Scrubs
What is the Stars and Scrubs Strategy?
Stars and scrubs is not the same in every situation. There is no “perfect” strategy.
A general rule of thumb:
- Stars – $170 for 4-5 roster spots
- Scrubs – $90 for 18-19 roster spots
This rule can be altered, but I do not recommend a straight star and only $1 scrubs strategy. Two injuries and you’re playing for 2025.
Strategy
Target a position
Find a high-value position with a shallow player pool to target. Review league settings and complete mock drafts with different positions to get an idea of how you want your team to look.
It’s important to identify positions that will be a hot commodity during the draft and spend up to get an elite option.
Punt a position
Punting a position means you are trusting the deep player pool and that you can find comparable value much later in the draft.
This is the opposite of positional scarcity. Find positions you believe you can find value in later in the year
Stars and Scrubs to Target
I have a simple theory with fantasy sports that has proven decent over time.
Convince me to draft you. Rather than ignore red flags, blow me away with why you are different.
This holds even more true with the stars and scrubs strategy.
Below I will give you my list of stars to target. Countless articles on FantasyPros will explain their sleepers and why they feel that way.
Scrubs are basically sleepers. Players you can get later in the draft for $1-$3 to help fill out your roster.
Instead of me giving you 50 sleepers and guessing which positions you will be punting, I will help guide you on how to differentiate which stars to open up the wallet for.
For my rankings, I will list off my requirements like I am a walking red-flag Tinder profile:
- Swing and miss a lot? Pass
- Chase pitches? Pass
- Weak lineup protection? Pass
- Injury history? Pass
- The best of the best at each position, I know my worth
- You need to accept me and my zero championships, my team is my world <3
Stars to Target
Catcher
None. Legit none.
I went into this stars and scrubs analysis with the intent to have Adley Rutschman be a star to target. I am a believer in going against the grain and punting catcher seems to be a popular strategy this year. Therefore, I am naturally drawn to the inverse of that, locking down a position where I have an advantage every week.
But nothing Rutschman did last year was independently special.
Catchers with at least 200 at-bats, Rutschman is:
- 15th in WOBA
- 13th in Slugging
- 19th in Barrel Percentage per at-bat
Rutschman is no doubt in a great situation. I tried to find a reason to make him a star but came up empty. He is only 26 and has room to grow but I cannot make a good argument on why he is demonstrably better than any other catching option.
First Base
Let’s do the same analysis on Matt Olson we did for Rutschman. Only fair. Among first baseman, Matt Olson is:
- Second in WOBA
- First in Slugging
- First in Barrel Percentage per at-bat
- First in Hard-Hit Percentage
Low whiff rate, incredible lineup protection, five years younger than Freddie Freeman. Olson is an absolute no-brainer target and a sneaky MVP candidate.
Second Base
Locking up Mookie Betts in a stars and scrubs strategy is a huge advantage because of the positional options he provides.
I can easily talk about how he is top-three for second basemen in OPS, Slugging, OBP and Hard-Hit percentage, but outside of that, he is the quintessential star and scrubs player to target.
Being able to have a star at 2B, OF or SS provides flexibility to go for value later on in the draft, rather than needing a certain position with a limited budget.
Shortstop
What seemed to get lost in the pitch clock rule change of last year was how the shift was outlawed and how that impacted certain left-handed batters. Most notably Corey Seager.
Let’s compare how much better Seager was in some key statistical categories versus the second-ranked SS in those categories:
| Seager | Second-Ranked SS | |
| Barrel/PA% | 11.3% | 8.8% |
| WOBA | .419 | .368 |
| SLG | .625 | .531 |
Not only is Corey Seager the best-hitting shortstop in baseball since the shift was outlawed but he also has great lineup protection for a team expected to put up a lot of runs.
He finished second to Shohei Ohtani in the American League MVP race last season and now he is the second-best American League SS?
Corey Seager is a guy you nominate early with Bobby Witt Jr. Or Trea Turner on the board, snag him for $1-$2 under projection and have a foundation to ace an auction draft.
Third Base
Like at catcher, no one jumps out as a star to prioritize.
Austin Riley, Rafael Devers and Gunnar Henderson are all pretty comparable. Even Jose Ramirez is starting to show signs of decline. Find value at third base. If you ever need a good laugh, check out Elly De La Cruz‘s comically-bad swing-and-miss numbers.
Outfield
Outfield stars I would prioritize in a stars and scrubs draft:
- Ronald Acuna Jr. (Consensus #1. However, people seem to forget he does have an injury history.)
- Julio Rodriguez
- Corbin Carroll
- Kyle Tucker
- Juan Soto
- Aaron Judge
- Fernando Tatis
- Yordan Alvarez
Underlying stats for all these players above indicate they should be the backbone of your outfield and you cannot miss drafting any of them.
The tier drop after these players is larger and more impactful for how the 2024 season will play out than the tax break the Dodgers got from deferring 100% of Ohtani’s contract.
Starting Pitcher
As a geek, I need to admit. I love this guy. His stuff is filthy and his spin rate and velocity are elite. He is on the best team in baseball. Sportsbooks project his strikeouts at 247.5 for 2024, the next highest is Kevin Gausman at 197.5
Strider is going to win the National League Cy Young and lead the league in strikeouts (again). He will miss almost no starts and be the backbone for playoff teams this year.
Good luck out there. Draft season is here!
Expert Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice
- The Welsh’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Joe Pisapia’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Justin Mason’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- KC Bubba’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Blake Meyer’s Must-Have Players (Premium)
- Mason’s High-Stakes Leagues Draft Strategy (Premium)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
