NFBC Weekly Profile - Derek Pierson

[Tom Kessenich]

When Derek Pierson began his prep work for the Online Championship, he believed a very simple approach could help him put together the type of team that could make a strong run at the $60,000 grand prize.

Balance.

Thus far, Pierson’s plan has been executed extremely well.

His March 28 team began the week atop the overall standings in the event before dipping to second place after Monday’s action. There have been no great mysteries or difficult-to-unearth secrets about the strength of his team thus far.

“Drafting a balanced team and accounting for injury variance is essential for competing in the top tier,” Pierson said. “My pitching core has provided a strong advantage across all five pitching categories and that has helped in the early weeks.”

Balance hasn’t been the only key factor in Pierson’s strong start to the season. Landing some quality value picks in his draft has also proven to be quite beneficial.

“The strong starts of World Series hero David Freese – yes I’m a Cardinals fan – Bryan LaHair and Edwin Encarnacion has kept my offensive numbers above the mean,” he said.

With a strong draft carrying his team so far, Pierson hasn’t had to work the Waiver Wire too aggressively to this point. He’s primarily used it to address depth needs, such as adding Kenley Jansen for potential saves later in the season and Gerardo Parra for depth in the outfield.

The 34-year-old Pierson lives in St. Louis with his wife and twin seven-month girls. He’s in his second season in the NFBC and after playing in the Main Event last year he dove in more aggressively this year. He has two Main Event teams, two NFBC XII teams and took the Online Championship three-pack.

Thus far, he’s enjoying a wide measure of success as he has a Top 20 team in the Main Event and NFBC XII. His March 28 Online Championship team is faring the best although Pierson knows the true test of his team’s strength is yet to come.

“Health is obviously a big key but I also believe consistency correlates to how one structures their roster,” he said. “It is important to be able to react to an injury early in the week with a replacement player on Friday. To be in contention for the duration of the season I’ll need to continue to exploit favorable matchups, hedge position backups and be ahead of the Waiver Wire curve.”