Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Rankings, sleepers, draft strategy for every position

Matt Lutovsky

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Rankings, sleepers, draft strategy for every position image

The 2019 MLB season has officially started, but plenty of owners are still yet to hold their fantasy baseball drafts. We get the procrastinators ready for the season by breaking down every position -- rankings, sleepers, prospects, strategy -- you name it, we touch on it in the debut episode of the Hot Corner Podcast.

We start by looking at our positional rankings and figuring out who you'd wind up with if you're the last person in your league to draft a starter. Multi-position eligibility can make it tough to narrow it down, but from there, we decide if it's OK to wait or if you should prioritize higher-ranked players. At some positions, you might be fine waiting even longer.

DOMINATE YOUR DRAFT: Ultimate 2019 cheat sheet

Along the way, we make plenty of esoteric spring training/ baseball rehab references that only fantasy baseball owners will appreciate, try to guess Matt Chapman's next contract, debate if there are more fantasy baseball owners who played catcher in Little League, establish as fact that Rays players hit 30 HRs then join a new team and don't hit them anymore, make stink faces about Josh Bell, coin the catchphrase "double it", confess our love for the Reds, passionately argue over whether Rougned Odor can hit .270, lobby for more job creation in the form of the DH in the National League, discuss whether "Wil", "Mat", or "Erick" is the worst first name, come to the conclusion that we'd like Max Muncy more if he hit 28 HRs last year instead of 35, complain about people who talk about their keepers too much, warn about David Dahl's weird injuries, advocate for always leaving a spot open for a two-start streamer in weekly leagues, lament the lack of reliable closers, and much more.

Fantasy Baseball Podcast

Timestamps

Catcher (4:30): "Catcher -- you just look at it and want to punch yourself in the face."

First base (10:22): "[Luke Voit] has got that weird part in his hair that I don't trust."

Second base (19:18): "[Jonathan] Villar has been here before." "Failed before! Failed hard before."

Shortstop (29:02): "Would you rather [Amed Rosario] hit nine? Go pitcher eight, hit nine?" "You know what I'd rather have? A DH in the NL."

Third base (38:49): "Just draft him. Just draft Max Muncy. You're not gonna be disappointed."

Outfield (50:33): "So you're saying [Red Sox lefthanded batters] have to be on PEDs like [David] Ortiz to hit homers at Fenway?"

Starter (1:02:56): "Would you take a pitcher in the first round?" "No." "Not at all?" "No." "[Max] Scherzer is on the board at eight -- " "No."

Reliever (1:12:50): "We have no lives. We're waiting for [closer changes]. We're charting bullpen usage."

Matt Lutovsky

Matt Lutovsky Photo

Matt Lutovsky has been a writer and editor for The Sporting News since 2007, primarily writing about fantasy sports, betting, and gaming.