Speaker 1Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch rushing deep left field. This is where the walk of life. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasybaseball at cbsi.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris.
Speaker 2What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball Today on Wednesday, November 4th. I am Frank Stample and we're taking a little break from our position recaps today on the show. We are doing a draft and hold primer strategy on the format. If there are any sickos who like to draft way, way, way too early for next season, hopefully there's a season, then this is the show for you. We will also have way too early ETAs for top prospects in 2027. And here to help me is somebody who dominates in both of those areas. Prospects, draft and hold. He is James Anderson. James, thanks for hopping up, man.
Speaker 3Appreciate it. Of course, Frank. Thanks for having me. Great to be here.
Speaker 2Yes, James Anderson. Now with Baseball America, formerly of Roto-Wire. If you play fantasy baseball, if you play dynasty fantasy baseball, you definitely know who James is. But he is a prospect savant. He's also a fantastic fantasy player, especially in the draft and hold format. He won the Tout Wars Draft and Hold League this past season. He won two NFBC Draft Champions Leagues, one of which finished 26th overall. He's got 5,500 teams, so that's pretty impressive stuff there. Also took down in NFBC Main Event League. So congrats to you, man. Just an awesome, awesome season. And then on top of that, I guess we can just get into this now. You're a Milwaukee Brewers fan. So like awesome fantasy baseball season for you. And then the Brewers won the World Series. So can't really get much better than that.
Speaker 3Yeah, dude. I think the Brewers winning. I mean, it was so much fun for the state and it was so much fun for my friends. My family. I feel like you probably enjoyed the Knicks winning more than I enjoyed the Brewers winning. Just so long working in the fantasy baseball industry. It's kind of beaten the fandom out of me just a little bit as I try to stay as impartial as possible. But I mean, it was just I feel like the whole state needed it. The whole state has been rooting for this Brewers team to break through for years and years. And, you know, they've gotten not super close the last few years. But they've just always had a good team. They've always won a ton of regular season games. So just having that formula pay off or, you know, work out in the playoffs, you know, I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen. And there were just so many series where it felt like the other team had the like two to three best hitters in the series. Whereas this year, it felt like the Brewers always had, you know, two or three guys that were just getting hits whenever it mattered. And it was just a. It was a ton of fun. So, yeah, it's been a blast.
Speaker 2And it was no easy path, man. It was you guys had to slay Goliath. You had to get through the Dodgers to get to the World Series, obviously, like facing the Padres in the wildcard round. Padres were the hottest team in baseball coming into the playoffs. So it was it was a tough round for sure. And even the Rays, like, yeah, the Brewers handled the Rays in the World Series for the most part. But I mean, the Rays were one of the best teams in baseball all season long. And that was a really interesting just comparison between those two teams, the Brewers and the Rays. And the Rays were one of the best teams in baseball all season long. Three of the final four teams in the playoffs were smaller markets, smaller payrolls. So does that factor into any CBA negotiations this offseason? I would I would hope so, but probably not. Well, we'll see what happens there. And I mentioned you are now with Baseball America and you are pumping out a bunch of content. So I'll give you an opportunity now just to promote everything you have going on.
Speaker 3Oh, man. Well, yeah. Top 100 rookies for twenty twenty seven leagues, full write ups on all hundred prospects that went out Monday, I think. And then top 40 Dynasty second baseman went out this morning. Wednesday also did a full Dynasty top 500, a first year player draft top 100 with with full write ups. And I had a redraft top 350 that I released, you know, a few weeks ago. That's that's already, you know, out of date with with ADP public and everything. Like that. But yeah, I mean, there's if you just go to the Baseball America fantasy tab, you'll be able to see everything I've been working on.
Speaker 2Nice. Yeah, it's a very interesting time. You mentioned NFBC ADP has been released. Very, very tiny sample. It's only like 18 drafts and a bunch of things are going to change. So do not take this ADP as gospel. But it is just interesting to see the start of kind of where things are being laid out for the twenty twenty seven draft season. And again, you can find that over at the NFBC. And steamer projections are out to over on fan graph. So it's an interesting time where we could start to to kind of dissect projections and ADP and all that fun stuff. Let's get right into it. Lots to talk about with the draft and hold format for those wondering what this is. These are 50 round drafts. That's right. Fifty rounds where you draft your team, you set your lineups in season and that's it. There there is no in season waiver wire. There is no trading. You draft a team of 50 players and you hope that you can get them out there. You have enough healthy bodies to make it through the season. But everybody is playing under the same rules. So it's like you got 50 guys and you have to make it work. But obviously there's a lot of roster construction and things that play into that. The most popular draft and hold format is over on the NFBC. That is called a draft Champions League. Those are 15 team roto leagues with a one hundred dollar one hundred fifty dollar entry fee. And then they also have the NFBC fifties, which are essentially the same thing. But instead of 15 team leagues, there are 12 teamers. And the entry fee is 50 dollars instead of one hundred fifty. There might be other websites that do a version of a draft and hold league. But I would say those are probably the most popular ones in the industry right now. And it's a very fun format, especially again for the sickos who already want to get back into drafting and think about, you know, on the clock decisions and things like that. Again, these are roto leagues, standard five by five categories, batting average, home runs, runs, RBI steals, ERA whip, wins, strikeouts and saves. I want to start with the macro and then we kind of could work our way in. First and foremost, like, how do you draft these teams, especially this early? But do you draft off of your own personal rankings? Do you are your projections about base draft? I know a lot of people draft off of projections. Do you have any spreadsheets? Are you following category targets? It's a loaded question questions, but take it however you want to go with it.
Speaker 3Sure. Yeah. I mean, so I've done three. I've done three draft champions already, so I'm definitely a sicko. But when I did those three, there was not any public 2026 or 2027 projections, I should say. So, like, the only projections I was really looking at for those was I was looking at the like, oopsie. What are they like? It was like the oopsie rest of season. Yeah, the oopsie update rest of season. I was looking at a little bit just because that kind of gives you the projections for the final. A couple of months of 2026 and just, you know, make sure I'm not like missing anyone. And then I'm really I've got like by position, you know, sort of rough personal rankings, you know, catcher, first base, second base. And I'm trying to go sort of as deep as the 50 round player pool at at each of those positions. You know, I'm not going to include every single scrub who's eligible at second base that's going in like the 600s or whatever. But just. You know, all the guys that are going in the top, you know, 350, 450 by position and then targets after that sort of by position. And then the great thing about the draft and hold format is that you have a long clock, right? Like you might have an hour, you might have two hours, four hours to make your pick. So you can really sort of take your time, look at the positions, look at the best available at each positions, try to get a sense of, you know, where's. The cliff here, like where where's a spot that's going to dry up or also, you know, conversely, maybe, you know, I think there's like shortstops pretty deep this year. First base is pretty deep this year. So, like, if I know that looking at my my positional rankings, maybe I'll go a different direction early on in the draft. I tend to go, you know, pitchers, outfielders, catchers with a lot of my my early picks. Just. Kind of based on the way I sort of view the different positions. So I definitely look at projections and the more projections that come out, I'm looking at all of them and I'm keeping those sort of, you know, auction calculator tabs open while I'm doing the draft, constantly checking those out. And when I'm on the clock, seeing seeing what my options are, I think it's less to me, it's it's at least less about targeting specific players early on. Like, you know. You know, you're not going to if you just say, like, I need to get, you know, whoever, like, I need to get Cooper Pratt in this draft. Like that, you know, that's fun. Like, I think Cooper Pratt's a great target, but you don't want to just be sort of chasing him up and being like, well, man, he sometimes he goes this high. I got to take him here. Like, I'm I'm more just kind of looking at the positions, which positions might be drying up and then also which stats am I not going to be able to get later? Like, I think. offensively, you're batting average and your power like that base needs to be established with your first you know six seven hitters that you take like you're not gonna you might be able to get some power with a bad batting average later you might be able to get some batting average with not much power later but the guys that are going to help you in both of those categories they dry up in those first you know handful around so um more willing to wait on stolen bases um but it's just it's it's really kind of more about the positions than the specific players when i'm when i'm doing these
Speaker 2dcs yeah so you mentioned that you have your own kind of personal rankings that you're drafting off of while looking at projections and everything look rankings this early there just hasn't been enough time to deep dive every single player but i guess that's why you can do it while you're on the clock and you know taking time and things like that but like when when you make these for this first rough draft of rankings is it just like everything that's off the top of your head by the end of the day you're like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my god i'm gonna be like oh my or you like are you deep diving every single player that you're ranking so far like i guess this is different than what we were just talking about but i guess it's like your rankings process
Speaker 3yeah i mean i would say shallow dives on everybody uh and then as i do my work like i'm doing positional breakdowns like i did catchers already first base i just did second base this week that's kind of when i'm doing the deeper dive and that's when i'm kind of oh like you know maybe i on sam antinacci uh at the end of the season after doing this deep dive so maybe i'll bump him down a little bit um you know maybe i didn't fully appreciate um you know somebody else and i'll bump them up a little bit but yeah it's it's you know i start with those sort of rough shallow dive rankings by position then when i'm on the clock i'll look at the projections and kind of double check like does this make sense you know who are the next best guys at this position how similar that how similar are they to the guy i'm considering taking here uh what are my chances in my mind that one of these players makes it back to me with my next pick all that type of stuff but um yeah i mean it's the rankings like you said like i could put together a way better set of rankings you know once all the projection systems are out all that stuff like the closer we get to opening day the better your rankings are going to be just because you're going to have more information more projections to look at and i think that's kind of the way i'm doing it um so these these early like rough rankings are certainly not um stuff that i would like stake my reputation on but when you're in these early drafts there's no adp there's no there's no public projections like we're all working off of kind of you know a little bit of gut a little bit of oh i really like this guy um so like that's to me that's part of the fun of drafting before there's any adp out there
Speaker 2yeah yeah for sure i i think that's probably a way that a lot of us that you know drafting or recapping the season kind of do that too like we're doing these recap podcasts right now and so we look at the top 12 at each position and that's what i'm deep diving every top 12 at each position so i i've you know dug pretty deep into at least all the infield positions so far i haven't really gotten into outfielders or starting pitchers so completely flying blind in that way right now but i also haven't looked into the players like forward thinking i've only looked at the players that have finished top 12 at each position so i haven't really looked into the top 12 at each position so i haven't really looked into the connor griffin yet or uh you know someone that i'm ranking high for next season so that's kind of uh i guess a weird situation at least for me just the way that you know i've my my off season has gone so far let's take a quick break uh before we do just a reminder first pitch arizona this weekend james and i will both be there so uh if you are out at first pitch arizona presented by baseball hq come say hi come hang out it's gonna be a lot of fun we're both gonna be part of panels i'm not sure if you're doing a live podcast what are you doing while you're out there james i guess we can just let everyone know
Speaker 3yeah i'm doing a dc primer so basically this this podcast but uh with with dustin mccomas tomorrow afternoon then uh tomorrow night i'm doing like the al labor recap and then friday night i'm doing a a dynasty blueprint with uh kyle sontag and taylor corso from prospects live
Speaker 2nice yeah so uh again we're both going to be out there chris and i are doing a live fbt podcast friday at 10 a.m uh that's arizona time so like noon eastern time i think it's gonna be live on the youtube channel as well we're gonna be talking about the toughest players to rank for 2027 uh we'll be kokomo friday theme so that should be a lot of fun um and then friday afternoon i think 5 p.m i'm part of like the nl only panel so like nl labor nl uh tout wars uh so yeah should be a lot of fun we're gonna go to games and stuff home run derby so yeah if you're out there definitely come say hello let's take that uh quick break and we'll be back right after this welcome back in fantasy baseball today we're doing a draft and hold primer with james anderson of baseball america let's get into roster construction here for the draft and hold format and i think the question that people might have the most or at least i have had at least um also throughout the course of doing these drafts is just like what is the best ratio of hitters to pitchers you know is it you draft 20% of the pitchers what is that pitcher breakdown between starters and relievers how many hitters and this feels like maybe the most important thing but uh and people might do it differently i don't know that there is exactly a right answer but james how do you typically go about roster construction in this format yeah
Speaker 3it's it's definitely something that you kind of feel out through the years um i've sort of settled on 22 pitchers as sort of my rough goal um i'm probably more likely to get 23 than 21 uh but that sort of feels like the sweet spot to me and then among the 22 pitchers you know i would say six are definite relievers and then you know maybe there might be one or two it's not clear if they're relievers or starters but that's that's typically my breakdown you know the i think we'll get into the specific uh hitting positions in a second yeah yeah i
Speaker 2was thinking with the pitchers for a second so you mentioned 22 pitchers probably wind up with let's say seven relievers 15 starters uh what do you typically do with the with relievers in particular do you like to get one lockdown closer because again there is no waiver wire there is a finite amount of closers and saves and we're drafting this early and we have no idea which relievers are going to be on what teams who's going to be a closer where so it is a lot of stuff to do with that so i think it's a good idea to get one lockdown closer speculation i think the guys who are locked in you'll see them go even higher because we do kind of have some assurance there guys who have done it over and over again you know we're talking about mason miller and yohan deron maybe being like second or third round picks in a format like this so how do you typically attack relievers do you get one lockdown closer is it two lockdown closers what do you like to do i
Speaker 3really think you got to get at least one uh i i think it's the way they get pushed up i don't think you can get two lockdown ones um like the the most recent one i was in mason miller kate smith going the second round uh john deron mason montgomery um oh actually varlin went in the second round too um deron mason montgomery go in the third round and then it's hater lats munos um bednar in the fifth mcgill in the fifth chapman in the fifth baker in the fifth so like by the middle of the fifth round in this most recent one i was in basically every sort of lockdown closer that you would possibly want was gone um so i i just think you have to get one of those and you're probably not gonna be able to get two i've seen people try to get two but um like i ended up kind of getting shut out i i took francisco lindor um in the shortstop spot and he was in the sixth round so i kind of i waited a little bit um i could have maybe taken edwin diaz there but i just i couldn't pass on lindor in the sixth at least i felt i couldn't and so i ended up with like the second worst relievers in this draft in terms of my best reliever but i took emilio pagan in the seventh and then justin martinez in the eighth so i did double up there because i had such a bad first closer uh but you're you're just gonna get left behind in saves if you don't pay up for one of the guys i mean you maybe you can hit on a lats and a baker in the same year like i i had a decent amount of those guys last year i don't think i had them both on the same team but it's so hard to hit on like a true closer in these sort of rounds 15 through 50 like yeah hitting on one of those guys is worth its weight in gold but you can't bank on that and if you want to compete in the overall um you just have to have one of these guys like i only i only ended up with kade smith i think on my my best dc team last year i didn't even have like a really strong second closer but just having that one elite closer just does so much for you not just with saves but with ratios as well yeah and
Speaker 2you mentioned something there too that there is an overall component to these draft and hold leagues as well at least over on the nfbc if you play the draft champions format again 15 teams 150 entry fee or the NFBC 50s, 12-team league, $50 entry fee. have your standalone league where you compete for a league prize, but then you're also part of a bigger overall competition. So you really don't want to punt any category. You want to be as balanced as humanly possible. So getting at least one lockdown closer, maybe getting another second closure that you feel pretty good about inside of, I don't know, maybe the top 12 or 15 rounds, something like that. And then my guess is you just take a bunch of specs after that, right? It's, you know, targeting skills, targeting skillful relievers in, on teams that have like a bullpen in flux, I guess is really just the way you want to go about that, right?
Speaker 3Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're, you're taking, um, set up men you really like you're taking, you know, you could like, look at the like nationals bullpen, for instance, like you could take like three or four shots there. Um, like the Marlins bullpen, same thing. Like you're just, you're looking for guys that are like, you know, you're looking for guys that are like, you know, you're looking for guys with skills who are either definitely the next man up or in a bullpen where it's not clear who the top guy is. Um, and you just, you gotta keep taking those guys. Like you can't stop at like three or four, like you just gotta give yourself enough shots there to, to hit on one. Um, and then like you also, there's a benefit to having these relievers on your roster, even if they're not getting you saves because like late in the season, you're either going to be like in some situations, you're going to be stuck choosing between a really bad starter. Who's probably going to hurt your ratios, or you might want to plug in just a nice setup, man. It's just a nice option to have. Like, you don't know what stats are going to be chasing late in the year. Maybe you can't really gain anything and wins come like early September and you just want to lock down your ratios. Um, so it's just, there's, there's a benefit to having talented relievers on a DC team, even if they're not getting saves.
Speaker 2How do you approach the roles that are and I've been thinking more about this, like what is going to be the theme of 2027? And I think this is going to be, be a big theme is the really skillful relievers that we think could make the jump to being starters. So Grant Taylor, potentially an Adrian Morihone, wherever he lands in free agency, he could also be some teams closer. He's that talented, uh, Hagan Smith, Didier Fuentes. So I think that's going to be a big theme for 27. I think, and I'm going off on a little bit of a tangent, but if you look at the early round letdowns from this season, how do they bounce back? And to what extent do they bounce back? I think that will also be a big theme in 2027, but yeah, like these pitchers where their role is in flux, I think are going to be very popular names, but it's like, if you're projecting out your team and you think Grant Taylor is going to give you 30 saves and then he becomes a starter, he might be a really good starter, but if you drafted him as your first closer and you don't get any saves, like that completely messes up the complexion of your team.
Speaker 3You know, it's such a good point. I think just reading between the tea leaves and looking at their depth chart, I would be drafting Grant Taylor as a closer right now. Um, I just, I think it makes too much sense. They've got enough interesting young starters. Taylor is basically a top three to five reliever if you just plug them in as a reliever. So I'd be drafting him for saves. I'd be drafting Hagan Smith for starts. I'd be drafting him for saves. I'd be drafting Didier Fuentes for starts. Uh, Morione, I think I'd almost be treating him as just the like premium 70 inning reliever until like we get full like confirmation. He's something other than that. Um, but you definitely, I mean, you got to look at both these, all these situations, like people want all these guys, like Hagan Smith goes way earlier than I would have expected. Uh, I knew people were going to be all over Grant Taylor and Fuentes, but like people want these guys and they're going to be all over Grant Taylor. So I think it's going to be all over they're expensive enough that you need to at least be semi-confident in what you're getting, especially when it's a guy that might be getting saves because, you know, drafting Grant Taylor and thinking you're getting a starter. I just don't think you can do that right now. And, but you could be left holding the bag if they do stretch them out and you're banking on the saves. So like his current, his current ADP is Grant Taylor's going around pick 100 right now. So like that's a big price tag. It's a big price for a guy whose role is uncertain, but it's definitely just a testament to how good of a pitcher he is. But yeah, I mean like right now I think you've got to treat him like a closer, but you know, it's tough to say.
Speaker 2And then we even have someone like we have a couple of the Rays guys too, where Ian Seymour, we don't know exactly what his role is going to be. Griffin Jacks look pretty good as a starter. I would guess is probably going to be a starter. And I mean, once people in the industry start to see where Nick Pollock ranked him for next season, it's going to be a rocket ship. I saw Nick, Nick ranks Griffin Jacks SP 20 for next season, which is like based on the skills. I mean, you can make the argument. I get it. It's how many innings are you going to get? But yeah, those are a couple of interesting kind of, I guess, influx pitchers as well. Getting back to roster construction. How do you like to break down the hitters? You mentioned typically 22 pitchers is the sweet spot. So that leaves us 28 hitter spots left to deal with. I typically try to get at least three, of each infield position, probably four at catcher and then 10 or 11 outfielders at least. But I, I outfield is the tricky one, man. Cause I, I feel like there have been years where I've left, I've been left with, you know, only three or four healthy outfielders at a time or guys that are in the majors on my team, you know, at that specific time.
Speaker 3Yeah, I've dealt with the exact same issue, Frank. And that's why I like to get outfield, there's early, like I want to get three outfielders in my first 10 picks if I can, maybe even four. And then I just pound outfielders in the final 20 rounds. Like you'll, you'll see some of my boards and it might just be pitchers and outfielders with my last 20 picks with the infielders. It's three to four catchers for me, kind of depending on who my first two catchers are. Like I like to pay up for catcher. If I've paid way up for catcher, I'm probably not going to, I take a fourth one then at the first base, second base, third base shortstop, I want three of each and that doesn't count like duplicates. So like, you know, Bryson stats eligible at second and third. If I draft Bryson start, I'm only counting him at one of those positions. I'm not counting him as having two of the same. So, um, I think you've got to have at least three at each position. And then the, the multi eligible guys, it's, it's just a nice like safety net. Like it means you don't have to, take a fourth at any of these positions. If you've got some multi eligible.
Speaker 2So how important is it to get a multi position player? Like, do you have to leave a draft with a Brooks Lee or an Ezekiel Duran or a Javier Sando, ha just to give yourself that added flexibility in season?
Speaker 3I don't think you have to. Um, I just really like it. I love having a handful of these guys. Like in my most recent one, I grabbed stop. I grabbed a Sonoma and I grabbed Brett, baby. Um, and like that just, it's, it's just so nice. Like you, you don't know where your breakouts are going to come from. Like, so like if you do, if you do a DC, well, you should have at least some hits from like picks, you know, 25 to 50 on the position player side, you don't necessarily know where those are going to be. So having guys that you can move to a different spot, it's just so useful to make sure you're, you're fielding the best lineup that you possibly can. So, um, I think that's, I think that's really important.
Speaker 2Have you, and this is more of a broader question, but have you noticed any positions in the, again, you've already done multiple drafts that are noticeably weaker than others. So far, I know like just doing the position recaps, second base kind of stands out for us. Uh, you know, third base, I think is a little bit better than it has been in years past. Obviously first base is like super loaded, but, um, I think second base probably stands out to me. Like what stands out to you so far in terms of scarcity?
Speaker 3Um, I totally agree. Second base was going to be the position I brought up. Um, and it's more, it's more that I just think you can really be patient there if you don't get one of the, like it, it obviously just falls right off a cliff after the top, like five or six guys. And I think just sort of recognizing that there's this group of, you know, another 10 to 12 second baseman aren't that different from each other. Um, just kind of knowing where those, those gap, those like positional cliffs are because like you don't want to be the guy who's like sitting there and round seven or eight and is like, Oh, I don't have a second baseman yet. Like I need to go grab one. Um, look at the guys available. They're basically the same as who's going to be available for you and round 15 around 16. Um, but yeah, I mean in terms of like the top second base is definitely the weakest, in terms of like a top 10 got you.
Speaker 2Yeah. Looking at the, again, way too early ADP over at the end of BC, there are five second baseman that are around top 100 pigs. That's Tati's to rang jazz, JJ, where the whole can tell Marte, then you drop down to around one 20, you get to Luke Kieschel, but really from like one 20 to 200 is from six through 13 that starts with Kieschel and ends with Ozzie Albies and even Albies. I'm like kind of scared of because that second half was terrible and he, he might just be washed, but there's a lot of guys that provide, I think similar skill sets in here where it's like good speed, decent, batting average not a ton of power you know it's your Bryson Stott types Nico Horner Sam Antonacci Xavier Edwards types like that so I agree if you if you don't get one of those top guys maybe you're just really in on a Luke Kieschel I could see you know wanting to grab him where he goes but if not maybe just waiting for like the back end of that tier uh at second base so I think that makes a lot of sense uh given that there is no waiver wire or anything there's no in-season trading or anything like that uh this seems like an obvious question but I'll ask it anyway do you put an extra emphasis on like plate appearances and innings pitched and more notably just avoiding injury risk or like would you still take a Jordan Alvarez in the first round I know that's that's kind of like dueling theories for you because you said you want to get batting average and power early on and obviously Alvarez is one of the best in the game to do that but he also comes with incredible injury risk same thing with someone like Aaron Judge so it's like how do you how do you balance that in a league with no waiver wire you need to get as many plate appearances as humanly
Speaker 3possible yeah I mean I took Juan Soto over Jordan Alvarez uh basically for that exact reason and my most recent one um really wanted Jackson Churio who's almost there for me at pick 10 um I I definitely lean into floor early in the draft and plate appearances early in the draft like that's that's part of why I'm I'm so big on getting two good catchers is the plate appearances and like you just like I want to be starting in my infield and in my outfield like for as much of the season as possible like I just want to be starting guys that I know are playing like every day and like the best like the teams the draft champions teams where I draft them and I like I look up and I'm in first place midway through the season like those are always teams where I'm actually making choices each lineup period on which hitters to plug in because I have options like you want to have options like having a deep bench in a dc is what wins those dcs like you you don't win the dcs by being the guy that nailed the the breakout like you you got p you got pico armstrong last year but if you're taking zeros in one of your outfield spots that basically negates you having pico armstrong like you just need to have that depth across the field and you're you need to have that depth across your roster you need to be like near the top in your league and plate appearances each week and like that's the key to winning these things so uh yeah leaning into um high floor hitters especially um I mean there aren't there aren't really high floor pitchers but um like high floor hitters especially in those early rounds and guys that are just going to like rack up plate appearances to me that's that's the name of the game and like that's that's kind of a difference between the draft champions and like the main event leagues that I do and I think that's kind of a difference between the draft champions and like the main event leagues that I do where upside is just so key like you need to be um acing high ceiling players I think in those fab leagues a bit more uh but not not the case necessarily in the early rounds of draft and
Speaker 2holds I think it's a good way to put it you definitely want to build that foundation that floor in the early rounds I do think you have to take some shots on upside later on especially if you want to try and compete in an overall I remember the one year that I have cashed in a draft champions overall I think I was like top 25 somewhere in the 20 to 25 years I think I was top 25 in the overall it was the year that Ronald Acuna just went bonkers was like the 40 70 season but I also had Ellie Taylor Cruz get called up like mid-season and he was really good from that point forward so uh having someone like that which brings us to the next question you obviously do a lot of work with prospects and prospect ranking lists and obviously dynasty content how do you work in prospects in a format like this I feel like it's there's such a fine line because you do want to draft for some upside at some point in the draft because you're not going to be able to draft because there comes a point where the veterans available they're just such low ceiling players that it just makes sense to like maybe grab a prospect who can help you mid-season but it's how do you balance how many prospects you could actually have on these teams
Speaker 3right yeah you don't I mean you don't want to be the guy who's just taking a bunch of prospects in the first like 30 rounds um the like I think like playing time and looking at the depth chart and trying to figure out which prospects are actually going to be up for most or all the season like those are the types of guys that you should take a shot on um like for instance like Sebastian Walcott I think is going to be up for most or all the season he's going at like pick 250 uh I think that's a that's a fine pick I think that makes sense to me like Jesus Made going at pick 320 that doesn't make a much sense to me because I think there's a like if he signs an extension with them he could be their opening day third baseman but if he doesn't sign an extension with them like he could be down for half the year um like he's just he's not at that stage of his development where I think the Brewers would have any trouble keeping Made in the minors for a decent chunk of next season so like evaluating which prospects you think you're going to be able to actually use early in the season like those are the guys that I think you can make an exception for and target in those first like 25 to 30 rounds um you know boring boring prospects like uh like a Quinn Matthews for instance like he's still prospect eligible um nothing sexy about Quinn Matthews but I think he's going to be in the rotation all season uh like David Sandlin with the White Sox George Clausen with the Angels like these are not sexy prospects for him I think he's going to be in the at all but they could be in opening day rotations um you know you look at like a Cam Canarella with the the Marlins like that's a guy that could be on the Marlins opening day roster and doesn't really have much of a path or anyone really blocking him uh in center field there so I like I I gravitate towards prospects in those first like 30 rounds that I think uh are at least going to be up in the season you know maybe make an exception on like a like a Caleb Bonham or someone like that that might be down for a couple months but that you think could be awesome when they're up um but you just you don't want to be the guy that's taking all of the buzzy prospects in the first 25 rounds because you're just you're just not going to be able to hang plate appearance wise I don't think um if you do that yeah and I
Speaker 2know that people have talked about this and like there has been data that shows the correlation between winning draft champions leagues drafted and plate appearances it's just like they're very correlated just having a lot of plate appearances on your team just generally works well towards like producing offense in this specific format let's take our final break when we return I have a few more questions specifically on just strategy for the format we'll take a look back at uh James's DC team that finished 27th overall out of 5,200 teams this past season some rapid fire questions about prospects we'll do all that
Speaker 4right after this hey I'm Tony DeCoppo anchor of the C. evening news on my new daily podcast great question with Tony DeCoppo we go deeper on the one big question you haven't heard answered or maybe haven't even heard asked follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts
Speaker 2welcome back fantasy baseball today talking draft and hold strategy with James Anderson from Baseball America and James are there any specific strategies you would like to mention or touch on or even go into deeper detail that you specifically use you've mentioned some of them here or there you like to get catchers or you like to get you like to get probably one lockdown reliever maybe you throw an ace in there like typically how do your top 10 rounds look are there things that you can always expect to wind up with when doing one of these drafts
Speaker 3yeah I mean the first one is just the two two good catchers um I've just been a way more uh successful fantasy player in high stakes and fbc contests since I started prioritizing getting two catchers and that's that applies to the fab leagues too um you know if you if you're able to add a great catcher in fab then that that's that's awesome but that's really hard to do in a 15 in a 15 team league where everyone's starting two catchers and it's just such a leg up over your competition when you are at the top of your league in production from catcher and you're like you should be able to draft well enough at the other positions where you know by may or june you've really assembled like a roster that makes sense at the non-catcher positions like I don't think you need to lock up all your infield spots in the first like 14 rounds for instance like but I do kind of want to lock up my two catcher spots in the first like 10 to 12 rounds uh I've found this year that like Will Smith is kind of the last guy for me um you know love love all the guys that go high at catcher but ideally I kind of want to have my second guy by by Will Smith um you know there's a lot of fun catching prospects this year I really like uh you know Ethan Salas, Leo Bernal, Reyniel Rodriguez um but I don't really want to go into a draft like okay I need to get like Bernal or I need to get like Bernal or Salas and then in a snake you might just get got and like they go before you and then you're just like oh crap like well now i gotta get like alejandro kirk or oh maybe he just went like then you're sort of scrambling like i just kind of want to get two good ones it might not work out like i might not be able to get the the first guy or the second guy that i want and then maybe i am taking uh like an ethan salas or like a ryan jeffers or something like that but um i just feel so much more secure and comfortable throughout the rest of the dc if i've gotten two catchers early and then the other big thing is just getting a closer early um like to me it was kind of a failure for me to end up with emilio pagan as my number one closer in this recent dc um like i think i i need to do better than that so um like making sure that i have a closer one that i i really believe in even if i have to quote unquote reach for him like i don't i don't really think there is such a thing as reaching for your first closer in a dc because it just it just depends on the room like i mean you could reach for a closer if you're just kind of like you know one or two closers it's gone and i'm going to take david bednar in the middle of the second round like that's that's a reach obviously but like if everyone's taking a closer and adp says that everyone's reaching on their closers it's not a reach because the room is dictated that this is where closers are getting drafted in this league um like you have to be willing to overpay for your first closer otherwise you're just not going to get a first closer um so i i think that that's you just have to know that going in like if i want a good closer it's not going to be fun it's not going to be comfortable but you're going to have to take them early you're going to take them way earlier than you think you should have to take them but it's just going to make the rest of your draft flow so much better like i'd much rather quote unquote like reach for a guy i really believe in in like round four than reach for a guy that i don't believe in that much in round seven
Speaker 2you know yeah what about grabbing an ace is that imperative is it something is it a requirement do you have to make sure you get a top five or top 10 sp i another thing i've been thinking about for for next season is just i wonder if people are going to overreact too much to the the schlittler and the chase burns and the miziorowski breakouts and maybe they wait for pitching and they're like i'll just grab a bunch of like jared jones and other breakout candidates and maybe that's fine as like your sp234 but do you have to have that ace up top that that kind of anchor on
Speaker 3your teams yeah it's it's kind of the the thing that i'm always trying to sort of squeeze in is is getting enough starting pitching and like my my sort of philosophy with starting pitching is just like whenever i'm going to start pitching i'm going to start pitching um whenever i'm on the clock whenever i'm on the clock whenever i'm on the clock if i don't like love something at if i don't like love something at if i don't like love something at another position just grab best starter another position just grab best starter another position just grab best starter available and like you know you're available and like you know you're available and like you know you're you're never going to be like oh man you're never going to be like oh man you're never going to be like oh man i've got too much starting pitching um i've got too much starting pitching um i've got too much starting pitching um and and and and you're the the options at starting you're the the options at starting you're the the options at starting pitcher pitcher pitcher by like round 12 by round 15 by like round 12 by round 15 by like round 15 you know we're these are guys that you know we're these are guys that you know we're these are guys that cannot be cannot be cannot be banked on really these are guys that are banked on really these are guys that are banked on really these are guys that are you know you're hoping that they can you know you're hoping that they can you know you're hoping that they can kind of pick up where they left off this kind of pick up where they left off this kind of pick up where they left off this past year or past year or past year or you know maybe they flash something you know maybe they flash something you know maybe they flash something towards the end of the year but towards the end of the year but towards the end of the year but you know these are guys that are either you know these are guys that are either you know these are guys that are either very boring or they're very boring or they're very boring or they're sort of flyers of some sort um so sort of flyers of some sort um so sort of flyers of some sort um so all of the trustee starting pitching is all of the trustee starting pitching is all of the trustee starting pitching is gone kind of by around you know 12 or so gone kind of by around you know 12 or so gone kind of by around you know 12 or so so so so like if you're not taking at least a few like if you're not taking at least a few like if you're not taking at least a few shots in there you're not gonna be shots in there you're not gonna be shots in there you're not gonna be able to compete in strikeouts um able to compete in strikeouts um able to compete in strikeouts um i mean i think you can potentially i mean i think you can potentially i mean i think you can potentially compete in compete in compete in the non-strikeout pitching categories if the non-strikeout pitching categories if the non-strikeout pitching categories if you don't get one or two aces you don't get one or two aces you don't get one or two aces but i don't really think you can compete but i don't really think you can compete but i don't really think you can compete in strikeouts without getting at least in strikeouts without getting at least in strikeouts without getting at least one ace maybe it's not an ace that is one ace maybe it's not an ace that is one ace maybe it's not an ace that is priced like an ace like priced like an ace like priced like an ace like um you know like i think like gavin um you know like i think like gavin um you know like i think like gavin williams williams williams and like kade cavalli drew rasmussen um and like kade cavalli drew rasmussen um and like kade cavalli drew rasmussen um peyton toley guys like that like peyton toley guys like that like peyton toley guys like that like i view them as you know sp ones or at i view them as you know sp ones or at i view them as you know sp ones or at least close to sp ones um least close to sp ones um least close to sp ones um but you have to at least get guys that but you have to at least get guys that but you have to at least get guys that you view as sp ones um within the first you know, four or five rounds.
Speaker 2You've touched on this throughout, but just how to attack the end game. It sounds like it's a lot of speculative relievers, some prospects in there. You mentioned you like to grab a lot of outfielders as well. But I mean, if anyone jumps in these drafts and you haven't done it before, the final 10 to 20 rounds are rough. They are not what you are used to seeing in a draft room. So you could just reiterate what are the types of players you like to target, I guess, in the in the end game of these draft and hold leagues?
Speaker 3Yeah, like let's say kind of from like round like 35 on. It's I want, you know, my final couple relievers, some some spec relievers. And then I just want either pitching prospects with upside or pitchers with the decent chance for innings, you know, like, we're obviously not getting starting pitchers that might pitch in big league rotations that are exciting in this range, right? But like, I've taken, you know, I've taken like Ryan Gusto, Quinn Priester, guys like that, where it's not, it's not sexy at all. But I think there might be weeks where I like the matchup, I plug them in. Maybe I deal with injuries, and I have to just keep plugging them in because they're they're a shot at wins. But you know, I'm willing to take some pitching prospects in these final rounds. I think that obviously, that's kind of my specialty is prospects. So I feel pretty comfortable with the player pool. But like, you're just the big league starters available late are all extremely flawed. So I think mixing some of those flawed big league starters with some high upside pitching prospects makes sense that the hit rate on these these players in the final 15 rounds, like even if you go look at like, one of my best like DC teams last year, it's not a ton of hits in the final 15 rounds, like you, you need to get your hits early. So I don't think it's the end of the world to take prospects with these last picks. But then the other, the other thing I'm doing is I'm getting like my last five outfielders, maybe in the final 15 picks, just guys that either you know, have some power speed element to their game, or just, you know, someone who's not getting much love, but who I think could get, you know, you know, a lot of hits in the final 15 rounds, like you, you need to get your hits early. So I just because like we touched on like outfield outfield is all like whenever I have a team where it's just like, man, this team is just, I just wish I had one more. It's always a healthy outfielder. Like you just, by the end of the season, if you've got five outfielders who are playing regularly and performing, like that's definitely an accomplishment. So, um, it's really just outfield and, and pitcher, uh, towards the end for me.
Speaker 2All right. I want to quickly take a look back at uh james's dc team that finished 27th overall out of uh 5 250 teams last year and if you're watching on youtube you can uh check out and you can follow along here but uh you're picking 11th out of 15 and your top 10 rounds on this team were paul skeens jack centurio kade smith William Contreras, Logan Webb, Tyler Soderstrom, Salvador Perez, Chase Burns, Joe Adele, and Yandy Diaz. And, you know, some people might be listening or watching and see these 10. Look, you didn't hit on all the picks, obviously. It's like, you know, your top two SPs, Paul Skeens and Logan Webb, like they didn't return the value that you were expecting. You did have some very big hits later on that we'll touch on. But is this a, this seems like a pretty typical breakdown based on what you said earlier is, you know, you got a lockdown reliever, you got two catchers in here, you attacked some outfield, obviously getting Chase Burns as your SP3, massive upside with him. Based on what you said, this feels like a pretty typical top 10 rounds for you.
Speaker 3Yeah, absolutely. You know, William Contreras and Sal Perez, like they didn't have amazing years by their standards, but they played a ton and they accumulated a ton of counting stats and that's that's the whole point um you know paul skeens and logan webb like uh woof um but again those guys pitched like they were options for me the entire season um you know just guys that i you know even at paul skeens worst like i was still using him obviously in this dc um so yeah i mean it it that was definitely a pretty classic first 10 rounds for me there other big
Speaker 2wins that you had on this team uh Sal Stewart in round 15 Troy Melton in round 18 Braxton Ashcraft in round 20 Cade Cavalli in round 26 Christian Scott in round 30 Javier Sanoja in round 33 this one kind of snuck by almost missed it but Justin Robleski round 35 I mean he had a that stretch in the early part of the season where he was so amazing uh and then you got Didier Fuentes in round 48 which you know look he wasn't a closer or a starter but great ratios lots of strikeouts like those were just massive wins and that's how you're able to you know make up a Paul Skeens and Logan Webb don't don't return value is hey you got an SP2 season out of Ashcraft you got an SP2 season out of Cade Cavalli uh and obviously like if you want to compete for an overall and win your league you're gonna need to have at least a couple of these big hits in the mid to late
Speaker 3rounds yeah no doubt uh i mean i was using fuentes basically the final two months i think uh in his role and it was it was awesome like he was just great for ratios he was he was sneaking wins he was sneaking saves um senoa was just massive um the the multi-eligibility and then getting a a guy that's like he might have had him and uh yandi diaz were basically my my batting average anchors on this team and william contraris getting a batting average anchor in round 33 with multi-eligibility like that just that's huge in the dc um yeah pretty pretty solid yeah yeah
Speaker 2definitely good work there uh with with one of your best teams from last season let's wrap up here obviously you do a lot of prospect work with baseball america and uh just do a quick like rapid fire for you know etas for 2027 this is assuming a normal opening which again we just have no idea as of now but let's just say it's the usual uh late march early april something like that um so i don't need like too much on each but just like an eta and whether or not i guess you're you're targeting these guys in a in a draft and hold type format and uh up first is from your milwaukee brewers world series winning milwaukee brewers uh jesus made what do you think for
Speaker 3him yeah body not a target for me this year uh probably would have been if he was priced appropriately but i just i can't pay this early price on him i i think he might be down until like early june in a normal season um i think again i think if he signs an extension he'd be up earlier than that um but again like the brewers just won a world series yeah if he doesn't sign an extension i don't know if he's going to be able to sign an extension i don't know i don't think they're going to just shake things up just to shake things up on a prospect who like frankly you know mate is is still developing like he's he's not like a this guy's totally ready for the big leagues he's going to be great right away type of
Speaker 2prospect yeah and the adp for jesus mate is 323 which will sound late to some but there are still other players in that range that are are going to be everyday players on their respective teams so it's uh it's still a pretty decent price tag for him what about franklin arias here with the red sox the early adp for him is 285 yeah i think
Speaker 3he's got a an okay shot of making the opening day roster um i think the incentives make sense you know they could get a ppi pick um you look at their depth chart uh ari is definitely the best defensive option they have at shortstop and i think the bats ready so i think he'll be up for for most if not all the season
Speaker 2sebastian walcott you mentioned his name earlier the adp 245 i didn't look into this but that's probably the highest prospect who hasn't debuted yet in terms of adp i would imagine
Speaker 3yes yes you got that right um i think the only guys the only prospects going higher are kate anderson jose de paula and joshua bias i think and they've all debuted so yeah yeah um walcott walcott uh well actually the catchers are going higher too but um they've they've debuted too uh walcott um like he is kind of the closest thing to like a big league ready superstar prospect we have this year i mean look at the rangers depth chart like they they're trying them in the outfield now in the afl i just i think he's like one of their five best position players right away um seager and young missed time all you know every year they might even try to trade one of those guys and again the ppi pick i think will lead to walcott making the open day roster he's got power he's got speed he's a great athlete and he's he's the type of guy who like spring training comes along and you know we start getting beat reporter stories about how walcott's got a shot to make the team and like you know he gets hot in the early weeks of spring training like he he could start going in the top 150 so yeah um it's it's a little higher than i thought he'd be going but i just think the guys that draft this earlier are pretty sharp next
Speaker 2up we have rainiel rodriguez from the cardinals his adp is 317 early on and i guess a bonus question is what position will he be playing when he debuts
Speaker 3yeah yeah you know if i'm the cardinals i am really exploring ivan herrera trades this offseason uh one of their best hitters no doubt but he's a bad defensive catcher they've got their catcher the future in leo bernal and i really don't think there's a place for uh rainiel to play unless they are able to move herrera or herrera gets hurt uh or bernal gets hurt but um i just think like rodriguez is the best catching prospect i've ever ranked uh arguably the best hitting prospect in the game like if you take out stolen bases um just phenomenal 2026 season from him as an extremely young catcher for his levels just hitting for average hitting for power just so easy for him um i want rainiel rodriguez at his current adp which is just outside the top 300 just because i think he's he's basically a big league ready and i think it would be a mistake for the cardinals to not find room for him very early in 2027 but it's it's not guaranteed and it's kind of dependent on a herrera trade bonus
Speaker 2follow-up there how do you rank rainiel rodriguez leo bernal and ethan solace just for 2027 yeah it's
Speaker 3i i'm maybe on an island and liking solace more than bernal like everyone everyone wants bernal uh the redraft crowd loves bernal he's getting treated like a catcher one he's the 14th catcher off the board right now um i get it like i like bernal too but solace had a just monster year when you factor in how young he was in the position he was playing i mean the guy barely swung and missed all season as a extremely young for his levels catcher who's also a really good defensive catcher and like steamer is already basically projecting solace to lead catchers and stolen bases this year which i agree with um so i think solace has like five category upside as a rookie um he has missed time he's very young there's there's more risk i think with solace than there is with bernal but i think the upside is is worth chasing with solace so i like solace just a tiny bit more than bernal and then rainiel is is a distant third just because of the uncertainty with the the plate appearances um but i mean like i said he's he's just an extremely talented prospect
Speaker 2yeah i think uh i think scott might have a little something to do with leo bernal getting he ranks him as his 11th catcher for next season and i like i know it was a small sample but man he looks so good he played every day the stack cast stuff looked good and minor league numbers look good so i i get it i i get the hype uh but it's pretty big price tag there on leo bernal uh another leo leo devries unfortunately uh has this shoulder injury had surgery in mid-september facing an eight-month recovery that would bring us to mid-may he's probably gonna you know need some reps down in the minors again so uh it's a tough situation
Speaker 3here for leo devries yeah it is um if there's a lockout there's like a chance that devries is basically ready for the season um yeah but i this is a tough one because he's so talented uh i think he's very clearly the athletics second baseman of the future um but you just you don't know how a guy's gonna come back from shoulder surgery you don't know if it's gonna be a clean recovery like maybe it's maybe it's mid-june or maybe it's late june and you know maybe he by the time he's done with his rehab assignment you know it's like the all-star break or something like i you just don't really know like how it's gonna go when a guy's got an eight-month recovery from shoulder surgery but uh at a certain point i think he's he's a fine flyer but um not really the type of risk i'm looking to take like you're already talking about a prospect who hasn't played at triple a and then you're talking about a guy recovering from shoulder surgery it's just like i'd rather take my risks somewhere else
Speaker 2ryan sloan with the mariners arguably the top pitching prospect in uh all baseball the adp is 285 so that's a little bit higher than i thought too inside the top 300 uh what do you thought what do you think about his potential eta and and do you target him
Speaker 3i'm i'm willing to take him where he's going uh it's really it's i'm not as worried about him getting a shot in that rotation like i think he's i mean he might he might already be better than like george kirby and bryce miller um i'm it's just the track record of prep righties uh it like i i was taught we were in the baseball america slack trying to come up with prep righties who have recently gotten to the big leagues without something going wrong and i think he's going to be better than george kirby and bryce miller um wrong. uh like jared jones in 2024 shane boz in 2021 jack flaherty in 2017 jose fernandez in 2013 like three of those guys blew out their elbows like less than 12 months after getting there yeah um but or maybe fernandez might have been a bit longer than than a year before he needed tj but uh like you get my point like that's going back over a decade and i can only come up with like a handful of guys that have have done it so um most of these just awesome prep varieties something goes wrong before they're in the big league rotation but nothing's gone wrong so far with sloan and he's big league ready now so i think he's got as good a shot as anybody to be the next guy it's just worth noting that history is not necessarily on his side just from this prospect all right i
Speaker 2have 10 other prospects i'm just going to throw them all your way you could let me know if there's i don't know two or three of these that you really like targeting that you expect up early in the season i have theo gillen with the rays mike serota with the dodgers ralphie velasquez with the guardians of roxolowski with the white socks kayla bonamer also with the white socks anthony ianson with the orioles thomas white with the marlins siever king with the nationals charlie condon with the rockies and aiden miller with the
Speaker 3phillies yeah it's a good list uh i'll shout out um aiden miller i think he and i think he's going to be the phillies opening day third baseman and i think over a full season aiden miller could go 15 30 and uh caleb bonamer i really think he's going to be up soon i just think the white socks are kind of tipping their hand that they think the bath's pretty much ready by trying to find a spot for him in the outfield and uh ralphie velasquez i love velasquez i think he's uh one of the best first base prospects in recent memory like a true first base prospect who was a first baseman all the way through the minors uh and i think he could be the guardians opening day first baseman just looking at their depth chart so i like those three all
Speaker 2right once again he is james anderson with baseball america make sure to give him a follow on x at real jr anderson and uh come hang out first if you have pitch arizona this weekend come say hi uh we're gonna be out at the games doing panels and all that other fun stuff uh james why don't you promote your work once again just before we uh wrap things
Speaker 3up here yeah go to baseball america uh pumping out all kinds of rankings and articles every week uh all off season there uh do the uh fantasy podcast every thursday morning and you can follow me on twitter and blue sky at real jr anderson and i tweet everything from
Speaker 2there all right thanks again appreciate you for hopping on we are gonna wrap there for james i am frank thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on apple or spotify and we'll be back again later this week live from arizona we'll see you then bye
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