The Essential Draft Strategy for Fantasy Baseball - Aditya Sriwasth

These tips will help you earn some serious cash

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the 2016 baseball season is just around the corner. That also means that fantasy baseball drafts are in full swing as fans spend hours on end stacking up all sorts of weird and obscure stats to evaluate whether a player is worth drafting. You have the usual first rounders, the obvious busts, the unknown sleepers, the next Mike Trouts, and ageless wonders like David Ortiz and Jeff Francouer. 

This year I have decided to share my vast knowledge when it comes to the world of fantasy baseball. I believe I have the right credentials to be a fantasy baseball guru and my resume includes a vast amount of achievements, such as:

• Drafting Kurt Suzuki in the 2nd Round
• Drafting Bryce Harper every year
• Trading Mike Trout for Roy Halladay and Dan Uggla
• Trading Clayton Kershaw for Jacoby Ellsbury
• Picking up and dropping Trevor Bauer every week
• Never making it past the first round of the playoffs

But enough gloating about myself. Let's get right into the article. Here are my tips that will enable you to excel in the art of fantasy baseball and guarantee instantaneous success for years to come:

1) Always go with your gut: Look, I get it. You spend hours upon hours every day building up to the draft flipping through stats, listening to podcasts, and reading every article on Bleacher Report that states "Yasiel Puig is a massive sleeper". But let's face it, when it comes to draft day, the first instinct that comes to your head is: "Statistics be damned". Who cares what Mark Simon or Buster Olney have to say when you can finally have your man-crush, Albert Pujols, in your lineup! Sure, everything you've read up until this point indicates he's old, has injury risk, and plays on the Angels, but who cares? He can be part of YOUR team! Isn't that more important than all this sabermetric gibberish? If you don't believe in the fact that this is a brilliant fantasy strategy, just look at the Philadelphia Phillies. 

2) Be Extremely Superficial: I think this speaks for itself. You're sitting there trying to decide between taking Josh Donaldson or David Freese as your team's third baseman. Donaldson has a horrible haircut, not to mention he got traded away from abandoned my favorite team, the Oakland A's. David Freese on the other hand, tied Game Six of the World Series and then won it in extra innings. He became a hero for the Cardinals and is a playoff legend. He's pretty good looking too. Go with Freese.

3) Judge a book by its cover name: Would you rather have  a team that ends up having some of the most boring names in the world like Chris Davis, Adam Jones and Gerrit Cole or would you rather field a team with names like Felix Doubront, Jeff Samardizijia, Fernando Rodney and Humberto Quintero? I prefer the latter. You should too.

He's a Legend

4) Bryce Harper HAS to be on your team: It's simple. If you couldn't get him on draft day, just trade Andrew McCutchen and Clayton Kershaw to get him. He's that good and he's the catalyst for any fantasy team to win the championship. Besides, he's Bryce Harper! (Side note: I have a serious man-crush on Bryce Harper, but that did not factor into this advice whatsoever)

5) Overreach for your sleepers: Yes, all your friends know you dig Trevor Bauer and you still believe in him to turn things around. Yes, you can get him for dirt cheap in the last round. But that's where you're wrong. If YOU think he's a sleeper, there's at least one more person who feels the same way. Go grab him in the 8th round and prove the doubters wrong. You wont regret it.  

6) Patience is Overrated: Look, you have Andrew Mccutchen who is hitting .190 the first 2 weeks into the season. Your friend offers you Chase Headley who is hitting .600 with 5 Home Runs in the first 2 weeks. Why should you wait to grab such a deal that is naturally in your favor? Go with the hot batter. Patience is definitely overrated and I stick by this principle strongly.

7) Experts are Overrated (except me): This is actually one point that everyone will pretty much agree with.  When Eric Karabell tells me that Brett Lawrie will Breakout in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, I kept listening to him and drafted him way higher than I should have. These experts are all talk, no action credibility. Just follow my advice and you'll be set. 

These tips I have shared are a guarantee to your teams success. I can't believe I am spilling out these secrets because this will make all my opponents better. However, I thought it was my duty as an American and a Sportskop writer to spread my wisdom to the beloved reader. 

Good luck finishing in last dominating this baseball season!

- Aditya Sriwasth

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About Aditya Sriwasth

Aditya is the Founder, President, and Publisher of SportsKop. His favorite sports teams are the Oakland Athletics, San Jose Sharks, San Francisco 49ers, and most importantly, Liverpool FC. He is a student of the game, who has mastered the rules of the sports he covers, and brings passion, humor, and a fan’s perspective to the writing he contributes. He never really fared too well as a baseball player and therefore called it quits and decided to just mumble about sports. He's fat and obsessed with Steven Gerrard and Bryce Harper, and also has a massive celebrity crush on Kate Upton.

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