Mound Talk

Chicks dig the long ball. So do fantasy players. So much so that 68% of leagues in the data had a margin of victory of at least 25 dingers. That’s fine, but you certainly don’t want to get caught up in the mix between #2 and #10. While home runs are naturally more rare than runs and RBIs, the stakes are perhaps even higher.

Position	Home Run Total
1	260
2	220
3	213
4	210
5	206
6	201
7	195
8	191
9	188
10	181
11	168
12	143

The biggest thing to note here is that you should be targeting players with over 20 home runs. To finish first in our theoretical league, you’d need to average just under 29 HR/slot. To grab 10 points in the category, you’d need 24 home runs per slot. However, if that were to drop to 21 per, you’d see a loss of six points.

Look to get to an average of about 26 per player. It won’t be enough to give you the victory in the category, but it will give you enough to rise above the big mix. Further, it will give you a valuable asset to trade at the deadline if you need a boost later on.

Concluding Thoughts

Find a balance between power and speed. Guys like Eric Byrnes, Chris Young and Ian Kinsler will be helpful. They’ll keep you right around your home run average and give you a boost in speed. What’s more is that taking guys like this minimize your risk on the power department. Who could have foreseen Travis Hafner’s power outage? These things happen and if you were counting on Hafner for 40 home runs last year and had to fill your utility spot with someone off waivers, you probably lost 25 home runs.