Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide 2009 - First Ten Rounds

Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide. Whether this year is your first fantasy baseball draft or your 10^th, it always pays-off to read-up on what strategies other players use to gain insight that may help in your attempts to build a winning team this season! Most leagues will dictate what positions are required to be drafted. Commonly, fantasy baseball leagues require a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, three outfielders, a utility man, two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, three other pitchers that can be relief or starting, and five bench players. In this article, I review some thoughts and picks to consider to help the reader navigate their upcoming 2009 fantasy baseball drafts through the first 10 rounds!

Round One - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

The first round of the fantasy draft can be a bit intimidating for the new player. Who do you go for first? Good rules of thumb to remember are: 1 - Go after hitters who excel in multiple categories that score in your fantasy league first, 2 - Wait to take Pitchers until later in the draft. Now, this year, a good debate to have dependent on your draft position is which position player is best to take in the first round. A lot of this choice is dependent on where your pick in the round comes. If you have the number one or two pick this year, don't pass up A-Rod (New York Yankees) or Albert Pujols (Saint Louis Cardinals). You can't beat the batting average, power, run production, and RBI's from these two players. If you find yourself deeper in the round consider taking an upper tier second baseman, short stop, or catcher. If I was lower in the draft order, I would heavily consider taking Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies against first baseman Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees.

Round Two - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

If you're playing in a 12 team fantasy league, there are going to be marquee players left on the board through the first several rounds of the draft. There are two schools of thought heading into round 2, do you grab another marquee, multiple-category producing hitter in positions that are not deep or do you consider getting your number one pitcher in this round. I prefer to stick to hitting in the second round and would go after either a first baseman or outfielder depending on who I got in the first round. Picks that should still be around in this round are Josh Hamilton, outfielder, Texas Rangers, Ryan Howard, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies, Manny Ramierz, OF, (Still listed with the Dodgers), or Carlos Beltran, OF, New York Mets. Pitching-wise, I really like Johan Santana of the New York Mets if you're going to go that direction this early.

Round Three - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

Ok, hitting round three, I'm thinking about getting my number one pitcher. You can get away with waiting until later if you have that 'can't miss' third all-round great hitter available. If Johan Santana is not available, my next choice in starting pitcher is CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees followed by Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants. I think Lincecum is a bit riskier pick than Sabathia and Santana, but you have to like the stuff he brought to the 2008 season.

Round Four - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

In round four, I'm looking for another quality hitter for my fantasy baseball team. I kind of like OF Nick Markakis of the Baltimore Orioles, OF Matt Kemp, and OF Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox in priority order depending on who's on the board still in the draft.

Round Five - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

In this round, I'm looking to get one more consistent hitter for my lineup before shifting to other priorities. Favorites that should still be around in this round are: OF Shane Victorino Philadelphia Phillies, OF Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels, and OF Nate McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Round Six - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

For round six, I like to go after a quality relief pitcher that has a high strikeout to walk ratio. Three of my favorite relievers in priority order are: Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins, Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees, and Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals. You can probably get away with waiting to take a relief pitcher for another round, but I didn't want to wait any longer in case the quality pitchers with potential for further improvement in the 2009 season are gone.

Round Seven - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

Ok, by this round, if I haven't taken a catcher yet, I have to! There's just not enough of them to go around this year with any type of quality stats! I like Mike Napoli of the Angels, Joe Mauer of the Twins, or Geovany Soto of the Chicago Cubs for this pick.

Round Eight - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

For round 8, I like to take either another starting pitcher or a shortstop! My preference is shortstop this year. I would take the highest rated player between Michael Young, Texas Rangers, Stephen Drew, Arizona Diamondbacks, Rafael Furcal, LA Dodges, and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees depending on who's left on the board.

Round Nine - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

For this round, I'm going to take my second starting pitcher. Depth on the board could vary dependent on your league at this point, but despite his injuries last season, I really like Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett. If he's gone, then John Lackey of the Angels or Edinson Volquez of the Reds would be good choices for the number two starter!

Round Ten - Fantasy Baseball Draft 2009

Round 10 is the place to pick the best position starter you're still missing for your 2009 fantasy baseball lineup. Likely to be a wide variance of who's available here. I'm going to go for the best position player left on the board to fill out my starters in overall category performance for round 10.

Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide Beyond Round 10

Many fantasy baseball leagues hold drafts out to round 21. Once you start hitting round 10 and beyond is where your research into B and C level players will pay off. Don't forget to have fun and do your homework before draft day!