In putting together my rankings there is quite a bit I have learned in the process, and I’ve made some discoveries in that as well. In creating rankings and working hard on them, what I’ve realized is what’s truly important here, and that it’s much more than just completing an objective and releasing rankings that are never going to change. It’s a fluid process, and what I’ve mainly learned is the fact I want rankings that are set up in a way that’s most useful to fantasy baseball participants, and those in points leagues specifically. It’s not really about combined rankings with hitters and pitchers, but more about position rankings and how to actually build a roster for fantasy baseball. I want to reflect that, and I made a discovery that’s so simple that I can’t believe I never thought of it before now. It’s something that’s also turned out to be more important than I initially anticipated.
In my own experience, what I’ve struggled the most with is being consistently good at drafting teams. I believe it’s always held me back from my full potential in the fantasy baseball space, and that if I ever truly figured it out that it could be bad news for my opponents! I know we are all confident in the things we are best at, but I have to at least own that it’s exactly what I think and believe. What I discovered was the idea that I can do my own mock drafts where I pick every single player, and to practice it over and over to hone my strategy and truly master this part of the fantasy baseball process. I’m building rankings that reflect my mock drafts in order, and hoping that just like with anything else that the more I practice the better I will get. This is something I’m very serious about, and I’m learning to truly love the grind of working hard at this, and I pride myself on it. I have plans to work on some sort of aspect of fantasy baseball every single day until the season starts on March 25th, 2026.
In my post for the month, instead of just doing a ranking I’m going to release my mock draft as a part of this article. I also need to add that the draft does reflect my position rankings in order. It’s something I plan to keep doing in order to improve at the process. What I’m actually releasing this month is the second mock draft I’ve done where I pick every player. The version of the draft I’m following is a 10 team points league on CBS that’s a snake draft. There are 22 rounds in a typical draft, and I realized on the first go around that making 220 picks in one sitting is not the best way to go about it. It did make me realize how much work it takes, and that coming up with that many players isn’t the easiest thing in the world. There were also players I forgot, but this time I’m doing a more extended type of draft where I spend a few weeks making picks and it’s working out much better.
In order to test and see how accurate my mock draft was to a real one, after drafting the first 15 rounds I went back through the last few drafts in my league where they are available and found that 7 of the first 28 picks were starting pitchers, and that 27 of the first 70 picks in the 2025 fantasy draft were starting pitchers. I repeated this process for the 2024 draft, finding that 9 of the first 28 picks, and 28 of the first 70 picks drafted were starting pitchers as well. In 2023, 13 of the first 28 picks, and 25 of the first 70 were starting pitchers. I did this exercise because this is my most competitive league, and also the league where starting pitching is drafted most aggressively. I wanted to make sure my mock draft was reflecting that properly, and in my extended draft I found that 7 of my first 28 picks were starting pitchers, and 27 of the first 70 were starters just like the 2024 draft. I was glad to confirm that I had a good read on how aggressive starting pitchers are drafted. While I typically am not so aggressive, I want to be prepared for the nature of how drafts go as well and properly simulate how quickly starting pitching is drafted. I still believe in the philosophy of taking hitters in the first few rounds of drafts, because there is plenty of pitching to go after in rounds 4 through 7. Hitters are much safer and more likely to stay healthy, and good starting pitching emerges on the waiver wire and comes out of nowhere every season. While that’s my philosophy, it wouldn’t make sense or be realistic to draft exactly how I would for an entire mock draft. I plan to continue to have more iterations of my mock drafts in the off-season, anticipating that I will get better at it and improve each time.
Going in tandem with mock drafts, I also learned that position rankings are much more valuable and important than a top 150 for hitters, for example. In a real fantasy baseball draft, what you are really doing is choosing the best player available first and foremost, but you have to field a whole team. I’ve always had the strategy to target the best players at the weakest positions first, but believe the strategy I’m building towards takes that to an entirely new level. For example, I want to discuss the depth I noticed at first base. Rafael Devers is already standing out as a clear target for me and someone I’m very high on based on my metrics and the stats I look at. Still, I believe the position overall offers so many good comparable players that I don’t see the value in targeting a first baseman in the first two rounds. That may mean I don’t end up with Nick Kurtz, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, or Pete Alonso, but the key is to be okay with that. I’m finding it would be better to just take the value and try to be name agnostic. What I mean is that out of the group of Rafael Devers, Matt Olson, Bryce Harper, Josh Naylor, and Freddie Freeman the best strategy would be to just draft whoever falls to me in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft. My own projections have Guerrero, Alonso, Devers, Olson, Harper, and Naylor all within 20 points of each other, so there’s not actually much of a gap there. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be thrilled to get Guerrero or Alonso in the 3rd round, but I’m not going to be too heartbroken if it doesn’t happen. It would make more sense to target 2nd and 3rd base, where you could already be out of good options by the 4th or 5th round. Another guy I see myself targeting is Jazz Chisholm, who will be eligible at both 2nd and 3rd base again next season. That would give me the flexibility to then just draft the best player available between 2nd and 3rd base and not limit myself to only one position group to pick from.
Starting pitching is still a position where you have to rank them in one group, but the key is to rank pitchers in tiers. It helps simplify the process and not make the task of ranking starters so daunting, but there are so many more variables that it’s much less cut and dry to rank compared to hitters. Right now, when the season ends there is a lot of uncertainty around pitchers, like the ones coming off injury coming into next season or the ones who won’t return until after the 2026 season has already started. For that reason, in my rankings I basically have all the ones like that ranked right after the 50 or so starters I view as the safest options available going into next season. My philosophy is essentially to go after those pitchers when I’m trying to chase upside, and to already have enough stable starters drafted in order to do so. You’ll notice in my mock draft that I started taking all these pitchers in the 14th round around pick 135, and I took around 10 of them in a 15 pick span. It’s tricky to sort through when pitchers like Shane McClanahan and Grayson Rodriguez will actually go into the season healthy, then guys like Gerrit Cole and Justin Steele don’t have a clear timetable for when we will see them in 2026. I did my best to capture this, and while some of these pitchers may feel like they are going way too late, it’s actually right around where I drafted Shane Bieber last year as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Another thing I wanted to explain was how I went about picking catchers and relief pitchers in my mock draft. It may sound like cheating, but in trying to capture what my actual drafts have been like, I went to my past draft and logged when catchers and relievers were taken, then manually entered players at those same picks then drafted around that. I think it felt so much like a guessing game without doing this, just because they aren’t positions I ever value very much in drafts. At least at relief pitcher, I’ve always been able to find good ones on the waiver wire, so I typically wait longer than everyone else to actually draft one.
I want to end with what may be coming up in the future and what I’m currently working on. I am working on a lot of things at once at the moment behind the scenes, so I’ll share about those things here. I’m in the process of putting together a spreadsheet where I’m going through every team’s schedule each week in order to see what the best matchups and schedules will be next season. I’m also using this in order to compare divisions against each other and take the pitchers I like in divisions that lack offense. It’s something that’s taking quite a while but is a resource I’m so excited to have going into next season. I am already going through schedules for what would be the fantasy playoffs next season, because I don’t think there is such a thing as too much preparation or planning. I do finally have all the schedules added, but now I have to rank them for each week and the playoffs as well. I started out on this project originally planning to just have this information and ranking for the playoffs, but then I thought why stop there?
Something else I’m doing is going through my projections for players and thinking about the best and worst case scenarios that exist, and what a projection or predictive model for that would look like. If you think about it like a bell curve chart, a good projection in theory should be right in the middle. So a lot of the most likely outcomes in a simulation sense will be clustered around the mean, or within one standard deviation of the mean. This sort of discovery and way to think through things excites me because it’s the exact type of stuff I learned and worked on in my classes when I earned my data analytics degree. Being able to bring that in and apply it to something I love and am passionate about has really been a game changer for me. The whole point of all of this is trying to find an edge, and while I’ll never be able to predict the future on this stuff, I believe it’s possible to use data and analytics to clearly find out what the true range of outcomes are for a player in a points league. Obviously injuries are a variable I’ll never be able to predict, but I even want to know what outlier outcomes could be, good and bad. I say all this to say I’m attempting to use numbers in a points league in a similar way in order to run simulations based on what the true range of outcomes is, as far as projected points go. Parts of my projections are based around a season projection for plate appearances for each individual player, but what really brought up this idea for me is Ben Rice. In considering him as a keeper option, I want to assign value and actual numbers to what his best-case scenario could be, since I believe it’s different from other players at the catcher position. What I mean is the Yankees already said he will be their every day first baseman next season, which means he will be eligible at catcher in fantasy while playing every single day. So I want to know what his projection could be if I simply give him the plate appearances that an every day player gets in an entire season. Even if I just project the same exact production he produced this season, if he actually accrues 700-750 plate appearances I want to know how good of a season he’s potentially capable of having. I believe he’s more than capable of producing an elite season given that steady playing time, and I think I’m already on the right track to being able to actually quantify it. I see Rice as a legitimate threat to hit 40 home runs next season if he actually gets 700 plate appearances. So that is a larger project I’m working on that’s complicated but exciting for me at the same time. The opportunity to solve something difficult and find solutions I can actually use are the types of things I actually love to do. I also don’t really care how that sounds, because I’m confident this is what I’m meant to do. In future posts throughout the off-season I will be releasing my position rankings with analysis on each player, so you can be on the look out for that. There is no off season!
| ROUND 1 | TEAM 1 | JUDGE |
| TEAM 2 | OHTANI | |
| TEAM 3 | SOTO | |
| TEAM 4 | RAMIREZ | |
| TEAM 5 | SCHWARBER | |
| TEAM 6 | ACUNA | |
| TEAM 7 | TUCKER | |
| TEAM 8 | WITT | |
| TEAM 9 | LINDOR | |
| TEAM 10 | CARROLL | |
| ROUND 2 | TEAM 10 | SKUBAL |
| TEAM 9 | CROCHET | |
| TEAM 8 | SKENES | |
| TEAM 7 | TATIS | |
| TEAM 6 | CHISHOLM | |
| TEAM 5 | RALEIGH | |
| TEAM 4 | KURTZ | |
| TEAM 3 | VLAD | |
| TEAM 2 | ALONSO | |
| TEAM 1 | DEVERS | |
| ROUND 3 | TEAM 1 | J. RODRIGUEZ |
| TEAM 2 | MARTE | |
| TEAM 3 | HENDERSON | |
| TEAM 4 | GILBERT | |
| TEAM 5 | MACHADO | |
| TEAM 6 | WOO | |
| TEAM 7 | SANCHEZ | |
| TEAM 8 | FRIED | |
| TEAM 9 | YAMAMOTO | |
| TEAM 10 | BETTS | |
| ROUND 4 | TEAM 10 | GREENE |
| TEAM 9 | OLSON | |
| TEAM 8 | HARPER | |
| TEAM 7 | DE LA CRUZ | |
| TEAM 6 | TURNER | |
| TEAM 5 | RAGANS | |
| TEAM 4 | PERDOMO | |
| TEAM 3 | BREGMAN | |
| TEAM 2 | PERALTA | |
| TEAM 1 | SEAGER | |
| ROUND 5 | TEAM 1 | SALE |
| TEAM 2 | CAMINERO | |
| TEAM 3 | DEGROM | |
| TEAM 4 | WOOD | |
| TEAM 5 | SNELL | |
| TEAM 6 | ANTHONY | |
| TEAM 7 | FREEMAN | |
| TEAM 8 | PCA | |
| TEAM 9 | SUZUKI | |
| TEAM 10 | TURANG | |
| ROUND 6 | TEAM 10 | YELICH |
| TEAM 9 | KIRBY | |
| TEAM 8 | ALVAREZ | |
| TEAM 7 | RYAN | |
| TEAM 6 | SCHLITTLER | |
| TEAM 5 | BRADISH | |
| TEAM 4 | MISIOROWSKI | |
| TEAM 3 | BIEBER | |
| TEAM 2 | IMANAGA | |
| TEAM 1 | RICE | |
| ROUND 7 | TEAM 1 | SCHWELLY |
| TEAM 2 | E. PEREZ | |
| TEAM 3 | ALTUVE | |
| TEAM 4 | BELLINGER | |
| TEAM 5 | NAYLOR | |
| TEAM 6 | CONTRERAS | |
| TEAM 7 | KING | |
| TEAM 8 | STOWERS | |
| TEAM 9 | ROOKER | |
| TEAM 10 | SPRINGER | |
| ROUND 8 | TEAM 10 | LODOLO |
| TEAM 9 | M. MILLER | |
| TEAM 8 | RILEY | |
| TEAM 7 | CHOURIO | |
| TEAM 6 | GLASNOW | |
| TEAM 5 | ABRAMS | |
| TEAM 4 | BROWN | |
| TEAM 3 | DURAN | |
| TEAM 2 | BICHETTE | |
| TEAM 1 | CEASE | |
| ROUND 9 | TEAM 1 | HAPP |
| TEAM 2 | MERRILL | |
| TEAM 3 | PEPIOT | |
| TEAM 4 | WEBB | |
| TEAM 5 | NIMMO | |
| TEAM 6 | VALDEZ | |
| TEAM 7 | LUZARDO | |
| TEAM 8 | EOVALDI | |
| TEAM 9 | BURNS | |
| TEAM 10 | C. SMITH | |
| ROUND 10 | TEAM 10 | VINNIE |
| TEAM 9 | RODON | |
| TEAM 8 | E. DIAZ | |
| TEAM 7 | A. CHAPMAN | |
| TEAM 6 | BUXTON | |
| TEAM 5 | HADER | |
| TEAM 4 | JH. DURAN | |
| TEAM 3 | RA. SUAREZ | |
| TEAM 2 | T. HERNANDEZ | |
| TEAM 1 | MUNCY | |
| ROUND 11 | TEAM 1 | NOLA |
| TEAM 2 | LANGELIERS | |
| TEAM 3 | BEDNAR | |
| TEAM 4 | HERRERA | |
| TEAM 5 | B. MILLER | |
| TEAM 6 | D. WILLIAMS | |
| TEAM 7 | GARCIA | |
| TEAM 8 | W. SMITH | |
| TEAM 9 | HOERNER | |
| TEAM 10 | ALCANTARA | |
| ROUND 12 | TEAM 10 | TROUT |
| TEAM 9 | MCLEAN | |
| TEAM 8 | CAMERON | |
| TEAM 7 | HORTON | |
| TEAM 6 | BUSCH | |
| TEAM 5 | ROGERS | |
| TEAM 4 | RAY | |
| TEAM 3 | CHANDLER | |
| TEAM 2 | MUNOZ | |
| TEAM 1 | MEGILL | |
| ROUND 13 | TEAM 1 | PIVETTA |
| TEAM 2 | BOYD | |
| TEAM 3 | NELSON | |
| TEAM 4 | RASMUSSEN | |
| TEAM 5 | LILE | |
| TEAM 6 | HOLLIDAY | |
| TEAM 7 | NETO | |
| TEAM 8 | PROFAR | |
| TEAM 9 | M. CHAPMAN | |
| TEAM 10 | GAUSMAN | |
| ROUND 14 | TEAM 10 | CABRERA |
| TEAM 9 | GOODMAN | |
| TEAM 8 | ABBOTT | |
| TEAM 7 | PEREZ | |
| TEAM 6 | G. WILLIAMS | |
| TEAM 5 | S. GRAY | |
| TEAM 4 | MCCLANAHAN | |
| TEAM 3 | P. LOPEZ | |
| TEAM 2 | WOODRUFF | |
| TEAM 1 | WHEELER | |
| ROUND 15 | TEAM 1 | BAZ |
| TEAM 2 | MELTON | |
| TEAM 3 | BALDWIN | |
| TEAM 4 | RUTSCHMAN | |
| TEAM 5 | R. GREENE | |
| TEAM 6 | G. RODRIGUEZ | |
| TEAM 7 | STEELE | |
| TEAM 8 | COLE | |
| TEAM 9 | MUSGROVE | |
| TEAM 10 | BURNES | |
| ROUND 16 | TEAM 10 | TEEL |
| TEAM 9 | MARSEE | |
| TEAM 8 | ALBIES | |
| TEAM 7 | POLANCO | |
| TEAM 6 | M. KELLY | |
| TEAM 5 | KEASCHALL | |
| TEAM 4 | BATY | |
| TEAM 3 | ARANDA | |
| TEAM 2 | CASTILLO | |
| TEAM 1 | LOWE | |
| ROUND 17 | TEAM 1 | MCGONIGLE |
| TEAM 2 | KWAN | |
| TEAM 3 | FRELICK | |
| TEAM 4 | LANGFORD | |
| TEAM 5 | WETHERHOLT | |
| TEAM 6 | MONTGOMERY | |
| TEAM 7 | EARLY | |
| TEAM 8 | YESAVAGE | |
| TEAM 9 | CAGLIONONE | |
| TEAM 10 | PAREDES | |
| ROUND 18 | TEAM 10 | SHEEHAN |
| TEAM 9 | J. PENA | |
| TEAM 8 | LUGO | |
| TEAM 7 | R. OLSON | |
| TEAM 6 | BUBIC | |
| TEAM 5 | GALLEN | |
| TEAM 4 | BIBEE | |
| TEAM 3 | J. JONES | |
| TEAM 2 | SENGA | |
| TEAM 1 | YANDY DIAZ | |
| ROUND 19 | TEAM 1 | SNELLING |
| TEAM 2 | PAGES | |
| TEAM 3 | GORE | |
| TEAM 4 | LAUREANO | |
| TEAM 5 | SODERSTROM | |
| TEAM 6 | STRIDER | |
| TEAM 7 | S. STEWART | |
| TEAM 8 | CAISSIE | |
| TEAM 9 | PRIESTER | |
| TEAM 10 | BEAVERS | |
| ROUND 20 | TEAM 10 | WEATHERS |
| TEAM 9 | TOLLE | |
| TEAM 8 | ABEL | |
| TEAM 7 | FLAHERTY | |
| TEAM 6 | CONTRERAS | |
| TEAM 5 | C. GRIFFIN | |
| TEAM 4 | LEITER | |
| TEAM 3 | WIGGINS | |
| TEAM 2 | MIZE | |
| TEAM 1 | PETERSON | |
| ROUND 21 | TEAM 1 | J. LOPEZ |
| TEAM 2 | EFLIN | |
| TEAM 3 | BARGER | |
| TEAM 4 | GIOLITO | |
| TEAM 5 | BELLO | |
| TEAM 6 | TAILLON | |
| TEAM 7 | BAZZANA | |
| TEAM 8 | S. SMITH | |
| TEAM 9 | L. DOYLE | |
| TEAM 10 | BALLESTEROS | |
| ROUND 22 | TEAM 10 | POVICH |
| TEAM 9 | MESSICK | |
| TEAM 8 | I. SEYMOUR | |
| TEAM 7 | WARREN | |
| TEAM 6 | CANTILLO | |
| TEAM 5 | BERRIOS | |
| TEAM 4 | BASSITT | |
| TEAM 3 | ARRIGHETTI | |
| TEAM 2 | ROUPP | |
| TEAM 1 | BERGERT |
Fantasy Baseball Points League Analyst 