Drafting Slap Hitters vs. Power Hitters

Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice: Drafting Slap Hitters/Speedsters vs. Power Hitters
by Adam of Rotopicks.com

When looking at offensive players in daily fantasy sports games, you can divide the better hitters into 2 categories: Slap hitters/speedsters and power hitters. Sometimes players are talented enough to be both and they are often named 5 tool players (highly skilled in the five major tools: hitting for average, power, fielding, speed, and throwing) or 40/40 guys (players capable of 40 homeruns and 40 stolen bases). Since this article will center around which of the two main types of offensive players will better help your team, I will not include those studs that fall into both categories. You should obviously target those players over a player that falls into only one of the respective categories if their salary offers value.

So, when deciding whether to target a slap hitter/speedster or a power hitter, we must first delve into the statistical categories these types of players will provide for our team.

Slap Hitters/Speedsters

You will often find these scrappy guys at the top or bottom of lineups. Search through recent box scores and depth charts to identify which players hit at the top of their lineups and chances are the top two in any given lineup will be a slap hitter and/or speedster. As their name suggests, these are the scrappy hitters with plus speed and hitting tools. They are the table setters whose job is to get on base (via hit or walk) for the power hitters in the middle of the lineup that hit behind them. Thus, these players will provide a good batting average, stolen bases, good on base percentage, a low amount of strikeouts and plenty of walks and runs. Conversely, they typically lack power, so their homerun, runs batted in, and extra base hits will typically be low.

Power Hitters

Power hitters settle into the middle of a batting order (usually slotted #3 through 6). They lack the speed and (sometimes) on base prowess of their table setters, but are proficient in knocking those guys in. They will get you plenty of homeruns, doubles, runs batted in and a high slugging percentage. Batting average is not predictable for middle of the order hitters. Some can hit well above .300 while some can fall short of .250.

Who is Better for Fantasy Purposes

Whether you choose top of the order table setters or power hitters depends in part on the scoring system of the league you are in. If you get a lot of points for walks, stolen bases, OBP, AVG, etc. then you might be wise to stock up on speedsters. If your league is power-heavy, then power hitters are for you.

There are many other factors to consider. My favorite factor is batting order protection. When a hitter bats in front of an elite hitter, we say that the first hitter is protected by that guy on deck. This is because pitchers would much rather face the first hitter than the second hitter with men on base. For this reason the protected hitter will see mainly fastballs because the pitcher hopes to avoid a free pass via a walk and the chances of a batted ball in play favor the defense. These protected hitters usually fall into the #2 or #3 slot. I remember when a guy named Rich Aurelia put up triple crown numbers. The reason was he was protected by a pretty decent hitter named Barry Bonds. In Aurelia's years without Bonds protecting him, he was mediocre at best.

Another factor to consider is a power hitter who hits seventh versus a speedster lead off hitter. It is not uncommon in today's game to find 20+ homeruns deep into the batting order. Yet, despite the heavy power potential, I would go with the leadoff hitter, since more often than not, he will get an extra at bat than the #7 hitter. Opportunities are huge and it almost always benefits you to find players with the most potential opportunities. This may not sound very important to you, but you will quickly realize this variables importance when you're sweating out a matchup in which you're down by a point (or less in some cases; I've lost by .05 before!) and you've got a guy who may or may not get another at bat, who is buried deep in a teams batting order.

Scoring

Let us use FanDuel's daily fantasy baseball scoring system to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of speedsters and power hitters.

The main scoring stats on FanDuel are as follows:
Single: 1
Double: 2
Triple: 3
HR: 4
BB: 1
Run: 1
RBI: 1
SB: 2
Out: (0.25)... and we can disregard the unpredictable/obsure stats such as GIDP, CS, SAC, HBP.

Now lets compare prototypical speedsters to power hitters.

Speedster's avg. stats: 150 1B, 25 2B, 10 3B, 5 HR, 100 BB, 100 R, 50 RBI, 50 SB, 400 Outs

Power hitter's avg stats: 80 1B, 40 2B, 0 3B, 30 HR, 60 BB, 100 R, 100 RBI, 0 SB, 400 Outs

Adding these numbers up might give us an idea of whether speedsters or power hitters are more valuable. Final tallies:
Speedsters: 500 pts
Power hitters: 440 pts

So believe it or not, it looks like the 50 SB speedster edges out a .250 - 30 HR - 100 RBI power hitter.

The 2 points for SB are valuable. Rickey Henderson's 120 SB in his record year would have been worth the same amount of points as 60 HR. That's pretty amazing!

Conclusion

So, now that you have a decent grasp of batting orders, the two main types of hitters, and opportunity, you can easily formulate your own plan of attack for your own batting order, persay.

Have some fun. Analyze the batting orders of MLB teams. Which players have protection? Which leadoff hitters might also have some power? Which power hitters might also have some speed? Is the 40 or so percent chance of a stolen base from a speedster more valuable than a 20 percent chance of a homerun from a power hitter?

The questions and implications are endless and a ton of fun to delve into. So, first and foremost, know your scoring system. Then, like the managers of major league teams, devise a lineup that optimizes your chances for success.

Good luck and as always, thanks for reading!

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