Fantasy Baseball Rankings and Auction Values for 12-Team Mixed Leagues

I’m starting to get excited! First Pitch Florida is quickly approaching and I have the honor of participating in the 12-Team Mixed Auction League. With that in mind, I figured now was as good a time as any to share my fantasy baseball auction values for 12-team mixed leagues. These are the values I will take into the auction room with me. Of course, I’ll have to adapt as the auction progresses so these values will have to adapt with it.

I shared my basic auction strategy a few weeks ago. I shared strategy more specific to 12-team mixed auction leagues here. In short, I find shallow mixed-league auctions to be the most difficult to prepare for. I grew up on NL- and AL-Only auctions. In these deep leagues, a spread-the-wealth strategy was almost a necessity. If you spent too much on a few players you would end up with holes elsewhere that were very hard to fill during the season.

In a 12-team mixed league, there are still going to be plenty of players I like even when the auction is done. The penalty for overspending is lessened because of this. Other people realize this and the bidding can get wonky real quick. The line between spending intelligently and holding back too long can be a thin one. In this shallow format, I’m much more likely to go past my allocated salaries by a few dollars, especially on positions or categories that I see as being in short supply. With that said, you still don’t win an auction league without a smart strategy and a set of values to use as a guideline.

The values below contain 276 players with at least a $1 value. That’s the 12 teams times the 23 players on a traditional roster. The values of those 276 players add up to $3,120 which comes from a traditional $260 each team is allocated. I’ve based these auction values on a 70/30 hitting/pitching split.

Tout Wars is also coming up and I’m in the 15-team mixed auction for that, so be on the lookout for auction values for that in the near future.

Also, I’m going to be trying out a new tool for these auctions. DraftKick is an awesome tool that I’ll be using at the LABR auction. It was developed by Mays Copeland who has done a ton of impressive work related to fantasy baseball dollar values. It works with drafts but really shines during auctions. It’s not really optimized for mobile but if you draft on a laptop or desktop, I think you’ll be amazed at how this can help you. Bonus, if you use the promo code ROTODADDY you can even get $5 off.

The season is not here yet, but why not get a head start and jump in a Fantrax Classic Draft contest? Get a jump on the season with a Best Ball league or maybe a Draft and Hold. Or put some green on the line with a new season-long league to try and conquer. There’s no better time than now to get your baseball on!

Positional Dollar Values

If you want to download my values and use them for your auction here is a nice downloadable PDF you can print out. If you want something you can edit and make your own here is the excel file I used to format my auction values.

Directly below are my auction values by position. Toward the bottom of the page are my overall rankings and values. bother overall and again by position.

To be transparent with how I go about forming my auction values, I started with the Fangraphs auction calculator and then made sure all positions were accounted for and that the correct number of players were valued at the proper total value. I then bumped up players I had projected for more value and lowered others.

Below I’ve included screenshots from my 12-team auction cheat sheet and a few comments about how I would attack each position. Do remember though, that an auction is a living breathing thing. Every player brought up for bid and the final price they go for, changes all the future values. In the end, the winning manager will have purchased their players at what turns out to be around a 20 to 25 percent bargain. Profit is the name of the game and it all counts the same whether it happens in the beginning of an auction or during the dollar days at the end.

Catcher Values

I’m quite a bit more optimistic on the catching pool this year. While I’d love to grab one of those top four, I’d be pretty happy with just pairing one of the second-tier catchers with a tier-three or four catcher. An ideal pairing for me might be Alejandro Kirk or Adley Rutschman with Christian Vazquez or Eric Haase. I also like Logan O’Hoppe if he slides all the way down to dollar days. Position scarcity still exists in 2023, but in 12-team mixed leagues, I’m not overpaying for catchers.

First Base Values

I’m a little more down on the first base position than others in the industry seem to be. Sure there are plenty of usable bats but I start doubting players as early as Jose Abreu. Should I have bumped him down to the next tier? Maybe. The lineup around him in Houston makes me think his counting stats will make up for any continued erosion of his power. Ideally I’d like to grab Goldschmidt if he comes at the slightest bargain, but I’ll likely end up in that second tier with my corner slot filled by one of that fourth tier. I do think Andrew Vaughn will take another step forward and at that $10 price tag I’m ready to jump on him.

Second Base Values

I keep hearing how second base is shallow this year but I really don’t get it. No, there aren’t a ton of elite bats, but I’m comfortable all the way down to an $8 Nico Hoerner as my starter. I’v likely got Jorge Polanco and Jonathan India higher than most so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of shares of them this year. I also bumped up Vaughn Grissom quite a bit as the auction calculator seemed to hate him. He may fall flat on his face but I think his power/speed combo will be nice at what I have him priced at. It’s not a ton of risk for a pretty nice potential reward. In a 12-team mixed league I can make up for this small risk.

Third Base Values

Third base is gonna be a challenge in this auction. I’m going to jump early. Either I’ll go to full value for one of those top 6 or I bring up Jose Miranda early and hope he goes at a bargain with other top third baseman on the board. What I don’t want to happen is for me to rely on Ryan McMahon or Alec Bohm to take a step forward when they could just as easily slide back. Ke’Bryan Hayes would be my last-ditch third baseman. The speed he brings would help cover any continued growing pains in his bat. Let’s hope that 10-15 extra pounds of muscle is a real thing.

Shortstop Values

Shortstop is maybe the deepest position in baseball. There are plenty of power/speed combos to roster at various dollar values. Bobby Witt Jr. seems to be getting some negative press. I’ll be happy to claim him, and his third base eligibility is a huge plus. Further down the rankings, I like Amed Rosario and Jeremy Pena. Both have gone through their fair share of growing pains but each has 15-HR/15-SB in their cross-hairs without any big reach. I’d even take an $8 gamble on Javier Baez who rebounded a bit in the second half of 2022. They’re also moving the walls in (and up) in Detroit so that may help.

Outfield Values

Outfield is as top-heavy as any position can be. Those first two tiers are filled with players who help in four or five categories. The questions start popping up in that third tier and the rest of the outfield pool feels like a bit of a crapshoot. Honestly, it feels like all the players in the $5 to $10 range are a bit interchangeable. I want two of those top two tiers, two from tiers three through five, and then I’ll throw some darts at a Michael Conforto or Lars Nootbar.

DH Values

Take Note, I’ve got Shohei Ohtani valued at $21 as a hitter and as a pitcher. If he’s one player in your league I’m going at least $38 and if you have daily transactions he’s a $40+ player. Bryce Harper may not be back until the All-Star break. I’m still probably too low on him. In a 12-team league, I can stash him on the IL and still have a decent bat. Pair them together and you’re looking at a $20+ player when the year is done. In deeper leagues, I’d be a little more hesitant on Harper.

Starting Pitcher Values

There is plenty of pitching! I just did a 15-team mock with industry experts and there were pitchers I liked who didn’t even get taken. You may think that means I’ll wait on pitching. And you’d be wrong… and right. I want two of the pitchers in the top two tiers and maybe another one from the third or fourth tier. And then I’m happy to wait until the end portion of the auction and count on some pitchers I like becoming bargains. Which pitchers would that be? The Tampa duo of Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rassmussen fit the bill. Lance Lynn isn’t new and shiny but his 2.52 ERA (3.18 xFIP) and 25.7 K% in the second half of 2022 say he still has something in the tank. Garret Whitlock is another pitcher I like more than most. His results have been mixed but he’s one of a handful of pitchers who has stuff+ ratings of over 105.0 for three different pitches. Logan Webb and Blake Snell are two other pitchers I think have a solid shot of greatly outperforming their draft day prices.

Relief Pitcher Values

I hate paying for closers! I hate it. Because of that, I’ll be trying to strike early. I’m gonna bring up Devin Williams or Ryan Helsley very early and hope the bidding isn’t too crazy since there will still be other elite options on the board. Both of these pitchers have numbers very close to the pitchers above them but I think they’ll not draw as high a price tag. So in an ideal world, I’ll roster one of them and pair them with Pete Fairbanks, whose stuff is as good as any pitcher in baseball. The Rays just extended him and seem more willing to treat him as a traditional closer. I also think Jorge Lopez is being grossly undervalued. Yes, there is a chance he reverts to pre-2022 numbers, but he was lights out last year. And while Jhoan Duran is a much more dominant pitcher, the Twins may be happy just to use him as their stopper earlier in games. Either way, I don’t see much of a risk in the small price tag Lopez is likely to carry. Yes, I want two closers I like, but don’t go crazy. There will be plenty of saves on the waiver wire and you don’t have to win the saves category. In fact, I’ll be looking for a top-third place in saves and if I have a chance to gain points later in the season, then I can make some moves.

Auction Values for 12-Team Mixed Leagues