Russell James wrote:I hope this is the right forum. I am still new to the site so if I am wrong please forgive me.
I implemented a new strategy last season and ended up winning both leagues that I used it in. I drafted nothing but pitchers, outfielders and a catcher during the first 10 rounds. Then proceeded to fill out my roster with guys who hit for very good averages.
Every league is different and you must draft according to the settings. In these particular H2H leagues the pitching stats and hitting stats were similar.
By implementing this strategy I ended up causing owners to change their draft strategies. By the time round 5 rolled around I had locked up 3 of the best pitchers in the league. By the end of round 10 I had 6 great pitchers and 4 consistent outfielders.
I drafted the same way throughout the draft. The lowest batting average I drafted was .285. Towards the end I drafted a few closers.
I was competitive in every stat, even though I only won HRs a handful of times. However, players had a hard time competing with my average, OBP, H, R and I rarely lost pitching stats. I ended up destroying both of the leagues with that strategy.
Just wondering if anyone has ever tried it before with similar success?
I will be doing applying this strategy again in a draft tomorrow to see if it works again or if last year was just a fluke.
Hey, good post, very thorough. Of course horatio responds positively -- I've seen him adopt similar strategies in several couchmanagers.com mock drafts
Here's my take on this: I don't like it too much, but you've still got something worthwhile. The biggest mistake I see from players who take Johan Santana in the first round is that they think they're all set on pitching so they go hitting for the next 12 rounds, only to grab stinky pitchers later on. Doing so pretty much nullifies the point of drafting Santana -- on the average, the resulting pitching staff is still stinky. (props to Lenny Melnick for articulating this point many times -- it makes perfect sense and I agree wholeheartedly).
But, in your strategy you're not making this mistake. You're going pitching full steam ahead, which is the only way to go pitching. You'll have an awesome staff, and lord knows there are just as many P categories as there are offensive categories. The other bonus is that there are always teams that end up with nada for pitching after the draft, and they'll likely be willing to pay good value for any pitchers you have that you decide to send off. Not a bad plan overall.
That said, I still say go hitting, then pitching. The basic reasons are (1) that's what most people do, which means that great pitchers are still available later anyway and (2) the resulting teams just tend to look better, in my humble opinion. I won't bore you with the played-out "well hitters hit every day and pitchers pitch once a week" routine.
Consider:
- Code: Select all
Pitching Strat Hitting Strat
1.10 Johan Santana 1.10 Ryan Howard
2.2 Jake Peavy 2.2 Ryan Braun
3.10 Garrett Atkins 3.10 Garrett Atkins
4.2 Brandon Webb 4.2 Adam Dunn
5.10 Adrian Gonzalez 5.10 Justin Verlander
6.2 Hunter Pence 6.2 Carlos Zambrano
7.10 Miguel Tejada 7.10 Felix Hernandez (or Roy Oswalt, etc)
Give or take some draft pick choices, the pitching strategy starts out with:
Bats:
G. Atkins (3B)
A. Gonzalez (1B)
H. Pence (OF)
M. Tejada (SS)
Pitchers:
J. Santana
J. Peavy
B. Webb
While the hitting strategy starts out with:
Bats:
R. Howard (1B)
R. Braun (OF)
G. Atkins (3B)
A. Dunn (OF)
Pitchers:
J. Verlander
C. Zambrano
F. Hernandez (or Oswalt, etc)
The point? Overall, I'd say that the batting strategy has a sizable lead over the pitching strategy in the hitting categories -- more so than does the pitching strategy have a lead in the pitching categories. Verlander/Zambrano/Hernandez is a great staff (not the 'perfect' staff of the pitching strategy though), and Howard/Braun/Atkins/Dunn is a major Power (and some speed) contender that by far exceeds the pitcher's hitting team.
I generally do not like the pitchers first strategy.