2014 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide

2014 Projections, Tiers, and Rankings

2014 Stat Projections Tiers and Rankings
Catcher Catcher
First Base First Base
Second Base Second Base
Third Base Third Base
Shortstop Shortstop
Outfield Outfield #1-50
Starting Pitcher Outfield #51-90
  Starting Pitcher #1-45
  Starting Pitcher #46-95
  Relief Pitcher

Sleepers and Prospects

Sleepers by Position Sleeper and Prospect Profiles
Catcher Nick Castellanos and Travis d’Arnaud
First Base Oscar Taveras and Taijuan Walker
Second Base George Springer and Byron Buxton
Third Base Archie Bradley and Chris Owings
Shortstop Yordano Ventura and Matt Davidson
Outfield, Part One George Springer
Outfield, Part Two Masahiro Tanaka
Starting Pitcher, Part One Johnny Cueto
Starting Pitcher, Part Two Avisail Garcia
Relief Pitcher Jed Lowrie
Ervin Santana

 

Draft Strategy and Advice:

Drafts Are a Jigsaw Puzzle: Michael Clifford compares the pros and cons of various draft strategies and offers up some Plan B strategies in case Plan A goes south early.

The Economics of Drafting Pitching: In a pitchers’ league, do you draft the best starters early or wait on value picks?

Late Infield Targets: The best stat producers tend to be outfielders. Michael Clifford identifies some late-round infielders to target so that you can use your early picks on the best available players.

Target Middle Relievers in Deep Leagues: An extensive stat breakdown of how middle relievers can provide more value than some top-75 starting pitchers in mid-sized and deep leagues.

Don’t Let Deep Leagues Overwhelm: Complete walkthrough of how to manage your deep league draft and roster as compared to standard leagues.

Mocking and Planning, Planning and Mocking: Michael Clifford provides a complete walkthrough of a standard auction draft and some cheap values to target.

Three Overlooked Aspects on Draft Day: Michael Clifford looks at how draft settings, roster settings, and other owners can greatly affect your draft strategy.

Gerrit Cole, Michael Wacha, Tony Cingrani Projections: Igor Derysh looks at what fantasy owners can reasonably expect from three of the most exciting pitchers entering their first full season.

Chris Archer, Alex Wood, Zack Wheeler Projections: Three of the more intriguing second-year pitchers carry an equal amount of risk and reward.

Starting Pitchers to Avoid and Their More Reliable Alternatives, Part One and Part Two: Igor Derysh looks at starting pitchers that carry too much risk for such a deep pitcher class and some more reliable alternatives owners can draft later instead.

Ryan Braun is Grossly Undervalued: It’s not often that pre-season MVP candidates are undervalued in fantasy but Ryan Braun is a burning value in the early parts of drafts.

Outfielders to Avoid and Late-Round Alternatives: Like starter, the outfield position is too deep to take unnecessary risks. Igor Derysh looks at early round picks to avoid and late-round category fillers to target instead.

Late-Round Outfield Category Fillers and Breakout Candidates: Igor Derysh identifies some cheap late-round outfielders to help with your power and speed categories, as well as some 2014 breakout candidates.

Late-Round Catcher Value Picks: The catcher position provides far too little fantasy production to target early. Igor Derysh looks at some catcher value picks that can be had late in drafts so you can use your early picks on the best available players.

author avatar
Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com.