If you are new to the high-stakes fantasy baseball world, drafts can be overwhelming when you first sit down at the table. It is not just the larger amounts of money being played for or the amazing talent drafting against you that can be jarring, but the way rosters are constructed, which is different from your average fantasy league.
In my last pieces on high-stakes leagues, we looked at how to approach the early rounds and hitters. In this article, we will talk about my approach to the middle and late rounds of a high-stakes draft.
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High-Stakes Leagues Draft Strategy: Middle & Late Rounds
Start at the End
It may seem counterintuitive but when you are thinking about who to draft you should look at the end of the draft before the beginning. After you have done your player analysis, you should have a list of players you feel are undervalued at specific positions or certain categories. If you read my early-round advice piece, you already know this. If you have not, then I suggest you do.
What are you looking for in the middle round? First, it is important to realize most of these players will be dropped. Even on a good team, you are likely to drop anywhere from 13-17 of your 30 initial players. After round 15, you should be looking to keep a well-balanced team in terms of categories, but unlike the first 15 rounds, you can take a bit more risk in terms of the downside. You do not want to take all risky players, but this is the spot where you should focus on the upside of a player rather than the downside. In the beginning of the draft I focus on minimizing risk, in the middle and the end, I want guys that could pop and return a ton of value.
At the end of the draft, you are looking to fill out your roster, but also look for ways to set up your team for the early season. I know a lot of people like to draft backups for every position — corner infielders, middle infielders, outfielders and a few pitchers — but there are a few different ways to approach it. The first way would be to load up on potential closers in unsettled situations. Grab pitchers like Tommy Kahnle, in case he wins the job for the Tigers, or someone like JoJo Romero, in case the Cardinals trade away Ryan Helsley.
The Importance of Streaming
Another thing you can do is look at the schedule for good streamers. This is a different start to the season with the Cubs and Dodgers playing a two-game series in Japan on March 18th and 19th. You could load up on Dodgers and Cubs players to sneak stats in that series and then drop them to the waiver wire before the rest of the teams begin playing.
If you are going to do this, make sure this is a separate scoring period. Last season in drafts that happened after the Seoul Series, Daniel Hudson was pushed up in several fantasy baseball drafts just to secure his win from the series. If you would rather do something else, you could target Pirates pitchers against Miami, the Angels versus the White Sox, the Rays against the Rockies or hitters from the Giants and Reds, who play in the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.
The most important thing to do is continue to stay balanced so you have a shot at the overalls you are competing for. Here are the 80-percentile targets for last season’s NFBC (National Fantasy Baseball Championship) Main Event:
Hitters
| Runs | Home Runs | RBI | Stolen Bases | AVG |
| 1,037 | 290 | 1,000 | 189 | .255 |
Pitchers
| Strikeouts | Wins | Saves | ERA | WHIP |
| 1,382 | 92 | 72 | 3.573 | 1.162 |
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