Anyone who’s played fantasy before knows that it’s primarily better to begin drafts by prioritizing safety over upside early. However, there are a plethora of dos and don’ts that you should consider when constructing your roster that go way beyond this lone tidbit of advice, though. The last thing you want to do is be the person who doesn’t know their league settings or pays too much for position scarcity. I’m sure you’d instead rather be the drafter who increases their upside by taking some young, high-reward players late or is willing to reach a bit for the athletes you’re very high on. To help you be as prepared as possible for your upcoming fantasy baseball drafts, we have asked our featured experts to each give one tip that will help you dominate your draft. Here’s what they had to say.

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Q. What one piece of advice would you give fantasy owners who still need to draft?

“KNOW YOUR LEAGUE’S SCORING SETTINGS. It’s a simple piece of advice, but one that is often overlooked and provides an unmatchable advantage come draft day. In OBP leagues, Brandon Nimmo becomes much more valuable. In points leagues, stolen bases may not be as valuable as you think — which should push down the ADP of guys like Trea Turner, Fernando Tatis, Starling Marte, Victor Robles, and the like. Also, keep an eye on how hitters and pitchers are scored. In leagues that favor hitters, wait on pitching and stack up on bats, even if Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, and Max Scherzer seem enticing. There are many more variations possible, but if you know your league’s settings, then you’ll be able to manipulate your team towards the settings on draft day and be one step ahead of your opponents.”
– Jason Petropoulos (BRoto Fantasy)

“It’s astonishing how many fantasy managers arrive in their drafts without knowing their league format and rules. The foremost fantasy advice is to know all of your league settings, which will allow you to properly value players. If you can’t describe the league rules, then you are not ready to draft. This seems obvious, but you know there will be one or more owners asking questions such as, ‘How many outfielders do we play? Are there corner infield and middle infield spots?’ Your draft strategy revolves around the league settings. For example, the draft values of stolen base threats Mallex Smith and Dee Gordon jump considerably in roto formats comparatively to points league formats, where the reward for a stolen base is minimal at best. Prepare to gain the edge on the competition. Good luck and happy drafting!”
– Dennis Sosic (Fantasy Six Pack)

“It is possible to overload on too many high-upside players with a high degree of volatility and gamers would be wise to mix in boring, more predictable options as well. Balance is key and one way to achieve balance is by having high-upside and high-floor alternative targets in mind at various points in the draft. For instance, rookie Luis Robert has a tantalizing ceiling with an ADP of 97.0, but Nick Castellanos is an established outfield option going a couple picks earlier with an ADP of 95.2. If you pop Robert out of that tier and go back the outfield well a handful of rounds later, Adam Eaton and his ADP of 184.0 makes for an attractive target instead of the more volatile Byron Buxton with an ADP of 179.2. Hitting on high-upside players who vastly outperform their ADP is a great way to win a fantasy championship, but having too many of these players who flop is a recipe for failure since there simply aren’t enough quality free-agent options to correct whiffs on draft day.”
– Josh Shepardson (FantasyPros)

“Spend three of your first five picks on starting pitching. Starters are scarcer than ever this season and with injuries already mounting, I want three of my top-25 pitchers, which end in the Brandon Woodruff/Corey Kluber/Sonny Gray range. Not only are there plenty of starting pitchers to fill out your staff past the 150 ADP range (Matthew Boyd, Julio Urias, Kenta Maeda, etc.), which means you can hammer hitting for several rounds before even thinking about another starter, but there is so much offense late in drafts that you won’t put yourself behind by focusing on pitching heavily early. Pitchers are riskier generally, but guaranteed, rock-solid starters, particularly those who will give you significant innings, are a rare commodity and it’s worth it to hammer them heavy in the early going.”
– Dan Harris (FantasyPros)

“When closing out your draft, focus on upside, rather than on modest veteran output. A good example of this comes from a deep 15-team draft that I recently participated in when in the 30th round, the team drafting before me added Homer Bailey, then I added Justus Sheffield. Bailey is a decent streamable arm, but he has almost zero upside and a breakout at this point in his career is almost unfathomable. On the other hand, while Justus Sheffield has a higher chance of losing a rotation spot and being completely useless for your fantasy team, he is also a 23-year-old with prospect pedigree and the stuff to make it work. If Sheffield can put it all together, he can make a HUGE impact for your fantasy team, which is something Bailey has no chance of doing.”
– Michael Petropoulos (BRoto Fantasy)

“My biggest takeaway from the drafts I’ve completed so far this year is that you can boost your team late with SP/RPs. The pitchers that are eligible for both starting pitcher and relief pitcher spots are extremely handy as far as roster flexibility is concerned. Plus. there are a number of really excellent options out there that not only will provide great ratios early, but could pick up wins as they evolve into full-time starting pitchers. I’d point you in the direction of Carlos Martinez, Ryan Yarbrough, Adrian Houser, Yonny Chirinos, Ross Stripling, Freddy Peralta, and Corbin Burnes. These players all fall outside the top 200 in ADP, but they can return huge value over the course of a full season, regardless of the role they fill from month-to-month.”
– Bill Dubiel (RotoBaller)

“Make sure you get extremely familiar with the draft platform you’re on. Some players are buried at the bottom of the rankings. If you’re only looking at what’s in front of you, take the time to go through the rankings and put the players at the bottom in your queue. For example, players like Ian Happ, Jordan Montgomery, and Jarrod Dyson are ranked outside the top 500. Some players that emerge over the next week or two that aren’t household names will likely be down the rankings, too. It happens on most sites, so prepare diligently and don’t lose a player you want.”
– Adam Ronis (Fantasy Alarm)

“Be sure you’re up to date on all the injury situations as it seems like this draft season we’ve gotten more of them than usual. Injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and starting pitchers like Chris Sale, Carlos Carrasco, James Paxton, Mike Clevinger, Blake Snell, and now Justin Verlander, in particular. Some of these guys may fall in draft rooms as a result. Be sure to come up with a plan and recognize at what point are you comfortable with taking on the risk with these players as the potential value could be too good to pass up. Look to leverage the uncertainty to your advantage if possible.”
– Ryan Amore (Pitcher List)

“Pay closer attention to players who were hurt last year, but didn’t do or say anything about it until after the season. I’m a big fan of Chris Archer and I don’t think people have strung together his 2019 — he was coming off surgery so he didn’t have a normal offseason. He then proceeded to hurt his thumb in April and his hip in June. Then a bad shoulder kind of underscored the entire year. Just dig back on some fantasy news pages for players who had weird years and you can string together very valid injury excuses that might help you find values like Archer.”
– Nando Di Fino (The Athletic)

“Specifically for 2020, I am attempting to shore up second base in the early rounds if at all possible. Ozzie Albies around pick 30 has been a consistent target of mine and I’ve taken him as high as pick 27 in a couple of drafts. The keystone is a thin position compared to others and catching Albies on the upswing of his career as he is sandwiched between Ronald Acuña Jr. and Freddie Freeman is a primary goal if my draft order dictates that I can begin in such a way. If not, Ketel Marte is a fine consolation prize.”
– Heath Capps (Fake Teams)

“Don’t get caught up in spring training groupthink. The community as a whole often cautions against overvaluing exhibition results, only to start drooling over Jesus Luzardo following one standout outing. I’m a hypocrite as well; I’ve moved the Oakland rookie up my rankings in the last month. He’s rising dangerously close to top-100 pick territory and that’s far too rich for my blood given the likely limited innings.”
– Andrew Gould (FantasyPros)

Thank you to all the experts for giving their top draft tips. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter for more great advice. Also, please check out our latest podcast episode below.

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