The Night Before the Fantasy Draft

I have analyzed my mock drafts and decided that I am going with the pitcher first strategy. Of the 12 times I used that strategy, my projected finish was 1st for 11 of them. The 12th one was a projected second place finish.

I will pick a starting pitcher for at least the first three rounds. I am going for a combination of projected strikeouts and WHIP. My top five SP are Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer, David Price, Johnny Cueto. If any of them are still available in the fourth, I will probably pick them up. I know that Sale will not be available on Opening Day, but he should only miss 1 or 2 starts.

The next two rounds will be for closers. For them, I look at projected saves and WHIP. My top three closers are Craig Kimbrel, Greg Holland, and Aroldis Chapman. Kimbrel and Holland are usually both available in the fourth and fifth, and sometimes the sixth rounds.

Then I fill in the rest of the four pitcher spots and one of the bench spots. I do not take a starting pitcher with a WHIP of 1.20 or more, and I do not take a closer with a WHIP of 1.10 or more if I can help it.

Once my pitchers are set, I look at the position players. I go after the players with the most projected runs, keeping an eye on their batting average and stolen bases. I will look at catchers first, to see if Buster Posey or Jonathan Lucroy are available. Then I look at 2B, 3B, and SS. 1B is not big on runs or stolen bases. OF is deep in both of those categories, so I tend to get them later.

Once my bench starts filling up, I start to look at what I still need. Yan Gomes is a good later round pickup for catcher. Eric Hosmer has over 70 runs scored projected, which is good for a 1B. Adam Eaton and A.J. Pollock have consistently been available in later rounds.

Overall, my goals for the 2015 projections are:

1000 Runs Scored

200 Stolen Bases

.285 Average

95 Wins

120 Saves

1500 Strikeouts

2.95 ERA

1.10 WHIP

If I can hit those numbers, my team will be hard to beat. I am giving up home runs and runs batted in, but if my pitchers dominate, I only need one or two offensive categories.

My draft starts on Sunday, March 22 at 7:00pm EDT. I will live tweet my draft choices as I make them. You can follow it either by my twitter handle (@djweller72) or by the hashtag #DJDraft.