Welcome to 2023! Now that the calendar has turned, it is time to prepare for fantasy baseball. There are several fantasy baseball draft strategies people use, and the reality is, there is no one perfect strategy for everyone. To find the right draft strategy to win your league, you will have to do some work.

Preparing for Preparing

Before you can select your fantasy baseball draft strategy, you have to know several things. You must know your league’s scoring structure. Study how the scoring works, how many pitching starts you can have each matchup, and what holds the most value. Each league is similar, but all are different. Your strategy for a points league will be different from a category league, although many things will match up.

You also must know the other people in your league. The best things to know are which team they cheer for, where they like to get their rankings and any player that has burned them in the past. Many people will not draft a player that has burned them, which means you can get a really good value on some guys.

Once you have researched your league’s scoring structure and the people in your league, you are ready to pick your strategy.

Fantasy Baseball Draft Strategies

• Pitcher Heavy – In many leagues, pitchers score more than batters. If your league is this way, you can go all in on pitchers. You may have to pass up sexy names like Bryce Harper or Aaron Judge, but it could win you your league by taking points over stardom.
• Batter Heavy – So many people go with the pitcher-heavy draft strategy, that it could open the door for you to get a stacked lineup of batters. You could be surprised by who is still on the board in the fourth round. Take a “swing” at going batter-heavy.
• Homer – If you play fantasy baseball just for fun, then draft guys you like. It makes following them all season extra fun. It is an easy way to keep up with your favorite team and players because you see their stats every day as you set up your lineup.
• Best Player Available – This strategy takes little work. You just draft the guy at the top of the board when your pick is up. This will no doubt lead to an underachieving team, because you will get the players everyone else is passing on, especially later in the draft. This strategy is for losers.
• Big Swing – Take a chance on a newcomer, or a bust from last season. I personally like to take one or two big swings every draft. Whether it is a rookie few are talking about or Christian Yelich, I will always reach for some big potential guys.

With Spring Training right around the corner, it is time to prepare your fantasy baseball draft strategies. Let me know what your go-to strategy is.

Tune in to the Sports Stove Fantasy Baseball Show live every Sunday night at 8 pm EST starting in February, or listen each week to the podcast version. Remember to check out the rest of the great content at Belly Up Fantasy Sports and the Belly Up Sports home site as well. Follow me on Twitter for more fantasy baseball opinions.