Once you get into a high stakes draft, it will be a unique experience the first time. It's way different than a home league. The knowledge of most participants is high. There is no such thing as a sleeper.

Knowing the player pool is crucial. Go through the depth chart of every team and know the top minor leaguers for every team, too. Research and preparation is important. If you're not going to invest a lot of time, it's not worth investing in a high stakes league.

For years I have preached on the radio to know the rules of your league. It sounds basic and obvious, but I have seen in many leagues people come into the draft and don't know them. There's always someone at the draft table asking a question about the rules. Don't be that guy. Go through the rules thoroughly. Make sure you are extremely familiar with everything. There are so many different formats and knowing all details is crucial to success.

The best prep is to do a National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) draft champions league. It's a 15-team league with 50 rounds. There are no waiver wire moves. It's just a draft and lineup setting each week. This really helps get familiar with the player pool as 750 players are drafted. There might be several players drafted you aren't familiar with which brings them to your attention, and do some research.

One of the biggest differences in high stakes leagues is there is no trading in most of them. The NFBC doesn't allow trading. In a home league, you can come out of a draft with deficiencies and make up for them by making a trade. That can't be done in high stakes.

The best draft plan calls for drafting a team with balance since most leagues are 5x5 roto. It is possible to punt a category and win a stand-alone league, but if you're aiming for the overall prize, it's difficult to do. It's certainly possible, but many things need to align correctly for it to work.

Everyone has a different way to attack a draft. Some use draft software, a computer, pen and paper, or someone's rankings. Find your comfort level and be prepared for the draft. For me, I like to use pen and paper. I print out my rankings and cross off names as they are drafted. I will circle or highlight players that I am high on or want to target.

Always be prepared as your turn is coming up. We all get sniped, but have several players in mind that you want. Don't focus on one player, they get picked before you pick and now you're flustered. Always have a backup plan and a backup plan to that. The clock is usually 60 seconds and there's not a lot of time to scramble. If it's an online draft, have several players in the queue.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is drafting names over stats. Building a successful fantasy baseball team is like a puzzle and putting the correct pieces in the right spot. Too many people draft off a Top 300 list and take the best player available. Doing that for the first few rounds is fine, but if you're doing this every round it's going to fail in high stakes, especially with no trades.

Don't get infatuated with player names. It's all about the stats. As the draft goes along, understand where you are strong and weak and how to improve the weakness. There have been times I really wanted someone in a draft and might have touted that player incessantly, but he wasn't a fit for the current roster. Roster construction is extremely important to success and is highly underrated.

Stolen bases are down in baseball and have become scarce. Getting as many players with power and speed early on is the goal, but obviously those players go quickly. Only three players stole more than 40 bases in 2019. Eight stole more than 30 and 21 stole more than 20 bases. There were 2,280 stolen bases in 2019 compared to 2,474 in 2018. This is causing players that steal bases to move up draft boards. Have a plan of attack on how you will handle this category. Fewer stolen bases means they are scarce and there's not as many needed to compete.

A lot of people will say to be conservative in the first few rounds and take proven players with high floors. While that's generally true, swinging for the fences is ideal in high stakes formats. Going for the overall prize means taking chances. 

If you're in a snake draft, track the teams around you. For example, if you pick 10th in a 12-team league, look at teams 11 and 12 before making your picks. It could be Round 9 and you want to take a catcher with one of your picks. If both teams 11 and 12 have a catcher, you can take the chance of selecting another position and come back with a catcher in Round 10. It won't always work as one of those teams might take a second catcher, but you're playing the odds.

Never panic about a run on a position. Don't get sucked into taking the bottom of the tier if you don't like the player. If there's a run on a position, it usually means value is dropping. Don't worry about where the stats come from in the early rounds. Get the best players and then start looking at balance and positions.

Like anything in life, work hard and be prepared. It's going to be a learning experience the first year. Even the top players struggle initially since it's a new environment. Put in the work, be prepared and have fun on draft day. Someone has to win. Why not you?