We held our first expert draft using our Draft Simulator Software earlier this week with experts who frequent our podcast as guests. When I built the league, I wanted to make it unique enough that each expert couldn’t comfortably use their standard lists or plug it into their cheat sheet tool of choice. Rather, I wanted everyone to exercise some strategy so we could analyze what some of the best minds in the industry were thinking. In order to accomplish this, I created a Head to Head Weekly Points league with a 25 man roster and 0 bench spots (5 DL, however). The points system takes FanDuel scoring plus 6 points for saves. After the first 10 rounds, everyone was selecting their favored sleepers and filling out the holes on their roster, so let’s analyze the strategy used by each expert to build the core 10 spots on their team:

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Greg Smith – The Fake Baseball
You’ll notice the color coding on the draft board shows that red is a pitcher. Greg didn’t draft his first one until the 10th round when he grabbed high-upside arm, Danny Salazar. Since this is a points league, balance is not even a fraction of the battle. It is all about getting the best value above replacement with each pick. He had the benefit of picking first so Mike Trout could be the anchor for his team, but with picking first comes it’s challenges. Greg was forced to reach on Freeman, Myers and Bradley because he really wanted them and knew there was a small chance they would last another 19 picks to his next spot. With that said, he assembled a lineup of mashers before the pickings got thin, although, he was missing SS, MI and both catcher positions through 10 rounds.

Chris Meaney – FNTSY Sports Network
To me, Chris had one of the most impressive drafts because he was disciplined in taking the best player available in all of his first five picks (yes, Arenado is a points-league BEAST). Scherzer and Blackmon fell much further than could have been anticipated, and he rightly pulled the trigger. Then Starling Marte (ECR #21) dropped all the way to pick #39 and Meaney was able to scoop him up. Perhaps his best two picks, however, were adding Kyle Schwarber, the top catcher in a two-catcher format then Jean Segura in the 9th round. This draft has all the markings of a veteran expert wisely taking what falls into his lap rather than trying to get too cute like we are all too prone to do.

Jared Kwart – Fantasy Cruncher
In rounds 3 and 5, Jared took Syndergaard and McCutchen from right out under my nose. Besides that, I found myself thinking he reached on several picks from Adam Eaton to Carlos Santana and Craig Kimbrel. When I caught up with Jared the next day, he seemed to come away with a similar impression, but low and behold, the all-knowing Draft Wizard disagreed and I admit that I must have been gravely mistaken. Our draft grader loved that he grabbed three mashers (Encarnacion, Abreu and Santana) in the first 7 rounds as well as the fact that he stole a handful of his rotation several rounds after they were expected to go. Looking back, I can’t help but find myself agreeing.

Bobby Sylvester – FantasyPros
Now, of course, I think my draft was the best, otherwise, I wouldn’t have drafted the players when I did–shouldn’t that be the case for everyone? Rather than analyzing my picks, I’ll let you in on my strategy. One of my goals is to always get 2 of my C/2B/SS positions in the first five rounds before there is a steep drop off in projections. I wasn’t able to nab Posey or either of the Cubs’ catchers but was thrilled to grab all three of my middle infield positions at reasonable slots during the first three rounds. Additionally, I targeted primarily durable players (see Price, Hamels, Cano, Upton, Hosmer, Bruce, etc) because quantity over quality is key in points leagues, but I couldn’t help myself from dreaming on the likes of Stephen Strasburg, Lance McCullers, Mazara, Gurriel and Glasnow and reaching for them all a tad early.

Dan Harris – FantasyPros
It turns out that I need to stop talking to Dan so much, in case he ever ends up right next to me in drafts and takes all the players I want. The Carlos Correa and Adrian Beltre picks were especially heartbreaking. As with anyone’s draft, I found myself disagreeing with several of his selections (Melancon, Lester and deGrom), but not once in the entire draft could I fault Dan for reaching. He was disciplined in his approach, like Chris Meaney, and perhaps more importantly, was able to zig while others zagged on starting pitchers. As a result, he ended up with the 2nd best pitching staff according to Draft Wizard while grabbing those middle infielders early as is advised. If I had to point to one fault, it’s that I think he waited too long to grab his catchers in a two-catcher league, but even then, I’m fond of the fliers he took there.

Brandon Warne – FanGraphs
This was far and away the boldest strategy of the draft. Time will tell if it will work out and I suppose going contrarian gives him the best odds to win the league like picking Villanova did in bracket contests last season, but all of the risk also gives him a nice percentage of finishing in last. With that being said, there is always free agency, so why not go get a bunch of young kids in hope that there are a few stars in the bunch. You all probably know my thoughts on Trea Turner and Gary Sanchez from the podcast so I won’t go there, and I can’t make up my mind on him getting 4 relievers in the first 11 rounds–Draft Wizard didn’t like it, but none of the picks were reaches. I’ve got to note, however, that I loved a few of his fliers late in the draft with Buxton, Joc, Urias, Castellanos and Puig.

Al Melchior – FanRagSports
Perhaps more than any other duo, Al and I were stealing each other’s guys left and right. That certainly made me feel good as Al has been an expert in the business for near 20 years. Likewise, he drew by far the most comments from other owners in the chat about taking their guy, so even when he seemingly reached for Matt Carpenter, Andrew Benintendi and Sean Manaea, it speaks volumes that a number of the top experts in the field were jealous that they didn’t pull it off first. Al didn’t seem to use any specific positional theory in the draft, but rather just took the players he thought best, even for instance, if he didn’t want Kershaw in the first round. Take note, as that type of approach will consistently put you in the money for your fantasy leagues.

Michael Waterloo – Roto Experts
This spot initially belonged to Roto Experts’ Jake Ciely, who as you might recall is always near the top of our Expert Accuracy competition for both baseball and football, so when he had a conflict with the draft time, I knew the replacement he sent over would be a stellar fantasy mind and Michael proved my intuition right. DraftWizard graded his draft #1 out of all the experts because he took players who fell, used the settings of the league to navigate his picks and most importantly, was wise enough to avoid runs on one position and instead, take players in isolation which helped him find the best value. One example of this came when he nabbed Willson Contreras in the 10th round.

Justin MacMahan – Daily Fantasy Insider
Somewhere outside the doorway of an advanced statistics classroom where Justin just finished building a secret master formula that will help him collect another quarter million in DFS winnings, Justin is laughing like Dr. Evil that he was able to crack the league settings. Outside of Warne’s draft, this was the second boldest. He employed a strict strategy throughout the draft and didn’t venture from it one bit. Power. Power. POWER. Justin’s final five picks were all middling starting pitchers, but Draft Wizard still loved his draft because the offensive blew everyone else away. He added the best power hitting 2B and SS before Chris Davis, Mark Trumbo and Adam Duvall among plenty of other boppers.

Jim Sannes – numberFire
Jim might not be happy to hear this, but if I could trade drafts with anyone in the league, it would be for his team and it isn’t even close. I don’t like his relievers, Lackey, Forsythe or Welington Castillo, but the other 18 players he absolutely nailed. Where do I start? Harper/Cabrera/Stanton/Darvish is the best foursome in the league. Then Carlos Carrasco, Gerrit Cole, Rich Hill and Vincent Velasquez could all explode this season. As I’m salivating over the roster, I find myself wondering how he was able to pull it off, then it hit me–he was the only one of us who didn’t take a middle infielder in the first six rounds, and he didn’t pull the trigger until round 11. I suppose sacrificing a position or two can go a long way if you are willing to take that risk.

Want to see the final rosters?