2015 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide: Snake Draft Flow Chart
Above you can see what has become my favorite piece of content to produce each year — my flow chart for use in fantasy baseball snake drafts. The idea is for you to be able to use this during your draft along with a list of names (included below) and have all your draft day thinking done for you. Or you can just use it as a reference tool if you want to be a little more autonomous.
This chart is designed for ten-team 5×5 leagues and is best suited for ESPN.com leagues. That means 10-team mixed leagues with 25-man rosters and the following roster settings: C 1B 2B 3B SS MI CI OF OF OF OF OF UT SP SP SP SP SP SP RP RP RP BN BN BN. If you play on Yahoo or another site, the chart should still serve you well. It’s just that I used ESPN ADP to give me an idea about where players could reasonably be expected to still be available. And if you play in a 12-team league, this will still probably be serviceable.
What I did was compare my personal rankings with the ESPN ADP to identify players to target each round. As an example, I have Jose Altuve ranked 14th overall, his ADP is 18th overall, and thus 2B and Mr. Altuve are a candidate for a second round selection.
In instances where I have a player ranked much higher than their ADP, I generally split the difference between my rank and ADP to decide where I would take the player. As an example, I have Daniel Murphy as being worthy of an eighth round pick and his ADP is in the 14th round, so I’d be comfortable taking him in the 11th round. If I were to take Murphy in the eighth round I would eliminate any value potential he might have, but if I waited until the 14th to select him, he’s more likely to get sniped.
I should warn you that I most certainly subscribe to the “wait on pitching philosophy,” so if that’s decidedly not your thing, this strategy may not be for you.
If you’ve used or seen my flow charts before, you might notice that in years past they have been much more complicated with many more tracks down the chart. This year’s chart is relatively simple for two reasons. First, I think things just naturally fell into line a bit more this year than they have in the past. But second, I’m also making a conscious decision to “hedge” less and give you a more accurate description of what I think you should do. I often feel that I provide too many options as a cop out of sorts.
Anyway, that’s enough rambling. They way you use this thing is to take either a first baseman or outfielder in Round 1 and follow Track 1 if you took the former and Track 2 if you took the latter.
Below are the players I would consider taking in each round broken up by position and listed along with my overall ranking of them in parentheses. If a player listed as an option in a previous round is still available in a later round, they are obviously preferable to any players listed as options in the later round. I fully expect that players mentioned in earlier rounds will be available in most rounds of your draft.
If you have questions or would like to post the results of your draft, feel free to hit me up in the comments section. Good luck!
Round 1
First Base: Paul Goldschmidt (4), Jose Abreu (5), Miguel Cabrera (8), Anthony Rizzo (11)
Outfield: Mike Trout (1), Andrew McCutchen (2), Giancarlo Stanton (3), Carlos Gomez (7)
Round 2
Second Base: Jose Altuve (14), Anthony Rendon (18)
Outfield: Yasiel Puig (10)
Round 3
Outfield: Ryan Braun (9), Michael Brantley (25), Jacoby Ellsbury (30)
Round 4
Outfield: Corey Dickerson (34), Yoenis Cespedes (36) Starling Marte (38)
Round 5
First Base/Corner Infield: Adrian Gonzalez (35), Albert Pujols (39)
Outfield: Billy Hamilton (31), George Springer (43), Carlos Gonzalez (45)
Round 6
Starting Pitcher: Cole Hamels (44), Adam Wainwright (51), Matt Harvey (53)
Round 7
Third Base: Nolan Arenado (56), Pablo Sandoval (62), Chris Davis (69)
Round 8
Starting Pitcher: Gerrit Cole (75), Hisashi Iwakuma (73), Masahiro Tanaka(79)
Round 9
Outfield: Christian Yelich (42), Matt Holliday (63), Jason Heyward (72)
Round 10
Outfield: Melky Cabrera (49), Charlie Blackmon (50)
Starting Pitcher: Hyun-Jin Ryu (80), Carlos Carrasco (85)
Round 11
Second Base/Middle Infield: Daniel Murphy (78)
Outfield: Alex Gordon (70), J.D. Martinez (76), Jay Bruce (90)
Round 12
Shortstop: Elvis Andrus (92), Jimmy Rollins (119)
Starting Pitcher: Lance Lynn (116)
Round 13
Middle Infield: Josh Harrison (105), Ben Zobrist (125)
Outfield: Gregory Polanco (103), Leonys Martin (114), Ben Revere (129)
Starting Pitcher: Jose Fernandez (91)
Round 14
Middle Infield: Howie Kendrick (127)
Corner Infield: Eric Hosmer (95), Lucas Duda (130)
Starting Pitcher: Alex Wood (106)
Round 15
Corner Infield: Justin Morneau (141)
Utility: Jayson Werth (136), Rusney Castillo (145), Alex Rios (146)
Round 16
Starting Pitcher: Phil Hughes (111), Francisco Liriano (120), Mike Fiers (123), Ian Kennedy (131)
Round 17
Relief Pitcher: Joaquin Benoit (117), Jake McGee (154)
Round 18
Shortstop: Javier Baez (126), Alcides Escobar (176), Jean Segura (195)
Utility: Denard Span (153), Shin-Soo Choo (156)
Starting Pitcher: Brandon McCarthy (134), Danny Salazar (140)
Rounds 19/20
Starting Pitcher: Collin McHugh (150), Matt Shoemaker (157), Michael Pineda (173)
Relief Pitcher: Addison Reed (175)
Round 21
Catcher: Travis d’Arnaud (202), Wilson Ramos (213)
Rounds 22-25
Starting Pitcher: John Lackey (161), CC Sabathia (172), Jake Peavy (187), Drew Hutchison (197), Scott Kazmir (198)
Relief Pitcher: Ken Giles (210), Santiago Casilla (211), Brad Boxberger (223), Luke Gergerson (224), Tyler Clippard (225)
Outfield: Adam Eaton (144), Joc Pederson (170), Avisail Garcia (178), Desmond Jennings (189)
Infield: Brandon Belt (205), Rougned Odor (132), J.J. Hardy (208)
The Author
14 Comments
No Dee Gordon?
I actually do like Gordon a bit relative to his ADP, but he just didn’t quite fir the plan I was going for. No issues if you ed up taking him.
This is very interesting, I think I will do some mocks and see how this works in my Yahoo H2H categories league. I wonder if you can (or have already) addressed balancing categories though? For example, you can go thru this chart and end up with a team that is very speed heavy, power heavy, etc. Gomez, Altuve, Ellsbury, Marte rounds 1-4 is very different than Stanton, Puig, Braun, Cespedes. Any advice on balancing categories while working thru the chart?
Steve, this is a good question. But I’ll say that I don’t give a ton of mind to balancing categories. Not because it’s not important but just because I’ve found that it generally balances out on its own. I guess the one thing I’m conscious of is going too heavy on speed. It’s going to be hard to have too much power just because it’s so scarce, so I never worry about taking a power bat. But I do try to be aware of how much speed I have. Once I take a second guy with a high steals total, I just tell myself to lean toward power bats the rest of the way.
Hi
I’m in a keeper points espn league. My keeper are Giancarlo, Edwin E, Cargo, Cueto, Smarjida, Jose Fernandez. Where would you go next on your chart? Outfield, 3B, C? I’m thinking Justin Upton, Corey Dickerson, Armando, or Mesaraco
thanks
Definitely not Mesoraco. I’d lean towards Dickerson. If not him, then Arenado.
In 2 catcher leagues, how far up the flow chart would you be inclined to take your 1st catcher….assuming catcher #2 would still be a bottom of the chart selection?
That’s a really tough question to answer. It all depends on how aggressive your leaguemates are in drafting catchers. I can tell you that Buster Posey is borderline worth a first round pick in 2C leagues. But without 2C ADP data to work off of, I can’t tell you when you’re likely to need to go C in your draft. Just make sure you have catcher rankings with you during the draft and mark them off as they go. Make sure you get one guy in the top 10 and another between 11-15 or so. So whenever 7-8 catchers are gone, take your first one. When 12- 13 are gone, take another.
Thx for the info. Im in a 10 team roto keeper league and have Hanley in the 3rd, Marte in the 14th, Tyson Ross 15th, and Brantley 19Th. Since my OF is pretty set, would you recommend chasing some SP with those early picks? Keep in mind most of the top tier guys are taken as it is a keeper league.
It’s really, really hard to say without knowing who is kept and what you’re likely looking at when you make your early picks. But I’m rarely inclined to use more valuable assets on pitching if there is hitting talent that is at all comparable available.
What to do if the “big 3” 2nd baseman are taken after picking up Outfielder?
Great Post. Was wondering, if the “Big 3” 2B are gone in the second round, whats the strategy?
That’s really not happening in ESPN drafts. But if you’re playing elsewhere, I’d recommend just grabbing another outfielder or a first baseman if a good one is left. Then in round 4 or 5 when you were going to go 1B or OF, I might look at Dee Gordon. I left him off this chart because he didn’t quite fit the plan. But you could go that direction if you miss out on the 2Bs in Round 2.
Thanks. Great post by the way. I dig your strategy.