We’re headed into one of the biggest draft seasons of the year, and it’s time to empty the notebook. Here is some wisdom before you get into the big room, your 25 fantasy baseball tips for 2025.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]
Before you start any draft, ask yourself what positions or resources you can probably fill later in your draft, or on the waiver wire. This upside-down approach will help you shape a good strategy.
Starting pitchers are the running backs of fantasy baseball. You’ll want depth and you’ll want lottery tickets. If you have the right pitchers, the world is yours. If you run unlucky with pitcher injuries, it’s going to be a long season. I see enough depth at the position where I don’t think it’s mandatory that you attack this spot super-early. But I’ll be quasi-proactive here, too — even if I don’t have the best SP1, I’d like my top 3-4 starters to be comparable to anyone else’s
It’s the Age of Enlightenment for modern baseball stats, although some of the metrics are more descriptive than predictive. But if you could only look at one stat for everybody, K/BB ratio would be the logical starting point.
I generally do not alter the player ordering in any draft applet because I want to know what my opponents are probably looking at. But I am constantly filling my queue — not just to remind me of key names, but to cover myself if I time out on a pick or encounter an unfortunate internet problem — and I also think it’s useful to have a small piece of scratch paper nearby. And if you’re unsure who to pick in the late rounds, open a different window and do a free-agent search on the league site, sorted by roster tag. The right names will probably percolate to the top; wisdom of crowds.
Shortstop is the deepest of the positions, by far. This does not mean one of your early picks can’t be a shortstop, because there are superstars at this position. But just know you will always look at this pool and find something that interests you.
Corner infield used to be a deep fantasy position. It’s not as deep as it used to be. If I see similar early-round candidates and one of them covers a corner, that’s a good way to break the tie.
If your league requires just one starting catcher, wait. Austin Wells is a nice value pick, likely opening the year as the Yankees leadoff man.
Save striation has been a fact of fantasy life for several years. This is actually a good thing for us — it means we need fewer saves to be competitive; it takes some stress away from the rat race. If you’re considering a reliever who’s not a dedicated closer, focus on the winning teams. We want as much exposure to possible wins and saves as we can — and relief pitchers keep getting a bigger share of those wins, as MLB clubs continue to ask less of their starting pitchers.
It’s very difficult to justify a mixed-league player who is in a platoon unless you see significant growth potential in that player (or your league rules are platoon-friendly).
As the years go by there is less differentiation with the ballparks. Most of them settle somewhere in the middle. But we need to mind the outliers. You want your hitters in Colorado or Boston or Cincinnati. The homers fly freely when the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies or Brewers are at home. Meanwhile, you want your pitchers getting work in Seattle or San Francisco, when possible. San Diego isn’t a bad homer park but it’s still harder than average for scoring.
Note that the Athletics and Rays are in new ballparks this year, due to unusual circumstances. It’s a bonus for the Athletics offense, undoubtedly. Tampa Bay also has an unusual home/road ordering of games, with a nod to the rainy summers we see in Florida. There have also been dimension adjustments made in Baltimore, bringing in the left-field fence.
If one of your pick candidates is mostly defined by speed, make sure he owns a good batting slot. You don’t want your rabbits hitting 7-8-9, all else equal. I want my players hitting in the top five of a lineup (usually top three) whenever possible, anyway. Volume is your friend. When in doubt, sort by the runs-scored column.
Player development isn’t always linear. Player decline almost always is.
Unless your closer is a shutdown type, someone who has All-Star credentials, you probably don’t want to watch him live. It will ruin your stomach.
I think the baseball package is affordably priced and I’ll subscribe every year. But even if you don’t, take advantage of the free previews (usually the first week of the year and sometime in midsummer). Not only is televised baseball good for your soul, but you’ll pick up subtle pieces of information. What’s that old Yogi Berra wisdom? You can observe a lot just by watching.
In most competitive leagues, “Wait for Proof” is a dead strategy. The moment you recognize plausible upside is the moment you need to strongly consider a move.
Versatile players tend to be underrated and specialists are often overrated. Bill James has been telling us that for decades. Some boring veterans like Ian Happ and Bryan Reynolds are yearly values because of this.
If you roster a big-name prospect and he’s called up midseason, it’s not a bad idea to see if anyone wants to make a trade on the spot. It’s a bad idea to shop on an empty stomach, right? It similarly can be a bad idea to trade for someone when all you can think about is their glorious upside. For every Paul Skenes 2024, we see scores of rookies who quickly recognize the oldest of realities: baseball is hard.
Even though most of the games are available to me through subscription, I usually roster at least one batter on the local team. It’s nice to have something to watch as you wash down a tasty burger with a cold drink.
If you keep your routines for the entire season, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be rewarded. Some managers will start to lose interest when their teams drop in the standings, and several opponents will lose focus when September comes around — the NFL is a gorilla, kids go back to school, etc. Life becomes more complicated at the end of the season. So much of success in life is merely showing up.
For those in multiple leagues, it’s critical to load your personal calendar with the times and dates of your free-agent runs. Make sure you do this before the season starts. The world is dynamic. Never assume you’ll remember anything.
You want to draft fun upside players at the end of your draft but don’t fall in love with those guys, either. You want a fluid roster. Players who look interesting through production in real games deserve more weight than someone whose value is mostly speculative. Keep the bottom portion of your roster fluid. And if you never make a mistake with an add/drop, you’re playing far too conservatively.
I love Willy Adames as a player, but he’s the easiest fade in the world. The Brewers like to run. His new team, the Giants, do not like to run. There’s the pressure of a new contract and changing teams. The ballpark switch is also a problem. (Meanwhile, take advantage of batters after they leave San Francisco. Joey Bart showed this last year; Thairo Estrada and Michael Conforto — 17 road homers in 2024 — can show it this year.)
If you can find someone you share a worldview with, co-managing remains a cheat code. You get an invested buddy for six months, and someone to share the work with. Not all of your friends will be good fits for this, but if you find the right person, your winning odds increase significantly.
Most power hitters will strike out a lot. Some speedy players will have mediocre batted-ball metrics. These are not necessarily bad things, they’re actually playing to their strengths. You want a slugger to swing for the fences. You want a fast guy to put the ball in play, even if the exit velocity is ordinary.
I’ve said all I can say. The rest is up to you. Listen to everyone you respect, but make your final decisions. Measure often, cut once. Go build your dream roster. Make us all proud.
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