Head to Head Drafting Strategy - HELP!! - I'm a NEWCOMER!

[captain canuck]

Fairly new to fantasy baseball - first time playing Head to Head.

What should my strategy be heading into the draft.

Standard 5x5 categories. 2 SP's, 2 RP'S, 3 P's each week.

Thanks.

[OhMrScottyTrav06]

Round 1: Hitting
Round 2: Hitting
Round 3/4: Hitting/Starting Pitching
Round 5: Hitting
Round 6: Hitting
Round 7/8/9: Hitting/Starting Pitching/Closer
Round 10/11/12: Hitting/Starting Pitching/Closer
Round 13: Hitting
Round 14: Hitting
Round 15: Hitting

Keep a 2:1 ratio of Hitters to Pitchers throughout the first 15 rounds or so. Then favor getting starting pitchers late.

[BigZ38]

For Head to Head, I like to have a strong pitching staff. Get a stud in the top 3 rounds...then around round 10, take a guy like Lackey, maybe get a Doug Davis. Also get one of the top 7 closers. Once you have 9 of your 10 offensive spots filled, take pitchers like Kazmir, Bonderman, Lowe. Draft a young guy with upside. Then take the best hitter avaliable. Then get young hitters with upside, pay close attention to the closer watch. Do this and you will be in the playoffs guarenteed.

[Fireball Express]

Wait on Closers and Catchers is a general rule of thumb.

Basically grab the biggest boppers you can find, then fill in with some cheap speed later on.
I usually draft 2 SPs in the first 5 rounds then lay off until around the 10th.

All this being said, the best laid plans are often thrown out of the window because every draft is unique.

[George_Foreman]

With my draft this Saturday, I'm going to do something like:

1 SP in the first 4 rounds (maybe Johan, otherwise I'll grab one of the last "top teir" SPs in round 4 probably), otherwise, just bats for the first 6-7 rounds, mostly 1B, 3B, OF, and maybe even fill up my UTIL early if need be. I'll draft my staff in rounds 7/8-16, mostly taking guys with high upside and probably two mid-teir closers while also leaving room to draft a bat that has slipped farther than he should. After that, it's time to fill in those "scarce" positions with guys with high upside (Kinsler, Lowell would be ideal at this stage) and draft a few sleepers. I'll probably end up with really good players at the big hitting positions, a stud SP along with about 6 guys with a 50/50 shot of being really good, and a couple of closers. On top of that, I'll try to grab a few "might become closers" guys in the latter rounds (Joey Devine, for example) and hopefully end up with three or four closers come playoff time.

Basically, I try to use position scarcity to my advantage, taking the top bats available early while other people reach on 2Bs, SSs, and Cs (which aren't as scarce as they have been in other years). SPs are really deep in the middle rounds, so that's when I play to take the bulk of my staff rather than biting on early "might be studs, might not be studs". Guys like Smoltz and Beckett could slip because of injury concerns, and guys like Antohny Reyes should be available later, as they don't have much of a track record.

[foulballstrike3]

Basically what George said, grab one ace, then go and get mid level pitchers around the 10th round. YOU MUST GET PLENTY OF BATS. You can manipulate pitching matchups, double starts etc with your staff, but your hitters must be solid to produce week in and week out. I don't like to take a pitcher w/ my first two picks, you need to get absolute mashers with those picks. I would even lay off the guys like Utley. You wanna make sure you are getting guys that will absolutely hit around .300 w/ 35 HRs, 100+ RBIs and 100 Rs. Guys like Manny Ramirez, Bobby Abreu, etc. I try to get one guy that can win half the weeks of SBs for you (Pierre etc). You don't need dominant closers. Try to get a couple of mid level guys and a closer w/ potential (like George said, Devine).

SO:
C - wait, grab a guy like Lopez if you can, if not someone like R. Hernandez (Ha, i'm an O's fan)
1B - Very, Very deep, if 12 team league, you should definitely have a guy that gets you 30+ HRs w/ all the trimmings
2B - Don't reach for a 2B, wait until after the 10th round. Maybe grab a guy like F. Lopez that can help you w/ SBs. Cano and Polanco go late
SS - If you can get a Tejada in the 2nd, go ahead, otherwise, there is more depth then normal here. If you can get Jeter late 3rd or so, grab him there. You can grab guys like Crosby or Barmes real late though
3B - Very, very deep as well, you should have a guy that can pound it at third. DO NOT GET STUCK W/ GUYS LIKE Shea Hillenbrand here. That means someone else took 3B for their utility, trust me, I got stuck w/ a bad 3B last year and it sucks.
OF - The common belief here is that OF is deep, it's deep but there are a lot of positions to fill. Depending on how many utilities there are per team, usually about 50 OFs are in starting lineups. That means almost 2 from every team. FILL OUT YOUR OF EARLY!!! There are late round sleepers like Wilkerson and Hermida, but I still like to fill my OF in the first 6 rounds or so.
SP - One Ace, another guy like Webb hopefully and then a bunch of young guys or guys that should have big years (K. Escobar, C. Young etc)
RP - DO NOT TAKE CLOSERS IN THE FIRST 5 ROUNDS! True, they can help you in many categories, everything but wins, but they don't pitch enough innings. Your first 5 rounders should be studs in at least 4 categories

There you go, foulballstrike3's guide to drafting

[Ender]

Downgrade SB's, they aren't worth as much in H2H. Go all hitting for the first 5 rounds and then grab a closer, don't bother with that stud pitcher like others say, SP is really weak in H2H. Favor HR's with hitting and K's and WHIP with pitching, those are the steadiest stats.

For hitters try to pick up a lot of 10 SB types with power, pure speed guys aren't worth it in H2H because their steals come in bunches so a lot of them are wasted(having said that if a pure speed guy drops more than he should still grab him). 1B is incredibly deep. 2B is very deep as well though not very top heavy. 3B is incredibly top heavy but gets shallow very fast... make sure you get a 3B by round 6 or so. If you don't get one of the top 5 catchers just leave the position until the last rounds (assuming its a 1 catcher league).

Get one solid closer, one weaker closer and at least one setup guy who is next in line to be a closer. Fill up on decent pitchers and grab a couple extra so you can play matchups and maximize your IP.