What average draft position says about some players

By Greg Ambrosius, Special to SI.com, fantasybaseballchampionship.com

I hate to sound like an old man, but when I started playing fantasy baseball, owners had an edge on their competitors just by walking into the draft room with a copy of the Sporting News Baseball Annual AND a copy of Street & Smith's Baseball Annual. Information was so scarce that most owners brought little more than a sheet of paper with names scribbled on it. The good players brought one magazine, and the WEALTHY owners had two whole magazines with them.

How times have changed.

Today, fantasy baseball is so sophisticated that there are hundreds of free and pay fantasy content sites, magazine racks devoted to just fantasy baseball, high-stakes contests, satellite radio shows ... you name it, it's there. There are no such things as sleeper picks today because everyone knows about them. Each owner has access to the same information, and if that's not enough, then you can buy MLB Extra Innings and WATCH every single game just as if you were a scout. It's grown from a niche hobby to a big-time business with an estimated 7 million adult Americans playing fantasy baseball last year.

So how do you get an edge in today's fantasy world? The answer is simple: Stay one step ahead with the latest and best information.

Even with my experience -- I've played and written about fantasy baseball for the last 20 years -- I still look for that extra edge. Fortunately, I also run the industry's only high-stakes contest -- the National Fantasy Baseball Championship -- so I get draft data from people who know what they're doing. We've been running drafts all offseason and have compiled Average Draft Positions for every player. Below is some of that data from our online satellite leagues for the players who could be the most interesting for you on Draft Day.

The top eight overall picks seem to be set in stone, although they may change spots slightly. My Top 15 (NFBC leagues have 15 teams) include:

1. Albert Pujols
2. Jose Reyes
3. Alfonso Soriano
4. Alex Rodriguez
5. Carl Crawford
6. Ryan Howard
7. Johan Santana
8. Chase Utley
9. Carlos Beltran
10. Vladimir Guerrero
11. David Wright
12. David Ortiz
13. Miguel Cabrera
14. Lance Berkman
15. Carlos Lee