Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Why Use Fantasy Baseball Rankings?

Why use fantasy baseball rankings? Quite simply, because you can't afford not to. 

Season long and DFS fantasy baseball players must enter their drafts with premade rankings. Those who choose to gamble and draft without rankings risk making crucial, season-ending errors.

Are there different styles of rankings? Yes. We prefer the tiered approach, which I will get into in a bit. No matter which style of rankings you choose, they all begin with a projection.

Using past stats, computer simulations of the upcoming season, and a bit of logic - we can predict which players are worth drafting early and which we can leave for the later rounds. By creating an accurate projection for each MLB player, we can assemble a list of top baseball fantasy picks

Simply cross players off your list as they get drafted, and you will always know the best available player remaining in the field when it is your turn to pick.

Different Types of Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Position Rankings

Position rankings are huge for both full-season MLB fantasy and MLB DFS. You cannot get by without them.

Both fantasy formats require drafting at least one player at each position, so knowing which player is the best remaining in each spot is quite valuable.

Toward the end of a full-season fantasy draft, access to good position rankings is critical. At this point, you are aiming to fill one or two very specific spots on your roster. Need a RF or CF? Check your RF and CF position rankings.

DFS players will also rely on position rankings often, as there are many times when your roster has one or two holes, and you need to find a player from a specific position at the right price.

Top Player Rankings

Top player rankings do not sort by position but rather lump everyone together into one master list. Both full-season and DFS players will use top player rankings. The guys at the top have the highest batting averages and hit the most homers.

Full-season MLB fantasy players will almost exclusively use top player rankings at the beginning of their drafts. It does not matter which positions are drafted first. The best player at any position is who you want early in a draft. This might be a first baseman who hits homers and scores a lot of runs or a speedy outfielder who specializes in batting average and steals. Early in drafts is where top player rankings pull their weight.

The same approach works in DFS for all sports. Most players begin building their roster by drafting 2 or 3 top players and then filling out the rest of the lineup with lesser talent.

Top player rankings can also come in handy at the end of full-season fantasy drafts. If your roster contains someone at every position, then it is back to drafting the best player available. Maybe you want a MiLB star or an all-around high upside guy. Top player rankings will make that easy.

The Importance of Tiered Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Here at FanDuel, we are huge fans of tiered rankings instead of a numbered list. The problem with calling one player the 3rd-best and another the 4th-best is there might not be much difference between the two, if any.

In another instance, there might be a huge dropoff between two players ranked next to each other. It would be nice to know which players are basically at the same level and which are far inferior. This is where tiered rankings apply.

By grouping similar players into tiers, fantasy owners will always know where the drop offs are. If there are 10 outfielders remaining in a tier, you probably don't have to rush to draft the first one. You can pick up the 8th or 9th guy in the tier and not lose any production.

Need a third baseman and there is only one left in his tier? Better draft him now because there is a big dropoff between him and the next guy.

Elite, Good, and Above Average 2020 Tiered Rankings

Based on the projection of WAR (wins above replacement), here are the elite, good, and above average options for the2020 MLB season.

Elite

Good

Above Average