First amateur draft approaching and don't want to mess it up. I saw thread on bonus pools and signability - thanks for the advice.

Do you adjust settings for specific positions? Are you influenced by existing org depth, or is it just best-player-available? Do you pay any attention at all to rounds 6-25? As I tend to overthink things (obviously!) I wish it would let me specify by round whether to get a pitcher or position player.

Do you use the formula creation tool? You've all helped with prioritizing what to look for in a player in terms of which attributes matter most so my guess is the vets use the formula tool.

I wouldn't use the formula tool for your first draft. The only time the formula tool makes any sense is when you have very unbalanced High School vs. College scouting budgets (e.g. 20 in college, 0 in High School). Then you can set the tool to overweight the college prospects. But it's very hard to get all of the other settings balanced just the way you want them. I have had drafts where I used the tool and drafted 20 pitchers and 5 position players, but I wanted a balanced draft.

What I usually do is set my positions to draft (1 or 2) C, (1) 2B, (2) SS, (1) 3B, (2) CF, (7) SP, (5) RP, and the rest, Any. Round 1 Balanced, and the rest of the rounds Very Conservative. Drafting Strategy None.

Sometimes if I have time, I will use a spreadsheet to compare the prospects based on what I feel is most important, then change the rankings a bit for the first 100 or so players.

Just to follow up on what bj said above, I think a lot of people use their own formulas to rate draft prospects, but not necessarily the formula tool...with the exception being the 20/0 split (or something close to that.)

I used to use the formula creation tool and ended up with a lot of crummy players I didn’t want. I’d reccomend ranking on your own. If you want any help we are always here. Sometimes in round 6-25 you’ll get lucky and get someone that was missed or get someone that turns into a Diamond in the Rough but my focus is majority the first 5 rounds.

also I almost always take the best player unless it’s super close. Most of these guys won’t be on your squad for 3-5 years and it will look very different by then. You can always find a roster spot for a good player but can’t always find one for a borderline player for a certain position.

the only rule for the draft I used to have for myself was I never wanted to take a relief pitcher (stamina below 40) in the first round. And I broke that rule recently. Sometimes you just have to take the best player.

No weights is the way to go. Best player available. If over a few seasons you get an abundance of players at one position, either get creative by moving positions around or get creative with trades.

I always take the best player available period. I manually rank top 100 ish players.

thanks for all the help and advice gents!

Posted by brianp87 on 11/17/2020 10:54:00 PM (view original):
I always take the best player available period. I manually rank top 100 ish players.

+1

After I've ranked the top 100 or so, I check for three other things: Is there some guy out there who projects to 90+ power, even if his other ratings suck? Is there a SS with ML defensive skills, even if he can't hit a lick? Is there a catcher with 80+ arm strength, accuracy and pitch calling? If so, I'll add those guys to the end of my list. And, I'm in the NL, so I try to avoid DH, unless they can be converted to 1b, lf, or c.

Posted by lvnwrth on 11/18/2020 10:27:00 PM (view original):

Posted by brianp87 on 11/17/2020 10:54:00 PM (view original):
I always take the best player available period. I manually rank top 100 ish players.

+1

After I've ranked the top 100 or so, I check for three other things: Is there some guy out there who projects to 90+ power, even if his other ratings suck? Is there a SS with ML defensive skills, even if he can't hit a lick? Is there a catcher with 80+ arm strength, accuracy and pitch calling? If so, I'll add those guys to the end of my list. And, I'm in the NL, so I try to avoid DH, unless they can be converted to 1b, lf, or c.

This is a neat little trick I usually don't like to share to get ML talent in later rounds. The cat is out of the bag.

Posted by hockey1984 on 11/19/2020 9:10:00 AM (view original):

Posted by lvnwrth on 11/18/2020 10:27:00 PM (view original):

Posted by brianp87 on 11/17/2020 10:54:00 PM (view original):
I always take the best player available period. I manually rank top 100 ish players.

+1

After I've ranked the top 100 or so, I check for three other things: Is there some guy out there who projects to 90+ power, even if his other ratings suck? Is there a SS with ML defensive skills, even if he can't hit a lick? Is there a catcher with 80+ arm strength, accuracy and pitch calling? If so, I'll add those guys to the end of my list. And, I'm in the NL, so I try to avoid DH, unless they can be converted to 1b, lf, or c.

This is a neat little trick I usually don't like to share to get ML talent in later rounds. The cat is out of the bag.

Not to say I told you so, or something like it, but this is part of my ranking process. Which is why my minor leagues usually have extra glove-only players, catchers, and DHs.
When you do everything the way I do, it moves any player who has a chance of developing major league positional talent up, and drops down the players with high Overall ratings but AAA skills. I know I've done it my way when I see a high-Overall player outside of my rankings, and I click on his card and I see 85+ Durability.

I am just putting the finishing touches on a draft board outside of the site, and I know I recently read something about needing to save the Settings (or something similar) and Draft Board in a certain order to make sure the new order actually saves rather than getting reset...but I can't remember what that was. Anyone else having less of a brain fart than me?

On the Amateur Draft Settings page, you need to set your Position Settings and whether or not to use the formula builder BEFORE you manually change your draft board. If you change these settings after you have re-ranked your players, they will reset back to their original ranks.

You CAN change the Drafting Strategy and Signing Risk Levels without resetting your draft board rankings.

Good point. Set the setting first before manually ranking. Id suggest always taking the best player regardless of need.

Posted by brianp87 on 12/15/2020 6:17:00 PM (view original):
Good point. Set the setting first before manually ranking. Id suggest always taking the best player regardless of need.

This is typically what I do, but I needed to adjust a couple of other things...It sounds like I could have done it without messing up my board, but wanted to make sure that was true before I did anything.

I open both windows at same time, but still save the settings window first.