Heading into the most exciting day of the year, Fantasy Baseball Draft Day, the debates about the player pool are endless. Everyone wants to plant their flag on the players they like, and those they don’t. Opinions run rampant, and they change by the day. However, we should take things a step further. Aside from researching the player pool, there’s a lot more to Roto Draft Strategy. Let’s dig in to make sure that you finish the season in the winner’s circle.
Fantasy Baseball Strategy: Roto Draft Strategy
Know the League Settings
Before you go any further, it’s important to know what you are dealing with. Yes, we know that it’s a roto league, and the good news is that it’s the focus of a majority of the fantasy content. However, there are some wrinkles that do differ between leagues. While some of those differences might be slight, and seemingly insignificant, everything must be considered. Any little potential edge can’t be overlooked.
Daily vs. Weekly Leagues
This determines how flexible you have the ability to be with your lineups. If daily changes are allowed, it’s a lot easier to stream starting pitchers and also to supplement your pitching staff. When you are updating your lineup on a daily basis, utilizing high strikeout and low ratio relievers could prove to be a useful strategy.
Playing matchups is also a lot easier offensively. You can capitalize on platoon situations, avoid bad pitching, and take advantage of park factors wherever possible. Players, such as those in Coors Field, or those that sit against southpaws, can now be maximized.
Statistical Categories
What are you drafting for? Saves or holds? Batting average or on-base percentage? There are big differences here that will certainly influence how some players are ranked.
Positional Eligibility
On the hitting side, depth from a positional standpoint becomes more important. Since you can adjust for off days and injuries, you’ll want to secure flexibility at each position. This gives a boost to those with multi-position eligibility.
Active Roster Size
The player pool has certain stresses, and the depth at each position is important to consider when drafting. How you approach each position should be dictated by what is required of your starting lineup.
Is it a one-catcher league or two? Can you wait on catchers or do you need to be more aggressive?
How many outfielders are you starting each lineup period?
Is a corner and middle infielder required?
Can you just start nine pitchers, or are they broken out between starters and relivers?
None of the above will change your evaluation of your player pool, but it should dictate how you attack your draft.
Bench
Your bench ultimately serves multiple purposes. They have to be reinforcements for the starters, but you also need to cover any situations while providing upside. Depending on how big your bench is, your ability to do so might be limited. How your league handles injured players also truly comes into play here. If you have unlimited latitude there, taking a chance on injured or injury-prone players ends up having an upside. But if doing so limits the overall depth of your team, then it might not be the best idea.
Waivers
This isn’t the time and place to go through our waivers strategy, but knowing the format can be helpful. When do waivers run and how often is very important to know? How quickly, and easily, you can replace players will have some impact on your drafting. This is especially true from the closer perspective and whether or not you can chase saves through the waiver wire and you’ll have the ability to do so.
Trading
You should never draft a player with the intention of trading them, but it’s a useful and productive tool to utilize. Having the ability to trade can help correct a lopsided team, either from a position or category perspective, takes away some of the stress out of building a balanced team.
Know the Player Pool
This is the fun part, and a two faceted approach is necessary.
Overall Research
This is why you come to Fantrax and our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide. It’s important to understand the player pool from all angles before sitting down at any draft table.
Fit the Research into Your League Settings
While your rankings aren’t going to change, when you need to draft specific categories and positions will. If your rankings are built around five outfielders, but you only need to draft three, you now can wait on the position. The same goes for catchers, but there are wrinkles that should influence how you attack your draft.
Know the ADP
Your rankings are just that, yours. When drafting, the intention is always going to be to follow your rankings. Draft your players in the order you want to fill out as close to an ideal roster as possible. However, it’s also important to understand the market. If you are 30 spots higher than the ADP on a player, then waiting a round or two might be a prudent strategy to maximize your draft capital.
Establish a Plan
Now that you know the settings, have the rankings, and know the market, what do you want to do?
How do you plan to fill out your roster? What approaches are you planning to take? Who do you expect to roster? Is it even possible and how will that impact your chances at finishing the season by receiving a trophy?
Understand the Default Site Rankings
Not everyone is going to be as diligent as you. Even if they are, it’s sometimes hard to ignore the site rankings that are directly in front of you. Each site is different, and it’s important to understand what you are looking at. Depending on how the player pool is sorted on a specific site, you could wind up either over or under paying for a player. It’s value that we are after, so be prepared to use this to your advantage.
Prepare for the Plan to Change
Go ahead, work out a plan all you want. But it’s also contingent on what the other team managers are doing. All it takes is one pick to set everything astray. I’m not saying you need to prepare 10 backup plans but be nimble. Develop your plan in a flexible manner that can handle some changes.
Use Tiers
By breaking your rankings into tiers, you’ll have a better idea of how to target the player pool.
Track Your Stat Targets
Having your plan and executing is always a great thing. But throughout the draft, you need to keep an eye on things. As part of your preparation, you should have a general idea of what you need in each category. Based on projections, yours or a trusted site, you should monitor this throughout the draft. It will help determine how to proceed moving forward in the draft to build a balanced, and complete, team.
Look for Value
It may sound like common sense, but value is what we’re after. Don’t go chasing value for the sake of getting value, but keep it in mind as you review your rankings, ADP, your stat targets, and your tiers.
Get Your Players
Ultimately, this is all about planting your flag. You’ve done the research and you have your thoughts. Now go draft your players. You like or dislike players for a reason, so make sure they are on your team. Remember, this is your team, so draft a team you believe in.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
