There are so many nuances to the game of fantasy baseball, and each hosting website has its own quirks and differences that can be exploited. In this post, we will take a look at the current ESPN ADP data to see which players are being drafted much later on ESPN compared to the other major sites (Yahoo, RT Sports, NFBC, and FanTrax).

You can see the up-to-date ADP data for all of these websites here.

There are a ton of fantasy players that do not put a lot of thought into their drafting, which results in ADP being largely dictated by how each website pre-ranks players in their draft software. If ESPN would rank a player at #50 while Yahoo has him at #100, you will undoubtedly see a lower ADP for that player on Yahoo as a result.

This gives the player who makes their own rankings based on their league settings and projections an advantage. I highly recommend coming up with your own rankings tailored to your league settings and draft according to that rather than paying any attention to your host website’s pre-rankings.

We see two segments of player types with much lower ADPs on ESPN compared to the rest of the sites. These are young, unproven pitchers and speedy hitters.

Young Pitchers

Mitch Keller (SP – PIT)
The young Pirates flamethrower is going very late on ESPN, with an average ADP of 320 right now over there. In NFBC and FanTrax drafts, that ADP is in the 220s. It would make sense that Keller would fall in more amateurish drafts given his brutal ERA output last year.

The advanced metrics are much more friendly on Keller and there aren’t many pitchers going after pick 200 that can match his upside. I would not recommend trying to get him in the 300s in your draft, but maybe you can wait an extra round or two if you’re drafting on ESPN.

Jose Urquidy (SP – HOU)
Urquidy is going at pick 274 on average in ESPN drafts. On FanTrax, he is at pick 197. His time in the big leagues last season was solid, but not spectacular. He posted a 3.95 ERA with a 23.9% strikeout rate, both strong enough numbers but nothing that pops off the page.

However, he posted an elite 4.2% walk rate which helped him score a very attractive 3.68 FIP. He will have a full-time spot in the Astros rotation, which is a big-time plus for any pitcher with talent. You can have him pretty cheap on ESPN, and he is definitely a nice guy to roll the dice on for one of your last pitcher slots.

Jesus Luzardo (SP – OAK)
There is clearly a bias on ESPN against players who did not pitch much and/or did not pitch well in the Major Leagues the previous year. Luzardo is one of the more talented pitchers in the league and has looked very strong at every level.

While there is a real question mark about how many innings he can throw in 2020, he will likely be one of the game’s better pitchers when he is out there. His current average ESPN ADP is 169, where the average from the other four sites comes out to 123.

Also working in his favor is that he is listed as a relief pitcher first on ESPN, which could be a bonus if your league has a maximum for how many starters you can roster.

Zac Gallen (SP – ARI)
This one is a little more confusing than the last three since Gallen did throw 80 very successful innings in the bigs last year. He is going at pick 168 on ESPN right now while being as high as 109 on FanTrax and being in the top 140 on every other site. He is a very popular breakout candidate this year among industry experts, so this draft price will probably increase – I would target him before pick 125 or so if you are looking to get your hands on him.

Speedsters

Adalberto Mondesi (SS – KC)
The experts are very aggressive on Mondesi in NFBC drafts, as he is the 38th player off the board on average. On ESPN, he is way down at pick 97. Mondesi is one of the highest upside players in the game with his potential 30/60 upside, but there is also a big risk with him given his lack of plate discipline and sky-high whiff rate.

He is a guy you probably want to get in a winner-take-all rotisserie league, and he could easily be the biggest steal of the draft if he goes in the 9th round or beyond like he has a tendency to do on ESPN thus far.

Danny Santana (OF/1B – TEX)
2019 breakout Santana is falling into the 200’s in a lot of ESPN drafts as he currently sits with an ADP of 191. Players on the rest of the websites are much more bullish on his 20/20 abilities, as his ADP average from the rest of the websites is 139.

With his high strikeout rate he is unlikely to repeat his strong batting average from a year go, but finding that power/speed combination that late on ESPN is a huge value.

Garrett Hampson (2B/OF – COL)
Lots of people had shifted their focus to football before Hampson went bonkers in September last year, and his draft stock on ESPN may be reflecting that. He is going at pick 248 on average on ESPN while going in the top 220 picks on every other website, as high as 175 in NFBC drafts.

He has easy 20/20 upside here and calls Coors Field home, making him one of the higher upside hitters in the league if he can pick up where he left off last year.

Other Notables

Jo Adell (#303 on ESPN, #238 everywhere else)
Jake Odorizzi (#221 on ESPN, #175 everywhere else)
Andrew Heaney (#231 on ESPN, #189 everywhere else)
A.J. Puk (#268 on ESPN, #227 everywhere else)
Luke Voit (#232 on ESPN, #196 everywhere else)

Be sure to keep an eye on our ADP tracker to see how the field is reacting to all the latest developments. Identifying risers and fallers before your draft is a great way to get an advantage. Happy drafting, folks!