I post polls frequently on Twitter. Maybe you follow me on Twitter (@BaseballGuys) but missed them. Maybe you never got into the Twitter thing. Regardless of your Twitter exposure, I thought it would be a good idea to put all the polls in one spot in a free article. So, in what follows, we will take a look at topics such as using ADP, how many pitchers are ideal in the first 10 rounds, what is more important the draft or in-season management and more. This is what you thought.
NOTE: Here is a link to the first article I ran on 2020 polls.
HOW OLD ARE YOU?
I’m surprised by these results. I would have thought that the Twitter crowd would trend much younger than it did. I had some say things like ‘your followers might mirror your age’ which might be true, but I don’t think that explains it, at least not in total. I think it goes to the ongoing discussion that we continue to have about the fantasy baseball crowd trending older. I mean, nearly 3,500 votes is a pretty representative size to draw some conclusions. Even if the younger folks are doing TikTok or Instagram over Twitter, I still find it very interesting that two-thirds of the respondents were at least 33 years of age.
HOW MANY LEAGUES WILL YOU PLAY IN THIS SEASON?
This one was shocking. I hear from folks all the time how they are doing tons of leagues, but this sample showed a mere 16 percent of folks playing more than four leagues and a majority playing in just one or two. That’s a bit distressing. I want everyone to do what they are comfortable with, and there is no point being in leagues where you really can’t pay close attention, but I’m still surprised that more than 4/5 respondents only plan to participate in one or two leagues, aren’t you?
WHAT IS THE IDEAL SIZE OF A FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE?
I’m happy to see that the overwhelming majority of folks are indeed playing in 12-team leagues. I’ve been led to believe by so many that everyone is doing 10-teamers. I know there are massive amounts of 10-team leagues, but I will chalk up the 73 percent mark in this poll to my followers, you, embracing player pool penetration so that all those hours you spend studying the depth players matters.
DO YOU PREFER H2H OR ROTO FANTASY BASEBALL?
This one was a bit of an eye-opener. I don’t like H2H, and I touch on the reasons why in this podcast. But as I’ve said repeatedly of late, it doesn’t matter what I like, you have to play what works for you. That said, I’m surprised, but I’m not, about these results. I know that folks love the juice of the weekly matchups, so I’m not at all surprised that H2H is growing. At the same time, I was very surprised that H2H overtook roto in this poll. There were many comments from industry folks, and they were seemingly dismayed about the rise of H2H.
WHICH FORMAT DO YOU PREFER?
This one isn’t shocking in the least. It is a bit sad that less than 10 percent of the responders prefer only leagues. I probably should ask folks if they have ever played in a league only format. I wonder how many would say never?
HOW MANY PODCASTS DO YOU LISTEN TO?
I intended this to be – how many episodes do you listen to each week, but I think people answered the number of different providers they listen to. Maybe I will send out a future poll about how many actual episodes a week folks are consuming (I heard from a couple of folks that they were listening to 20+ hours a week). Here is the page for you to bookmark for our podcasts.
ARE YOU STILL INTERESTED IN DRAFTING PITCHERS EARLY?
One is reasonable. Two or three? Insane.
HOW MANY CATCHER SPOTS SHOULD BE USED IN FANTASY BASEBALL?
I love the nine percent of you that said none. Traditionally we do 2-catcher leagues, but I’m to the point now where I have no issue with using just one. I would like to keep 14 hitters active though, so perhaps we replace the second catcher with a second utility option.
WHAT WILL RONALD ACUNA HIT IN 2020?
Acuna hit .293 as a rookie then .280 last season. He hit only .263 in the second half last season as his strikeout rate went over 30 percent. That’s a scary level of punchouts and speaks to the fact that hitting .290+ seems a wee bit ‘o a stretch. Proud of the winning vote here which sure seems like a good place to be. I also like the fact that barely 20 percent of folks were in the top-2 brackets and just two percent think he’s going to be legit top level batting average option.
HOW MANY STEALS WILL RONALD ACUNA HAVE IN 2020?
Acuna stole 37 bases last season, and it certainly is fair to suggest that a good deal of folks think that if Acuna goes “only” 30/30 this season that it will be a slightly disappointing effort. More than half of the respondents were in the 20-30 range in the steals column, which seems totally fair to me. Only 13 percent of the voters think he’s going to increase his steal total from last season.
SHOULD OHTANI BE PITCHER AND HITTER ELIGIBLE TO START THE YEAR?
The question was posed to the Tout Wars community after the above poll was run, and they overwhelming said that Ohtani should have both eligibilities to start the year. Ohtani played last season. Therefore, he only qualifies this season at the positions he played last season. He should therefore be UT eligible and not pitcher eligible since he didn’t pitch last season. ‘But Ray, he didn’t pitch because he was hurt so he should still be pitcher eligible’ is something I heard over and over. I will just say this. Ohtani played last season. Therefore, as an active player, he only retains the eligibility he had last season meaning he’s not pitcher eligible since he was only a hitter last season. If he hadn’t have played last season, of course he would have retained his pitcher status, but by playing as a hitter, he loses it. He should need five outings this season to gain pitcher eligibility.
WHICH FIRST BASEMAN DO YOU WANT?
I think it’s plausible to suggest that Olsen will be able to match the production of Alonso this season. As you can clearly see, many folks prefer Olson at the cost which leads to the obvious question – why is Olson’s ADP nearly double that of Alonso? Recency bias? Do folks really think that Alonso is gonna hit 50 homers again? If I was drafting a first baseman early, Olson would be a much better target than Alonso. By the way, I think you could make the case that the best bargain could end up being Hoskins (see his Player Profile).
WHICH THIRD BASEMAN DO YOU WANT?
I see a lot of push back to drafting Bryant early, but he squeaks out the victory here. I appreciate that Machado edged out Guerrero for the second spot. Good for you voters.
WHICH PITCHER ARE YOU MOST CONCERNED ABOUT?
Interesting that Snell was behind Paxton given the elbow issues that he’s dealt with recently. Paxton threw more innings than every man on this list last year by the way, as shocking as it seems.
WHICH YOUNG PITCHER WOULD YOU WANT ON YOUR TEAM?
This one was about as close a poll as you will every see with all four receiving a 20 percent share. What do I think the answer should be? Check out the rankings page.
WHICH YOUNG PLAYER WOULD YOU WANT ON YOUR TEAM?
This one hardly got any traction. Perhaps it was because it didn’t includes names like Adell/Robert? Kieboom has had a miserable spring as of this writing, and the Nationals do have a plethora of vets that could move into the starting lineup, so it is a bit surprising that he won the poll, especially with the news that Willie Calhoun would miss time with his broken jaw opening up daily playing time for Solak.
WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING ON A FRIDAY NIGHT?
Whiteclaw is decent. I’ve been drinking more beer lately, in truth, more than at any time in my life since college. I do miss not being able to pull back on a fruity drink in a tiki mug Friday nights.