John Chandler Media

Analyzing the RT Sports Fantasy Baseball Championship draft

I have two teams competing in the RT Sports Fantasy Baseball Championship in 2019.

The 180-team Roto competition awards cash prizes to the top two in each 12-team league plus the top-25 overall. With a $350 entry fee, the top prize is a cool $10,000 on top of the $900 for winning your league.

Since there isn’t much coverage of the RTFBC that I can find online, I’ve decided to break down my draft experience for anyone interested in the high-stakes fantasy baseball tournament.

First off, there are some important differences to be aware of here. The RTFBC is a 5×5 Roto League but it uses OBP instead of batting average, and on the pitching side holds and saves are counted together in the same category.

Below are each of my team’s draft results, which I will use for this draft analysis. At the end of the season I will update this post with the final standings and gauge the merit of my preseason drafts.

Here’s what happened.

Boggs Tanaka was handed the No. 4 pick while Boggs Tanaka II worked out of the No. 12 position. The BT team was built during a two-hour slow draft in late February into early March. BT II was a draft with a regular 90-second clock done on March 25 just before the regular season started.

I used a pitching-heavy approach in drafting my team for Boggs Tanaka which I broke down in detail HERE.

Boggs Tanaka II was less strategic, instead following a “best available” philosophy.

For both teams it was clear to me that waiting on relief pitching was the way to go. Especially with fewer teams naming a designated closer, I felt that I could find the saves and holds I needed in the later rounds. I didn’t take a relief pitcher for Boggs Tanaka until the 21st round and waited until the 19th for Boggs Tanaka II.

While it’s too early to know whether I’m right or wrong, I feel confident that this approach was smart.

As for OBP, I tried my best to give a bump to guys with low batting averages but a comparatively high on base percentage. Dudes like Matt Carpenter and Carlos Santana have OBPs that are more than 100 points higher than their averages. Conversely, I faded players that have high rankings thanks to batting average but whose OBP isn’t all that elite. Scooter Gennett and Jean Segura are good examples of that.

Another important factor to consider when drafting for the RTFBC is that starting lineups include five OFs and two catchers. Getting caught without sufficient ammo at these positions is easy to do if you’re not paying attention.

A handful of players showed up on both my rosters. I feel confident these guys will return strong value based on their average draft position: Justin Verlander, Willson Contreras, Andrew McCutcheon, Tim Anderson, Shohei Ohtani, Marcus Semien, Marco Gonzales, Alex Colome, Brandon Morrow and Tyler O’Neill. I would’ve liked to have had two shares of Lorenzo Cain, Joey Gallo and Austin Barnes but they were picked just before me.

Looking at each roster, I think Boggs Tanaka has a stronger make-up top to bottom. I have enough depth and roster flexibility that a spring training injury to Matt Olson, doesn’t hurt much. And even if one of the three elite starting pitchers goes down with injury, I’m still pretty strong in that department.

Boggs Tanaka II, however, is a bit of a different story. Not only is my starting pitching not nearly as strong, but my outfield is thin and I didn’t get the second catcher I wanted. Omar Narvaez is definitely a liability as my second catcher and Teoscar Hernandez is not the caliber of player I want in my lineup. If I had been able to get Lorenzo Cain at 61st overall instead of Travis Shaw, I think I would be in much better shape. I fully expected Cain to be there then, so when he was sniped at pick No. 60, I didn’t have a good alternative ready and ended up with Shaw way too early.

We’ll what happens the rest of the season, but I’m predicting a higher finish in the overall standings for Boggs Tanaka.

BOGGS TANAKA

  • Max Scherzer (4th)
  • Justin Verlander (21st)
  • Blake Snell (27th)
  • Matt Carpenter (45th)
  • Lorenzo Cain (52nd)
  • Tommy Pham (69th)
  • Nelson Cruz (76th)
  • Willson Contreras (93rd)
  • Andrew McCutcheon (100th)
  • Matt Olson 117th
  • Max Muncy 124th
  • Ian Desmond (141)
  • Tim Anderson (148th)
  • Jesse Winker (165th)
  • Cesar Hernandez (172nd)
  • Shohei Ohtani (189th)
  • Hyun Jin Ryu (196th)
  • Marcus Semien (213th)
  • Brad Peacock (220th)
  • Marco Gonzales (237th)
  • Alex Colome (244th)
  • Austin Barnes (261st)
  • Jorge Polanco (268th)
  • Ryan Pressly (285th)
  • Tyler O’Neill (292nd)
  • Michael Pineda (307th)
  • Jeurys Familia (314th)
  • Kelvin Herrera (331st)
  • Brandon Morrow (349th)
  • Marcus Stroman (356th)

BOGGS TANAKA II

  • Alex Bregman (12th)
  • Justin Verlander (13th)
  • Anthony Rizzo (36th)
  • Starling Marte (37th)
  • Joey Gallo (60th)
  • Travis Shaw (61st)
  • Andrew McCutcheon (84th)
  • Willson Contreras (85th)
  • Justin Turner (108th)
  • Edwin Encarnacion (109th)
  • Wade Davis (132nd)
  • Kyle Hendricks (133rd)
  • Tim Anderson (156th)
  • Ross Stripling (157th)
  • Austin Meadows (180th)
  • Jose Quintana (181st)
  • Shohei Ohtani (204th)
  • Marco Gonzales (205th)
  • Alex Colome (228th)
  • Julio Urias (229th)
  • Andrew Heaney (252nd)
  • Marcus Stroman (253rd)
  • Omar Narvaez (276th)
  • Marcus Semien (277th)
  • Tyler O’Neill (300th)
  • AJ Minter (301st)
  • Teoscar Hernandez (324th)
  • Trevor Richards (325th)
  • Brandon Morrow (348th)
  • Eric Lauer (349th)

Boggs Tanaka

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