We’re already headed into the fourth week of mock draft analysis here at Fantasy Alarm. Our friends over at RealTime Fantasy Sports host our Mock Draft Army series allowing us to have an easy to use platform to conduct our mock drafts. Over the past two weeks we’ve put together some different strategies to implement during these mock drafts and analyze what went wrong, what worked in our favor and/or what we could have done different. This week is going to be a little different when it comes to the strategies in play.

In strategy number one we took half of each of last week’s strategies of power/consistency and balance/upside to draft a power/upside approach. We’re going heavy power bats and strikeout pitchers in a 12 team 5X5 style mock draft. In strategy number two were using an approach that many of us forget to use because we’re so wrapped up in rankings and tiers and ADP. This approach is called “Take YOUR guy!”. This is a strategy that is often overlooked because we’re too afraid to make a mistake, however it is definitely the most exciting approach of them all. We can’t forget that fantasy sports is here for us to have fun and enjoy and using this strategy allows us to grab our favorite players and guys we really want on our teams. What is more exciting than rooting for your favorite players during games and it also helping your fantasy team? To follow along in the draft boards below look for team @ChrisBouv14.

Home Runs and Strikeouts

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When using this strategy we want the big boppers and the pitchers that fill up the stat sheet with the almighty K without reaching too far and losing value. Round one brought quite the decision right off the bat at pick number four. After the usual Trout and Altuve selections at one and two, Arenado was the target as one of the best hitters in baseball in the best ballpark however, he was selected one pick before us at number three overall. This left us with Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt. The thought here was that first base is much deeper in the power department than outfield since only twelve will be started in this format as opposed to 60 outfielders so Goldschmidt was eliminated.

Now comes the real decision, do we take the most pure power hitter in Stanton who will be settling in to his new team in New York or Bryce Harper who is in a contract year and is much more reliable in batting average and games played. Stanton has only played in 125 games three times in his eight seasons since debuting in 2010. Bryce Harper was the selection for us in the first round and is an exciting player to own in 2018 all things considered. The goal in round two was to get one of the four top pitchers as they all have the ability to strikeout 250-plus hitters with a back up plan being to grab the best home run threat available.

Before our next pick Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer were taken, leaving us a decision of Chris Sale or Corey Kluber. Sale has the higher strikeout upside but also has the higher probable ERA and Kluber is actually the pitcher who is averaging more strikeouts over the last four seasons by fifteen per season. I think you know what direction we went here but here it is, Corey Kluuuuuuuuber! This is exactly the kind of start you want using this approach, a starting pitcher who can put up 270 K’s and a sub 3.00 ERA and a bat that has 50 home run potential with the possibility of a .330 average. From here on out we will be able to pile on top of that foundation and continue to rack up home runs and strikeouts!

Building a roster centered around power is easier than the balanced approach because there just aren’t that many power/speed combo players. If you’re not comfortable ignoring steals completely then make sure you sandwich some speed guys in between your big boppers in the middle to late rounds. The next few rounds went okay as George Springer, Tommy Pham, Justin Turner and Jay Bruce landed in our laps. We missed out on Nelson Cruz and Jonathan Schoop before the Pham pick so without reaching for someone who hits a ton of home runs, it felt like a great time to grab value in a guy that helps in batting average and steals and we’ll make up for the home runs down the road. The rest of the bats are as follows, Rougned Odor, Justin Smoak, Mike Zunino, Evan Gattis and Todd Frazier with a few speed guys like Delino DeShields, Marcus Semien and Oswaldo Arcia mixed in.

The strategy for bats as a whole turned out pretty nicely as we ended up with around 350 home runs based on ESPN  projections and still managed to get around 140 steals without making much of an effort to do so. We missed out on a good amount of power by not reaching and sticking to ADP and tiers. The pitching side of things produced a tremendous amount of strikeouts and upside. After getting Corey Kluber we landed Zack Greinke, Zack Godley, Luis Castillo and Marcus Stroman. This gives us an average of 205.2 strikeouts per pitcher based on ESPN projections in 2018. The second half of this mock afforded us a few more high strikeout guys in Jon Gray, Jeff Samardzija and Patrick Corbin who, combined, average another 168.6 strikeouts.

In summary, this strategy gave us an outstanding pitching staff and some real potential with the bats. Not reaching for some power only guys was the only downfall here as stubbornness to stay within the rankings cost us quite a bit of home runs. The lesson learned here is that sometimes you have to stray a little bit from your rankings if you want to land a certain style lineup. All in all it looks like a solid team so the strategy can definitely be a winner but this brings us to our next strategy...

Take Your Guy!

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Taking your guy applies within each of the strategies done already. If you are using a certain approach and a player that fits that bill is available, take him. There were several occasions in the previous strategy where a guy was there for the taking but felt it was a little early to take the plunge and when our  next pick came around, he was gone. Even if you have no strategy at all, isn’t it more fun to have the players you love to watch or root for on your team? If you’re not having a blast then you shouldn’t be playing guys. Let’s mix it up a little here!

In the same 12 team 5X5 style mock we landed the number four overall pick once again. Remember we are taking OUR guy, no matter the cost or repercussions. Trout, Betts and Altuve went within the first three picks and that landed us THE guy, Nolan Arenado. As mentioned in the first paragraph of the first strategy, he may very well be the best hitter in baseball and oh, he also plays in the best hitters park as well. Moving on, with the available players on the board at 21st overall, Anthony Rizzo stuck out like a sore thumb as the end of the first tier of first baseman came to a close. How do you pass on a guy at 21st overall that is a lock for 30/100 and had a 1.01 BB/K ratio in 2017? You don’t.

The third round selection for us came down to Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino. Both guys are absolute studs and have huge seasons coming up so the decision between the two was extremely difficult. The deciding factor came down to it being a two catcher league and the advantage we get over the field by selecting Gary Sanchez. The value there was too great to pass up. Now with three big bats selected and the very deep pitching position still empty we had to keep an eye on any value there that popped up. Greinke, Ray and Archer were all in the queue at this point when our next selection started getting closer. The target was Chris Archer and he was the only one remaining when our pick arrived. He is most definitely better than the 4.00 ERA’s he has been posting over the last couple years as evidenced by his 3.40 FIP in 2017 and has 250 strikeout upside which rivals that of Luis Severino who was selected almost a full round earlier. Easy choice for us in the fourth round.

Rougned Odor, Ian Kinsler and Tim Anderson rounded out the infield and they all have 20/20 potential and provide ridiculous value at their ADP’s. The outfielders we were able to take were Justin Upton, Adam Jones, Jay Bruce, Odubel Herrera and Michael Conforto. Justin Upton is about to have a monster season and could reach 35 home runs and 15 steals with around a .275 average. Jones isn’t the sexy pick but is a solid bet for 25-30 bombs, 80 RBI and again, a .275 average. Bruce is a masher as we all know so his 35-40 home runs in the 13th round is an absolute steal. Herrera has the ceiling to go 20/20 or better and in round 17, give me all the Odubel! As for Conforto, just please come back healthy. Even if he misses a third of the season, he has the talent to hit 25 home runs and hit .280 or better. In the 20th round, the risk is well worth the reward.

As for the pitchers, we are going to need some things to go our way. After Archer we selected Marcus Stroman, Lance McCullers and his newly introduced NASTY two seamer, Chase Anderson, Danny Salazar, Jimmy Nelson and Reynaldo Lopez. As you can see for yourself we need a whole lot of good health to come our way with the selections of McCullers, Salazar and Jimmy Nelson. Get healthy and stay healthy and that goes a long way in making this a pretty good staff. We also need Lance McCullers and Reynaldo Lopez to realize their potential and become the 200 strikeout pitchers they can easily be. Despite the risk involved, we got the guys we wanted when it came down to it and it would be a very exciting team to follow. Try this approach at least once and see if the guys YOU want can lead you to a championship.

Stay tuned next week as we analyze a couple more different draft strategies and fine tune our draft day approaches. Be sure to email mockdraftarmy@yahoo.com and be a part of our mock drafts up until the start of the fantasy baseball season. #FANation mock til ya drop!