In a perfect world, I would break into Microsoft to steal Majorana 1, the new quantum computing chip that created its own unique state of matter, in order to do the work of millions of computers instantly.
Most would use this chip for financial gain: hacking blockchains, brute forcing passwords, creating their own AI company, etc. But I would use this chip for one reason, to run millions of salary cap mock drafts simultaneously to find trends and to identify outliers from drafting. Therefore dominating every draft I am in.
However, due to California’s Three-Strikes Rule, I need to keep my head down. So I was moved on to the clear, next best option, FantasyPros mock drafts.
Here’s a recent mock draft, and here’s another one.
Now ask yourself, what exactly are you getting from me doing mock drafts? That is correct, very little. You need to be doing mock drafts on your own to prepare to pivot on the fly. Say you go in to borrow a quantum computing chip from Microsoft, and you plan on entering through the roof, but when you get there, there is security guarding it. Do you try anyway? No way, you have to pivot. It’s the same as mock auction drafts.
Therefore, what I’ll do as the self-appointed FantasyPros auction expert is prepare you for your mock draft. I’ll help you go about your mock drafts correctly and be better prepared for the real one. I already described the stars and scrubs strategy a few days ago.
So, let’s dive in a little deeper on how to prepare for mock drafts and, therefore, your real draft.
- 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
- Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Baseball Research & Advice
- Fantasy Baseball Average Draft Position (ADP)
Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Limitations of Mock Drafts
- Sleepers will be sleepers in your mock draft but not your real draft. Everyone reads sleepers’ articles, and players shoot up or down draft boards once the real drafting starts.
- The aging, overpriced, close-to-the-cliff player that you hope will go expensive to someone else will in mock drafts. However, that is likely not the case during your real draft.
- AI cannot predict your uncle and two cousins spending 90% of their money on the first 20 players. There WILL be value in the mid-rounds of your real auction, but not so much in mock drafts.
How To Prepare Your Budget
Pad your budget to prepare for a bidding war. If a player is projected at $44 and you’re targeting him, plan to spend $50. Projected at $2? Plan to pay $4. If you spend less than you prepared for, allocate that money to extra positions during the draft.
Tier It Up
Your draft strategy should be based on tiers. As you get into auction drafts with more experienced players, you’ll find a trend where the first player in a tier will almost always go for the same or less than the last player in the tier.
Don’t be surprised if a run-in draft goes like this, in this order:
- Mookie Betts (OF, 2B, SS – LAD) | $45
- Gunnar Henderson (OF, SS – BAL) | $44
- Elly De La Cruz (SS – CIN) | $44
- Francisco Lindor (SS – NYM) | $49
This will happen constantly during your real drafts but less so in mock drafts. Tier 2 of shortstops has the four players listed above. Once the first three go, everyone is looking at the last player in the tier like a T-Bone Steak. Everyone in the league who needs a shortstop will go $7-8 over budget, knowing this is their last chance to get a top-20 player at SS.
Break down tiers and target players within tiers early. Do you have $45 allocated for shortstop? Be ready to pull the trigger on the first player in the tier nominated for drafting. If you see only one elite guy left in a tier, I promise everyone else sees that, too.
Practice Your Mock Drafts
I get that I’m biased, but the FantasyPros Draft Wizard is elite. There is nothing like this anywhere else.
I’ll do another mock draft now. Hold Please.
For this one, I went with the anti-thesis of my starts and scrubs strategy: Outfield and utility heavy while punting middle infield.
It is nice to have Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker and Fernando Tatis Jr. Still, this team is not my cup of tea.
Keeping it going, let’s do a mock prioritizing elite starting pitching to an almost comical degree. I got an A+ grade, and I like this team much better than my last one.
OK, now let’s do a mock draft with zero top 30 players and go for depth. It’s not horrible, but it’s not how I want to draft a team.
How do you want your team to look? That’s the beauty of these auction drafts. Just be ready to pivot. Keep mock drafting. I know I’ll probably do a few more before I start my long drive to Redmond, Wash.
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