The Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association held its 2026 Experts Fantasy Baseball Draft at Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas during the FSGA Winter Conference. RotoWire's Lauren Jump and Tim Schuler drew the fourth and fifth spots, respectively, in the Senior Circuit League and are here to break down their draft strategies.
DRAFT
12-team
Snake Draft
45 second clock
ROSTER
2-C, 1-1B, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-3B, 1-CI, 1-MI, 5-OF, 1-DH
9-P
6 reserves
SCORING
Standard 5 x 5 Rotisserie style scoring
Hitting Categories: BA, HR, RBI, SB, R
Pitching Categories: W, S, ERA, WHIP, K
Each team must have a minimum of 3,500 AB and 900 IP
Lauren Jump, Pick 4
The Approach: I typically draft SP heavy and wind up dominating ERA and strikeouts while coming up short in power. This time I flipped the script, loading up offense early and letting pitching come to me. Drafting next to Tim, the guru who once edited my MLB player updates for RotoWire, was daunting but kept me locked in.
Hitting
Starting with Juan Soto gave my team immediate depth with a five-category stud who's coming off career highs in home runs (43) and stolen bases (38) while leading the league in walks and OBP. The steals will regress, but even at half that pace, he will add value across the board.
Ketel Marte in Round 2 was a deliberate move to secure second base before the position dried up. Pete Alonso followed in Round 3, though that may come back to haunt me, as six starting pitchers went off the board before it came back. In hindsight, waiting on a bat like Freddie Freeman and instead grabbing an ace in Round 3 may have been the better play.
Alas, I stuck to bats with Manny Machado in Round 4, completing a strong infield core. Machado continues to age well thanks to his durability and steady production in the middle of San Diego's lineup. Another veteran, Corey Seager in Round 7, comes with the usual health risk, but at that price, the ceiling was worth it.
At catcher, I'm betting on a rebound from Yainer Diaz as my first backstop. Logan O'Hoppe in Round 24 gives me power upside as a second catcher (his 13.3 percent barrel rate improved by 1.3 percent more than in 2024), and Dillon Dingler felt like a worthwhile late-round value after his breakout 2025 season.
I love Dylan Beavers as a late-round flier. The talent is there, the opportunity is within reach, and Round 26 is the perfect price for a prospect vying for playing time.
Max Muncy in Round 23 might be the best pure value on the roster. He hits in the best lineup in baseball, has 30-HR upside, and his game has quietly become well-rounded each year.
Pitching
RP Mason Miller was my first pitcher, taken in Round 5, and intentionally so. The closer pool is thin and I did not want to miss on a top option. Edwin Diaz was already gone, and I was considering Hunter Greene before taking Miller. That looks even better now with Greene headed for elbow surgery and out until July. Shout out to Tim for snagging Greene and taking that hit.
George Kirby in Round 6 is the arm I am most excited about. Limited to 126 innings last season due to a shoulder injury, his FIP was 3.37, expected FIP even cleaner, and his strikeout rate hit a career high of 26 percent. A healthy Kirby could be a 200-strikeout pitcher. I'm banking on somewhat of a question mark here, but the ace potential is there.
Kyle Bradish (Round 8) posted a 2.53 ERA with 47 strikeouts in just 32 innings after returning from Tommy John last August. There will be workload management in Baltimore, but his ratios should be elite. Eury Perez brings volume concerns as well, but the flashes of talent bookending his own TJ make him a steal in Round 9.
I also liked how the late rounds came together. Ryne Nelson could provide ratio help after a strong second half last season (3.38 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over 20 starts). Kyle Harrison is the type of arm who could benefit from Milwaukee's pitching development, and Robby Snelling has a clear path to innings in Miami.
Tim Schuler, Pick 5
First off, I need to confess for the record that while I have a decades-long track record of strong fantasy play, I'm like 0-8 lifetime against Lauren in head-to-head competitions. That includes baseball, golf leagues and poker events. Don't let Lauren's friendly personality and good smile fool you. She is a shark in any league she's ever played, and if you're on the losing end, she'll be the first to remind you that your play was flawed. So, in Olympic terms, this has the feel of RotoWire sending two bobsled teams to the FSGA, with Lauren being USA1 and myself being USA2.
The Approach: I wanted Soto (thanks again, LJ), so I then thought about going with Skenes here. In the end, I took the surer thing with Jose Ramirez and then built my team around four big hitters. The goal was really just to NOT take any fliers until the last few rounds, going with value picks and established veterans (still in their prime) for as long as I could and spreading out all the categories. Let the other guys shoot for the SXM "ooh, let's talk about that, Howard Bender" picks and instead try to win with an even-keeled strategy while dominating the counting stats and hopefully staying healthy.
Hitting
I truly did plan to take a pitcher in Round 3 or at least Round 4, but PCA was simply too fun to pass up, and Freeman was simply too durable and category-friendly to let slide. I now have four hitting studs in Ramirez-Turner-PCA-Freeman at four different positions and have set up a pitching run. With these four already locked in, there's no real need to take any hitter risks the rest of the way, so I just pounded high-floor bats from here til the end - guys like Adolis Garcia (14), J.T. Realmuto (16), Dansby Swanson (17), Alec Bohm (18) and Willi Castro (25). I like Sal Stewart to outkick the coverage in Round 22, and Matt Wallner in 28 might do the same if he's allowed to hit against both sides. My one stash is Tommy Edman, who may not even be out that long. Hitters will not be the demise of this team. Which leads me to …
Pitching
I finally took the plunge in the fifth round. At the time, I was ecstatic to get Hunter Greene as my ace. I am now less than ecstatic … like McKayla Maroney enthused. Jim Bowden and I talked about this pick the most while on the SXM show. We both liked it but agreed that you need to back up the injury-prone pitcher Greene. I spent six of the next eight rounds building a steady, veteran pitching staff around Greene, guys I could rely upon if need be. I also expected to tap into this strategy by, oh the All-Star break … not March 4!
The rest of the starters are decent if not ho-hum (Nick Pivetta in Round 7, Nathan Eovaldi in Round 8, Michael King in Round 9, Shoto Imanaga in Round 20, Tatsuya Imai in Round 21 and a now injured Grayson Rodriguez in Round 27), but is there an ace in there? King, maybe, but man, at least three of these guys are going to have to significantly overachieve for this team to have any chance. In current form and with Greene out for months, this has the potential to be the worst starting staff in this league. I will need to be aggressive here and work the wire heavily all season.
But hey, at least saves are covered with Ryan Helsley (Round 9), Pete Fairbanks (Round 12) and Raisel Iglesias (Round 13). And the league format is favorable to IR spots and allows trades.
Hopefully, the hitting is strong enough to give me the value to work those corners. If not, well, it's USA2 in its predicted spot and a side-bet loss where Lauren gets a free dinner with husband Nate and a night of no-fee babysitting while Uncle Shoe watches the wild Jump children.
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