Step Six: Test Your Ranking System With a Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Now that you’ve ranked your players and fine-tuned your results, is that all you need for a draft? No. You must test your ranking system by doing a mock draft.
There are only two types of mock drafts that will help your game: one is to do your own mock draft. The other is to sign up for a free public league or mock draft that uses the same settings as your league and run through the draft there.
How do you run your own mock draft? What I like to do is to take a standard ranking sheet that includes pitchers and hitters. For example, you can use one put out by Yahoo (using their O-Rank) or one of the several fantasy baseball magazines on the shelves. And assume that their ranking system is the order of the draft.
Next, you choose a position for yourself, 1 through 12. If you want to practice picking from an early spot, choose 1 through 3, for instance. If you want to practice from a late pick, choose a greater number.
Then run through the draft using the rankings sheet, and when it gets to your pick, you refer to your rankings sheet. After your pick, you just continue the “draft” using the generic rankings. Continue until you’re done.
This will allow you to get a pretty good idea of what your team will look like according to your ranking system. You may have to modify the generic rankings sheet because they may not account for a run on closers, for instance. (Closers often go higher than their ranking because of their limited supply.) You can adjust those rankings accordingly, perhaps by moving every closer after #50 up thirty or more spots in the rankings sheet. (If a closer is ranked #68, just move him up to behind #50.)
Perform the self-mock draft several times until you begin to get a team that you’re comfortable with. Even though your draft will not follow the standardized rankings exactly, you’ll be amazed by how accurately a self-mock draft can predict the shape of your team.
The other way to test your rankings is to sign up for a free public league with the purpose of practicing your draft technique (Yahoo discourages that, obviously), or log on to Mock Draft Central, a site dedicated solely to the art of the mock draft. The people who sign up for public leagues and mock drafts are generally thoughtful. They have a good handle on the players, probably almost as good as the people in your private league. It’s an excellent way of participating in a competitive draft. (By the way, FantasyBaseballChamp.com has a special offer: Readers can sign up for a free one-week Premium Account at Mock Draft Central. No purchase required.)
Okay, now that you’ve assembled your mock team, it’s time to check it.
Step Seven: Assessing Your Mock Draft and Team »
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