MLB: Five First-Round Fantasy Baseball Picks That Will Alter Your Draft Strategy

Some MLB players are flexible enough to work with any drafting strategy, but how do you need to adjust for certain first-round picks that require special strategies?

While certain MLB hitters fill up all five categories for fantasy owners or provide enough value that they are sure first-round picks and you leave the round free to pursue whatever strategy you would like to fill your team, other first-round selections change how you approach the rest of your draft.

This season seems to have a surprising amount of the latter, and as one reviews the average draft positions for players this season, it could alter your entire draft if you take certain guys with your first pick.

Whether it’s injury risk, over-reliance on one statistic, team performance issues, or a myriad of other issues, picking certain guys in the first round could mean you have to change your focus to cover up for that first-round player’s shortcomings the rest of your draft.

For this piece, we’ll look at the players currently going in the top 10 in average draft position in early season drafts. Obviously many leagues are deeper than 10 teams, but for this exercise, we’ll focus just on the top 10 players going in early drafts.

By no means is this a suggestion that any of these players is “undraftable” or that owners should be wary of drafting them, but that special attention should be given to their unique situations.

All average draft positions are taken from the National Fantasy Baseball Championships website, considered one of the best sites for those who are truly dedicated to fantasy baseball. To get a whole run down of the average draft slots, check out the whole list.

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