When completing drafts on Mock Draft Central, there is a team grading process that occurs afterwards where the participants grade each others teams. The one thing that I here over and over is “you don’t have enough speed”. So I try to figure out why I should waste a 13th round pick on Dave Roberts, or even an 11th round pick (this actually happen last week) on a Scott Podsednik. Why wasts picks on 1 category? Do you know what conclusion I come to, They are wrong!

I know that a lot of you will argue that the speed guys will help in batting average, on base percentage, steals, and in turn, score more runs. There is the common misconception that if a player steals a base, and puts himself in better scoring position, then he will in turn, score more runs. Some are even more wrongly convinced that speed guys will get you more total bases, which is a stat in some leagues.

There are two players that may be considered the ultimate players for the “speedsters” category. That would be Ichiro and Carl Crawford. Great average mixed with incredible speed, and in Crawford’s case, some power. The other day I discussed ISO, and how that accurately depicts total bases accumulated. Here is how Ichiro and Crawford stack up against other players.

ISO

In terms of ISO, and totals bases accumulated, they both are middle of the pack players. Howard lead all players with 383 total bases last year. Ichiro and Crawford each had 289. That is six bases fewer then Lyle Overbay, and equal to Ryan Zimmerman’s total from last year. So here is how the 5 players that i just mention rank in ISO:

Ryan Howard - .346
Lyle Overbay - .196
Ryan Zimmerman - .184
Carl Crawford - .177
Ichiro - .094

So speed will not win you your Total Bases category.

RC - Runs Created

Here we are with another Sabermetric stat that is very useful. Runs Created is an excellent way to depict how many runs a player “creates” or contributes for his team. This does not state how many runs the player scored.  If your player creates a lot of runs, then in turn, they will be a more productive player for the team as a whole. Ryan Howard once again lead everybody last year with 169 Runs Created. Ichiro created 118 and Crawford created 106. By the way, Lyle Overbay created 105 runs last year. Here is how they rank in runs scored last year:

Ichiro - 110
Ryan Howard - 104
Carl Crawford - 89
Lyle Overbay - 82

Grady Sizemore led the league with 134 runs scored. Speed does not create more runs. Also, speed does not score you more runs. However, batting leadoff with great hitters behind you does.

So here is my theory on the speed element of fantasy baseball. Have team speed, not speedsters. Players like Sizemore, Beltran, Abreu, Utley, Wright, and Rollins will have a greater impact on your team as a whole. Also look for players like Zimmerman, Kinsler, Weeks, Hall, Damon, and Baldelli later in the draft. These players will have a better overall effect on your team then Podsenik, Roberts, Pierre, and Taveras will.