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While the delay to the start of the MLB season is hard on everyone, it does allow for deeper dives into different aspects of fantasy baseball. You’ll notice that we’re doing this on a team-by-team and player-by-player basis with a pair of series we’ve put together. Additionally, we’re going to examine fantasy baseball on a round-by-round basis, covering 12 players per article and providing you a plethora of info specific to each fantasy baseball round.

We’ll keep things going with Round 23. You can find the complete series here.

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Round 23 Player List

Expert Analysis*

 
*Value: A total assigned to how the overall fantasy value of the round compares with other rounds relative to ADP/ECR (10 = most value: 1 = least value); Risk: A total assigned to how much potential risk exists compared with other rounds (10 = most risk: 1 = least risk); Studs: the number of potential league-winning players that can be found in the round; Busts: the number of potential busts that can be found in the round.

Q1. Who has the most league-winning potential of any Round 23 fantasy pick?

 
Q2. Who has the biggest bust potential of any Round 23 fantasy pick?

Q3. What is your general strategy tip for Round 23?

Jo Adell is a superstar in the making. The biggest question is whether he even plays at all this season and I wonder how a shortened would impact his ETA. At this point in the draft, I am more than willing to take that risk. Rich Hill is fantastic when he’s on the mound but always seems to get hurt. Injury-prone pitchers are a major avoid for me. The other players here are unexciting, but at least Hamels, Quintana, and DeSclafani should eat some innings on teams with potent offenses.
– Jarad Evans (@Jarad_Evans)

Hill is going to get more love in late drafts, but this would be a great spot to take the grizzled vet in hopes of some brief brilliance. Although Akiyama may not carry tremendous upside, he could prove a tremendous investment if leading off as Cincinnati’s starting center fielder. I’ll take him or Hays instead of Adell, who needed a bit more minor-league seasoning after humdrum Triple-A results (.264/.321/.355) late last year.
– Andrew Gould (@AndrewGould4)

I’ll be the one to pump the brakes on Adell, I don’t believe in him for 2020 given his high strikeout rate in the minors last year, among other things. The guy I want is the other Angel in this group – Shohei Ohtani. There is no reason for him to fall this far in the draft now, and if you play in a daily lineup changes league where you can use him as both a hitter and a pitcher, he is one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball.
– Jon Anderson (@JonPGH)

There’s an interesting phenomenon that happens in most drafts regarding starting pitchers. That is, inflation causes us to overpay in the first few rounds but usually pushes a massive crop of depth pieces to the back. I’m usually not drafting one at this point, but we could do far worse than some of the names available here as a bench arm. Assuming my pitching is deep enough — which is always a priority of mine — I’m still going for the highest upside player. I’m not as much a fan of Jo Adell as others in the industry, but I see the path for him to easily over-deliver relative to his ADP.
– Mario Mergola (@MarioMergola)

I’ve likely leaned towards hitting throughout the draft, so I’m rounding out my pitching in this round, and Rich Hill makes for a great option. He is being overlooked due to yet another injury and wasn’t going to be ready to pitch until the second half. Now, he’s looking like a great source for four categories in a delayed season. If I still don’t have a third reliever or don’t like the remaining SPs on the board, I’ll look for a guy like Seth Lugo or Emili0 Pagan for ratios help, given most of the high-upside guys I focused on previously likely won’t post elite ratios. If you leaned pitching and Austin Hays is still on the board, he makes for a great bench outfielder. He’ll have the reins on the full-time job in centerfield and has the potential for 25 homers and a combined 150 runs and RBI.
– Carmen Maiorano (@carmsclubhouse)

This round is filled with both upside and likely busts, seeing as though a handful of them likely won’t even having starting (or closing) jobs. If they do, though, someone like Jo Adell or Ross Stripling could breakout. The most likely breakout player, though, is Wil Myers, who may be playing his games out of San Diego’s pitcher-friendly park. By far the best value at this point is Rich Hill, who should now be healthy by a likely July Opening Day.
– Bobby Sylvester (@bobbyfantasypro)

There are a ton of intriguing players going in this round, many of whom see drastic increases in their value because of the delayed start to the season. They include Rich Hill, Shohei Ohtani, and Cole Hamels, who benefit from additional time to recover from injury, as well as Wil Myers, who benefit from the universal DH. Grabbing any of them here is a steal in my opinion. Shogo Akiyama is a sneaky pick this late, too, as he should leadoff for the Reds most days on the strong side of a platoon.
– Dan Harris (@danharris80)

Complete Round-by-Round Fantasy Baseball Draft Analysis

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