(Authors note: I am by no means an expert in draft and hold fantasy leagues, I only played them for the first time in 2024. After nearly 40 years of playing in roto redraft and auction keeper leagues, I jumped into the world of draft and holds. This article will outline the draft and hold format, I will talk about some of the things I have learned in my brief time playing my new favorite format.)

What is a draft and hold league?

A draft and hold format is the perfect format for the fantasy player who:

1. Loves drafting, and
2. Does not have a lot of time during the season for waiver wire or FAAB pickups.

A draft and hold league is made up of 12 or 15 teams, where every owner drafts a 50-man roster and there are no in season pickups of any kind. The roster you leave the draft with is your roster for the entire season. This format is deep and allows you the opportunity to learn the player pool for use in other drafts you may have, such as a home league. Lineups are set weekly, sometimes twice a week, depending on which site you choose to play.

Depending on what type of league you play in, you can play in leagues that cost anywhere from $50 to $400.

Drafts

If you were to do a survey of fantasy baseball managers and ask them what they like the most about fantasy baseball, a majority would say, the draft. These are 50-round slow drafts and really are a lot of fun. Especially in those later rounds when a lot of those picks are dart throws for your fourth catcher, a prospect who might be called up in midseason or the fifth starting pitcher in a bad rotation.

The rosters are the standard two catchers, five outfielder rosters: two catchers, one at each infield position, one middle infielder, one corner infielder, five outfielders, one utility player and nine pitchers, with a 27-man bench.

Draft and hold use the standard 5×5 roto categories: batting average, runs, homers, RBI’s and stolen bases for hitters; ERA, WHIP, wins, strikeouts and saves for pitchers.

Draft sites have the player list with their Average Draft Position (ADP), which is determined by all drafts done on that site. NFBC allows you to sort by the type of draft (i.e., Draft Champions, Online Champions, Main Events) or all drafts of any kind. You can also sort by league size of 10-, 12-, or 15-team leagues.

ADP allows you to see how other fantasy owners value each player, but it should by no means be your soul source in determining when to draft a player. Do your own rankings and then compare them to the ADP on the site on which you are drafting. If you rank Mike Trout as a sixth-round pick and his ADP is a ninth-round pick, you should get him in the seventh or eighth round if you are that confident in your rankings.

These drafts are snake drafts and while there are some quick drafts, most are done online over several weeks. Some have a four-hour clock between picks, and some have a two-hour clock. On the NFBC site, after round 30 is complete, the clock is cut in half to two hours or one hour between picks, which speeds up the back end of the draft. These drafts can take weeks and really slow down in the middle rounds and then seem to pick up at the end as everybody is just wanting the thing to end. I personally love these long drafts, it gives you time to plan out your next several picks based on what the draft room is doing, what your needs are and even gather last minute intel on players you are considering drafting.

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