2021 Fantasy Baseball Season Overview
The 2021 Fantasy Baseball season may be the most interesting season in a while. With all of the new young talent across the league mixed with big-name stars, it seems as though there are an infinite amount of players to choose from. The hardest part is knowing which player is the right choice. Especially when there’s so much uncertainty about some player’s potential when the 2020 season was only 60 games. It’s important more than ever to have a basic overall view of the season and understand the available players. This is an overview of the 2021 Fantasy Baseball Season.
Position Players
Drafting position players is always more of a gamble than any other position. This is mainly because of the frequent rate of long slumps the hitters could have during the season. In 2020, it seemed as though many 2019 stars had terrible seasons. Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Nolan Arenado, Javier Baez, J.D. Martinez, Alex Bregman, and Pete Alonso are just a few of those players. With many of these players having long track records of success, it’s important to not become blinded to their potential. For example, Christian Yelich is currently hitting .444 this Spring Training. The possibility of him having a comeback season increases by the day. Now for the first-time stars in 2020 like Teoscar Hernandez and Donovan Solano, it is more of a gamble to draft those kinds of players. Considering they’ve only really had a good 60-game stretch which is still impressive. Prior to drafting it’s also important to understand each position’s depth.
Pitchers
In points-based leagues, it’s typical for pitchers to dominate. From year to year, it seems to be the same cast dominating the game. Also, it’s very rare that a pitcher has a very bad season as a hitter would. A big tip would be to take big-name, reliable pitchers when possible. For example; Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale (when healthy), Stephen Strasburg, are some of the top hurlers. These pitchers are guaranteed to rack in points and be a lead role in any pitching staff. As per relievers, in many leagues, relief pitchers are undervalued and for good reason. Relievers should never be main targets in a draft, but it would never hurt to have a few solid arms at the back end of the pitching staff, like Aroldis Chapman, Josh Hader, Liam Hendriks, and Nick Anderson.
Value System
It’s always important to have a system of values going into a Fantasy Draft. For example, as mentioned before, pitchers tend to dominate point-based leagues. Whereas some head-to-head leagues value hitters and having good overall rosters higher. This is why it is essential to first look at the scoring settings before entering the draft. In point-based leagues where pitching is valued higher, it may be best to snag a bunch of top-of-the-line pitchers at the beginning and let the lineup fall into place in the early to middle rounds. Watch lists are the most important tool in Fantasy. It would be best to have that full of potential players for the upcoming 2021 Fantasy Baseball Season.
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