Draft Strategy: Standard Mock Draft

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This weekend (and the entire week following) represents the busiest period for fantasy baseball drafts. Especially standard, casual drafts that don’t require a ton of planning.

So to get you prepared for what might be coming, I recently hopped into a random 12-team league over at Yahoo’s Mock Draft Central and took a spin for 23 rounds. Hopefully the results and my analysis can serve as a template for our readers, or at least offer up some good ideas.

Analysis of the first two rounds and the mock draft’s entire results are included here on the free Rotoworld site. If you want to dig into the rest of the analysis of this draft, click on over to our 2016 Rotoworld Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide. You’re also going to get 1,000 player profiles and individual projections, many other forms of mock fantasy drafts, strategy articles, rankings, player showdowns, a full closer report and much more.

This is a one-catcher, three-outfielder league with one utility (UTIL, DH) spot. No middle infield (MI) or corner infield (CI) starters. 5×5 scoring — AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB for the position players and W, ERA, WHIP, K, SV for the pitchers. About as standard as a fantasy baseball league can get.

To the picks (mine are highlighted) …

Round 1

1.1 Mike Trout, OF, Angels
1.2 Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Diamondbacks
1.3 Bryce Harper, OF, Nationals
1.4 Josh Donaldson, 3B, Blue Jays
1.5 Carlos Correa, SS, Astros
1.6 Clayton Kershaw, SP, Dodgers
1.7 Nolan Arenado, 3B, Rockies
1.8 Manny Machado, 3B, Orioles
1.9 Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Tigers
1.10 Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Cubs
1.11 Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pirates
1.12 Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Marlins

Round Analysis: This is a pretty standard-looking first round. No real surprises. Some might take issue with Nolan Arenado going seventh overall — his average draft position (ADP) right now on Yahoo is 10.8 — but I’m fine with him as a top-seven guy and I’d probably even take him over Clayton Kershaw in a league with casual fantasy owners who aren’t going to dig deep for good late-round values at starting pitcher. Arenado tied Bryce Harper for the National League lead in home runs last season with 42 and he led all major leaguers in RBI with 130. He gets to play 81 games in the thin air at Coors Field. The poor supporting cast in that Rockies lineup doesn’t really bother me. It was just as bad last year, and Arenado thrived.

Round 2

2.13 Jose Altuve, 2B, Astros
2.14 Max Scherzer, SP, Nationals
2.15 Jose Bautista, OF, Blue Jays
2.16 Kris Bryant, 3B, Cubs
2.17 A.J. Pollock, OF, Diamondbacks
2.18 Buster Posey, C, Giants
2.19 Jose Abreu, 1B, White Sox
2.20 Mookie Betts, OF, Red Sox
2.21 Joey Votto, 1B, Reds
2.22 Dee Gordon, 2B, Marlins
2.23 Jake Arrieta, SP, Cubs
2.24 Edwin Encarnacion, 1B, Blue Jays

Round Analysis: There seems to be a debate about which starting pitcher should be taken second this year after Kershaw — Max Scherzer or Jake Arrieta. Scherzer got the nod in this draft, a whole 10 picks ahead of his Cubs counterpart. I think that’s probably the correct order, though it’s obviously an inexact science. Arrieta’s big workload jump from 2014 to 2015 is worrisome. He went from 176 2/3 innings to 248 2/3 innings. Scherzer has been doing the workhorse thing for much longer, and he quietly had a career year in 2015 with the Nationals. In a casual fantasy draft I personally like to focus on position player production first before shifting my attention to pitching. So it’s Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Altuve for me thus far, if you’re keeping track at home.

Round 3

3.25 Jacob deGrom, SP, Mets
3.26 Chris Sale, SP, White Sox
3.27 Madison Bumgarner, SP, Giants
3.28 Starling Marte, OF, Pirates
3.29 Chris Davis, 1B, Orioles
3.30 Jose Fernandez, SP, Marlins
3.31 Matt Harvey, SP, Mets
3.32 Charlie Blackmon, OF, Rockies
3.33 George Springer, OF, Astros
3.34 Corey Kluber, SP, Indians
3.35 J.D. Martin ez, OF, Tigers
3.36 Nelson Cruz, OF, Mariners

March 2016
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Feb				Apr »
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

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