Tiers are a simple but effective way of plotting out a draft strategy that assures you won't fall behind at any position while maximizing your return on every pick. They serve as an alternate form of rankings that groups players by expected level of production, denoting the points in the rankings where the most significant drop-offs occur. In the heat of a draft, you'll know which position to target by observing which one is closest to having its current tier depleted.
Below are the first base tiers for 2020. They depict a position that isn't quite the standout it once was but still isn't suffering from a shortage of big bats. We went deep on the position in our preview on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast, focusing on the risk of drafting someone like Pete Alonso in an environment where power is the easiest thing to find. Is he really worth the price when Matt Olson and Josh Bell are going off the board several rounds later?
Check the podcast out while looking through the latest tiers:
The Super Elite: Cody Bellinger
The Elite: Freddie Freeman
The Near-Elite: Pete Alonso, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Bell, Max Muncy, Matt Olson, Carlos Santana†
The Next-Best Things: Paul Goldschmidt, Yasmani Grandal, Rhys Hoskins†, Jose Abreu
The Fallback Options: Danny Santana^, Yuli Gurriel, Edwin Encarnacion, Luke Voit
The Last Resorts: Joc Pederson, Christian Walker, Howie Kendrick, Joey Votto
The Deep-Leaguers: Yandy Diaz, Travis d'Arnaud, C.J. Cron, Daniel Murphy, Renato Nunez, Eric Hosmer, Evan White, Ryan Mountcastle, Michael Chavis
The Leftovers: Justin Smoak, Nate Lowe, Miguel Cabrera, Ryan O'Hearn, Jesus Aguilar, Daniel Vogelbach, Brandon Belt, Mike Ford Marwin Gonzalez, Ji-Man Choi, Eric Thames, Jake Lamb, Garrett Cooper, Dominic Smith, Austin Nola, Albert Pujols
^:one tier lower in points leagues
†: one tier lower in categories leagues
