Practice makes perfect is a phrase everybody has heard throughout their lives, whether it’s learning to tie your shoes or drive a car, so why not apply that to your fantasy baseball preparations as well in the form of mock drafts?  Now sure, you can read every article, review every ADP and create as many spreadsheets as you want in preparation for your draft, but to be truly ready come draft day you should have as many mock drafts under your belt as possible.

The common knock, when it comes to mock drafts, is that often the public mock drafts on different platforms are ruined by auto-drafters, people leaving mid-draft and those who do not take the draft seriously, ultimately ruining the experience for those players who are truly trying to use it as a preparation tool. Thankfully here at Fantasy Alarm we have the solution to that problem by way of Howard Bender’s Mock Draft Army. The Mock Draft Army is made up of serious fantasy baseball players like yourself as well as members of the fantasy baseball industry. These mock drafts are as close to the real thing as you can get with all players engaged in thoughtful discussion about players, rankings and projections for the upcoming season. You do not want to miss out on this opportunity as you prepare for your leagues fantasy baseball draft. Registering is simple. Just send an email to mockdraftarmy@yahoo.com and ask for your email address to be added to the schedule distribution list. You will then receive an email via RTSports.com with the upcoming schedule and you can easily choose which mocks you would like to join.

So now that you are signed up for the Mock Draft Army, let’s discuss the importance of mock drafting, shall we? First, let’s talk about strategy. Every fantasy player goes into their draft with a strategy on how they want to draft but the best way to apply that strategy is to try it out in a mock draft. You may go into your draft thinking you want to take pitching early but find yourself in the mid-to-late rounds struggling to find that starting caliber first basemen you passed on while staring at a bunch of quality pitching options. It is much better to realize this mistake during a mock draft than your real draft.

Maybe your league does not tell you ahead of time what position you will be picking from so you have no idea whether you will be drafting first, last or anywhere in-between. Fortunately, mock drafting allows you to draft from all different slots and gives you a good idea of what players will be available when. Often this allows for you to come across a player you may not have even been targeting but, because you participated in this mock draft, you now know they likely will be within reach on draft day which could alter your strategy moving forward.

Mock drafting also helps you identify the ADP of players which goes towards molding your draft strategy. By participating in multiple mock drafts, you can get an idea of what players fall in drafts due to perception while noticing what players are being taken earlier than their ADP. Maybe there is a first baseman you really like with a 10th round ADP but through mock drafts you see that you aren’t the only one that has him targeted and you often find he is going a few picks to a round before you. You can use that information come draft day to plan on taking him a bit earlier than his ADP to ensure he is on your roster. Mock drafting also helps you find the bargains in drafts. Often players in the later rounds of drafts are either rookies, veterans coming off poor seasons or injury plagued seasons. Identifying these players during your mock draft allow you to prepare better for your actual draft. This was touched upon in the draft guide article Maximizing Late Round Value. Mock drafting allows for you to see what players are available and at what position during each tier of the draft. 

Nobody wants to be underprepared come draft day. You do not want to be that person who is fumbling around their notes after the player they had queued up was taken the pick before them. The best way to be prepared for any scenario that can happen during your draft is to practice. Mock drafts are just as important to your preparation process as anything else and it could quite possibly be the most important. So again, sign up for the Mock Draft Army, participate in the conversations and give yourself the edge heading into your fantasy baseball draft.