Draft Strategy: POSB
Maybe the easiest draft strategy to execute is POSB. This theory is built on drafting power and speed with batting average being a secondary consideration. The goal is to dominate home runs and stolen bases which will hopefully lead to high scores in runs and RBI.
In most drafts, Fantasy owners shy away from players with batting average risk. It’s a minefield out there with low-average power littering the player pool after round ten in 15-team leagues. With this draft style, it’s a gold mine.
By buying weaker pieces to the puzzle, a Fantasy owner can open up some early rounds to make sure they build the base of their pitching staff. In the ideal situation, an owner would like to finesse this plan, so they don’t finish last in batting average. In any given year, a high K rate hitter can still post a respectable batting average. In a season with deep starting pitching inventory, batting average could be depressed helping this draft plan. What is a negative batting average? It’s possible that three or four low average hitter’s breakout in batting average in the same year. It comes down to your overall goal. In a trading league, you can flip a weak asset if he gets off to a hot start. In a 12 or 15 team league, you can still win by punting one category.
An owner with this thought process has to avoid too much flash and dash. He can accept weaker pieces, but he has to be careful not to own too many players that offer just pure speed. In seasons with lower expected offensive stats, a Judy type hitter should have more value as a Fantasy owner can commit more roster slots to power hitters.
For this theory to win, a Fantasy owner must establish an edge in three areas – power, speed, and starting pitching. The key to the plan is identifying the falling pieces in the draft that offer the skill set to execute your plan. Once a Fantasy owner have some ideas how he wants to backfill their roster, he can start looking at the starting pitching tradeoffs to decide which rounds you want to use to build your pitching staff.
This style of drafter is looking for proven players with longer resumes. When some owners are looking for young players with upside late, this owner is squirreling away older veteran players. You may shake your head at the draft table, but this Fantasy owner has a chance to win if all late options produce expected stats.
