No two fantasy baseball leagues are alike, and the differences in each can drastically impact your fantasy baseball rankings. It's why it's important that all fantasy baseball managers use custom rankings to calculate their initial set of draft targets.
Standard rankings use the most common statistics (BA, HR, RBI, R, SB for batters; ERA, WHIP, K, SV, W for pitchers) to formulate a list, but many leagues are now using different MLB player stats (including on-base percentage, holds and quality starts) that can turn an average player into a good one and a good one into a great one.
What Are Custom Fantasy Baseball Rankings?
Custom fantasy baseball rankings allow managers to tinker with the statistics that generate a list of the top players. Rather than using the standard 5x5 statistics, managers are able to input their league's categories and other rules (like number of teams, National League only, keepers, etc.) into the builder to create more accurate rankings.
Managers in multi-year leagues can also tinker with settings on fantasy baseball dynasty rankings to make the correct long-term moves. Custom rankings paint a more accurate picture for your league settings and rules, and they can give managers an upper hand against fellow league mates who are just going off of traditional rankings.
Standard Fantasy Baseball Rankings & Why They Fall Short
Many fantasy baseball leagues still use the traditional 5x5 scoring, so it makes sense that most websites still put out standard rankings. The only issue is that there
No two fantasy baseball leagues are alike, and the differences in each can drastically impact your fantasy baseball rankings. It's why it's important that all fantasy baseball managers use custom rankings to calculate their initial set of draft targets.
Standard rankings use the most common statistics (BA, HR, RBI, R, SB for batters; ERA, WHIP, K, SV, W for pitchers) to formulate a list, but many leagues are now using different MLB player stats (including on-base percentage, holds and quality starts) that can turn an average player into a good one and a good one into a great one.
What Are Custom Fantasy Baseball Rankings?
Custom fantasy baseball rankings allow managers to tinker with the statistics that generate a list of the top players. Rather than using the standard 5x5 statistics, managers are able to input their league's categories and other rules (like number of teams, National League only, keepers, etc.) into the builder to create more accurate rankings.
Managers in multi-year leagues can also tinker with settings on fantasy baseball dynasty rankings to make the correct long-term moves. Custom rankings paint a more accurate picture for your league settings and rules, and they can give managers an upper hand against fellow league mates who are just going off of traditional rankings.
Standard Fantasy Baseball Rankings & Why They Fall Short
Many fantasy baseball leagues still use the traditional 5x5 scoring, so it makes sense that most websites still put out standard rankings. The only issue is that there are more relevant stats in today's game than ever before, and many leagues are adding them into scoring. That can mean a substantial change for certain players that impact their fantasy baseball auction values and allow savvy owners to get steals on draft day.
For instance, standard rankings value closers highly because saves is the only category strictly for relief pitchers. But in leagues where saves and holds are combined, closers lose some value where middle relievers and other late-innings pitchers gain it. Edwin Diaz is ranked 50th in standard settings, but 96th in leagues that use SV+HLD.
"Well-rounded superstars will still be at the top no matter what rankings you use," said RotoWire expert Erik Halterman, "but catchers, closers, basestealers, all-or-nothing sluggers and more could be ranked in the wrong place if you use standard rankings in a non-standard league."
How Fantasy League Settings Change Player Values
It's simple for fantasy baseball managers to do a cross-comparison of how league settings change player values. One of the easiest is a popular trend of swapping batting average for on-base percentage. In standard leagues, Cubs slugger Ian Happ is ranked 61st. When swapping BA for OBP, Happ jumps to 39th, thanks to his projected .346 on-base percentage. Similarly, Happ's teammate infielder Nico Hoerner drops from 46th to 63rd (he was second in the NL in batting average, but drew just 39 walks in 156 games).
There won't be many sweeping changes to the truly elite talent. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt, Jr. and Juan Soto are elite in any type of league, but the middle-round talent and fliers taken toward the end of drafts can elevate your team at no real cost to you, other than some additional research with custom rankings and MLB projections from the RotoWire experts.
"Even bigger changes come in points leagues, where base stealers often fall significantly compared to standard rankings and where high-walk, high-strikeout hitters could move significantly in either direction depending on the specifics of your league's settings," said Halterman.
Custom Rankings Impact on Drafts and Team Management
Custom rankings showcase their worth on draft day, when you're armed with a list unique to your league. You can and should look at fantasy baseball ADP (which is compiled using standard league settings) to see if there are any outliers that you should be targeting earlier than the rest of the league or avoiding altogether. You'll get maximum value from your picks because of it, like in the case of Diaz in a SV+HLD league.
Custom rankings are excellent to use over the course of the season, too. A player like Padres reliever Jason Adam racking up holds may not turn heads to those considering standard rankings, but in a SV+HLD league he becomes one of the top relievers in fantasy baseball.
Ways Fantasy Players, Analysts Use Custom Rankings
Custom rankings are catered to your exact league's settings. Not everyone in your league is going to be as savvy, and you can use that to your advantage as you build and maintain a roster that goes beyond standard rankings.
"Even if I know intellectually that stolen bases don't matter much in this league, for example, or that guys who strike out are punished, the mental adjustment I make compared to standard rankings often isn't enough," Halterman said. "Actually plugging the numbers in and generating a set of league-specific custom rankings gives me a leg up on drafters who are trying to make the adjustment through intuition alone."
Always check RotoWire's fantasy baseball news for the latest on players you're going after based on custom rankings, then prep with the fantasy baseball draft kit to build a team ready to compete for a title.
