If you have a draft coming up this weekend and you have no idea what to do, I have the answer for you. The answer is the image below which is a flow chart for you to follow during your draft. There are three tracks you can follow depending on who you select in the first round. It’s up to you who that person is so long as you select a first baseman, outfielder or Miguel Cabrera. If you take Robinson Cano or a pitcher first, I can’t help you. I’ll talk you through each track after the picture.

Before we discuss each track, I should point out that this chart is loosely based on ESPN’s rankings and live draft results. That’s the site I use for almost all of my leagues and I recommend you do the same. If you play on a different site, I still recommend each player below being taken at the same time. But I’m fairly certain that most of these guys will be available in the round I recommend for ESPN drafts whereas I can’t be so sure of that being the case on other sites.

Additionally, this chart is designed to help those in ten-team mixed leagues. This is the most popular and most played format.

Track 2

Let’s start with Track 2 in which your first round pick is in the middle of the round.

You should start out with a first baseman if you have a pick in the middle of the first round. Albert Pujols and Joey Votto are the guys to target. In the next five rounds you should get an ace starting pitcher, a second baseman and three outfielders. You’re only taking a starter in the second if Justin Verlander or Clayton Kershaw fall to you. Otherwise, take an outfielder like Giancarlo Stanton or Justin Upton if they fall to you. If they don’t, grab Jose Bautista. At second, you’re either taking Dustin Pedroia in the third, or, if he doesn’t fall to you, one of Aaron Hill, Ben Zobrist or Jason Kipnis in the sixth. I prefer Hill. The other outfielders to target in this second to sixth round range are Jason Heyward, Adam Jones, Jay Bruce, Matt Holliday and Yoenis Cespedes. And if Verlander and Kershaw didn’t get back to you in the second, look for Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee in the fourth or CC Sabthia and R.A. Dickey in the fifth or sixth.

In the 7th and 8th you need another starter and a corner infield guy. The best hitters tend to play first base, so I’m a proponent of grabbing three of them fairly early to put in your 1B, CI and UTIL slots. Hope for Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman to hang around until the 7th. If they do, grab ’em. If not, go ahead and grab Anthony Rizzo or Eric Hosmer in the 8th. For your second starter, target Johnny Cueto or Jordan Zimmermann. If they don’t make it to you, look at grabbing Max Scherzer or maybe even Kris Medlen if you want to roll the dice a bit.

In the 9th, 10th, and 11th you need another first baseman for your UTIL spot, another starter and your fourth outfielder. Rizzo and Hosmer are again the targets here, this time for the UTIL spot. If Shin-Soo Choo is available for you in the 9th, he’s a must-grab. If not, consider Alex Gordon or Carlos Gomez for your 4th outfielder. Curtis Granderson is also an interesting name at this point. Don’t be afraid to stash him on your DL and use a late round selection to cover for him early in the season. And for you third starter, take a look at Scherzer if he’s still there or his teammate, Doug Fister. If they’re both gone, pick up Yovani Gallardo, Matt Moore, or even Anibal Sanchez.

In the 12th, 13th and 14th you need someone for your middle infield spot, a third baseman and a fourth starter. I think the clear choice for the middle infield guy is Rickie Weeks. But if you’re not a believer, Neil Walker is a nice choice. At third, Mike Moustakas is my guy. If you miss out on him, I also believe in Will Middlebrooks. And for the fourth starter, Jarrod Parker and Jeff Samardzija should be available and are great options.

In the 15th and 16th it’s time to grab a closer and your fifth outfielder. At closer, grab John Axford if he falls. If not, look at Addison Reed, Huston Street or Rafael Betancourt. For your fifth outfielder, please, please, please reach for Norichika Aoki. You’ll have to hope someone else hasn’t already done so. Take Aoki in the 15th to make sure you get him and then get a closer. If someone was wise to Aoki’s sleeper value and he’s gone, reach for another sleeper I like, Jayson Werth.

In the 17th and 18th grab you a catcher and shortstop. These positions suck this year, but there are actually a few guys at each position being undervalued and going late enough to return some value. At catcher look at Wilin Rosario, Salvador Perez or Jonathan Lucroy. At shortstop grab Alcides Escobar if he falls. If not, consider Josh Rutledge, Derek Jeter or Andrelton Simmons.

Track 3

This track is almost the same as the first, but there are just a few minor differences. The first is that Verlander and Kershaw are not options in the second round because there will be better hitters available to you at the top of the second round. The second difference is that Pedroia is not an option in the third round. You will simply select one of Hill, Zobrist or Kipnis in the fifth or sixth. Another difference is where you take your first baseman since you obviously won’t be taking him with your first round pick. Grab either Prince Fielder in the second, Edwin Encarnacion in the third or one of Goldschmidt (preferred) or Freeman in the fifth or sixth. After the sixth round, everything is the same as it was in Track 2.

The only other difference is a big one: Who are you taking in the first round? If Matt Kemp or Andrew McCutchen fall that far, snatch them up. But they won’t. So I recommend Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Upton or Giancarlo Stanton.

Track 1

If I have a top three pick, I’m taking Cabrera should he be available to me. I am not a believer in drafting based on positional scarcity when there are other hitters that could be taken from other positions that will produce significantly better numbers. But Cabrera is squarely in a tier with Ryan Braun and Mike Trout, so I don’t see this as a situation where you would be giving up production and numbers because of positional scarcity. These three are essentially in a tie from my point of view, so I’m using positional scarcity to break it and taking Miggy in the first.

With your second round pick (which will come at the end of the round) hope Jose Bautista falls to you. If not, take Jason Heyward. In rounds three through seven you should take two more outfielders, a starter, a second baseman and a first baseman. Again the outfielders to target are Jones, Bruce, Holliday and Cespedes. At starter, grab Lee or Hamels in the fourth or CC/RA in the fifth or sixth. Once again you’ll also be selecting one of the trio of second basemen, Hill, Zobrist and Kipnis. And you’ll also be grabbing Goldschmidt or Freeman again.

From there, things are essentially the same as they are in the other two tracks.

Rounds 19-25

By the end of the 18th, your entire offense should be filled out and you will have four starters and one closer. You’ll need three more starters, two closers and a couple of bench bats.

The following is a list of starters I like going in the 19th round or later according to ESPN ADP in the order that I would select them: Mike Minor, Ryan Vogelsong, Alex Cobb, Jaime Garcia, A.J. Burnett, Edwin Jackson, Brandon McCarthy, Jason Hammel, Dillon Gee, Justin Masterson, Paul Maholm, Felix Doubront.

As for closers, here are the guys I would target late in the order that I would select them: Tom Wilhelmsen, Steve Cishek, Jason Grilli, Glen Perkins, Bobby Parnell, Grant Balfour, Brandon League, Casey Janssen, Jose Veras, Carlos Marmol.

You should select bench bats based on the needs of your team. That could mean you select players who are better than average at a category in which you might be a little weak. Or it could mean that you have an injury risk at a certain position that you want to backup. But whatever it means, here are a few guys from each position I like as bench bats in no particular order: Garrett Jones, David Murphy, Starling Marte, Daniel Murphy, Everth Cabrera, Jean Segura, Kyle Seager, Jeff Keppinger.