Draft Results!

     Ah, it is that time of the year again when fantasy baseball starts up and drafts occur. With the MLB season just around the corner, I had one of my two fantasy drafts yesterday.

    My team, Super Hot Spicy Squid was generously gifted with my least-favorite snake draft position, which is ninth. For reference, this was a twelve-man private prize league set up with some friends, with an entrance fee of $5 per man. There were 24 rounds in the online draft. Let's take an in-depth look at how I did:

First Round: Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 1B, 3B (9th overall)
    I wanted a good first baseman, since my standards for them are extremely tight, so with the ninth round, it went to Vladdy.

Second Round: Yordan Alvarez, OF (16th overall)
    I always neglect to draft my outfielders literally every year, so I was glad to get such a good one in the second round.

Third Round: Manny Machado, 3B (33rd overall)
    Unfortunately, Austin Riley had already been taken.

Fourth Round: Devin Williams, RP (40th overall)
    Closers always go so quickly in the leagues I play in, so I'm content to get who, in my opinion, is the best one in the game.

Fifth Round: Mason Miller, RP (57th overall)
    Pretty much the same concept with Devin Williams. I think Mason Miller is the third-best closer in the league.

    

Sixth Round: Adley Rutschman, C (64th overall)
    A good catcher is a must, and Adley was second on my depth chart (and probably everybody else's). And he plays almost everyday, so I'll only need one catcher.

Seventh Round: Bryan Reynolds, OF (81st overall)
    While taking care of other positional needs, I realized that all the good outfielders were starting to go quickly. I think Bryan Reynolds is good enough to be a second-spot outfielder.

Eighth Round: Tanner Bibee, SP (88th overall)
    Unfortunately, Max Fried had been taken literally two picks before, so I went with the next best thing for my first starting pitcher. Bibee's pretty good (and the namesake of my brother's card blog).

Ninth Round: Bo Bichette, SS (105th overall)
    I may be insane, or I may be genius. We'll just need to see.

Tenth Round: Riley Greene, OF (112th overall)
    His projections were really good, so I took him as my third outfielder. Hopefully he performs as well as his projections suggest.

Eleventh Round: Jared Jones, SP (129th overall)
    Jared Jones had a lot of hype last year before his injury. Hopefully he performs to his potential in 2025. His projections seem a little less than fair in my opinion, but I am no expert.

Twelfth Round: Nico Hoerner, 2B,SS (136th overall)
    Nico absolutely must land on my team. I either draft him or, more often, trade for him. Either way he's always on my team. Also, up until this point, I had a lot of bombs and no stolen bases on my team, so hopefully he'll remedy that issue.

Thirteenth Round: Kevin Gausman, SP (153rd overall)
    He finished 2024 really strong. I hope he can dominate once again in 2025.

Fourteenth Round: Tanner Houck, SP (160th overall)
    I am a pessimist towards pitchers who have newly found success, and am therefore not extremely optimistic about Houck redoing what he accomplished last year, but hopefully I'm wrong, because look who has him.

Fifteenth Round: Robbie Ray (177th overall)
    By this time, almost all the good starting pitching was gone and most of my offense was set, so why not take a gamble? This could really pay off, or be really terrible. I hven't the slightest idea one way or another.

Sixteenth Round: Tristan Casas, 1B (184th overall)
    My offense rounded out with Casas for my utility role. According to the pre-season rankings, he was a steal to get so late. I really liked this pickup. He supplies good pop and should play every day, assuming he can stay healthy.

Seventeenth Round: Masyn Winn, SS (201st overall)
    Just in case I'm crazy, so I have a backup. And he runs decently well.

Eighteenth Round: Justin Martinez, RP (208th overall)
    I expect he will be closing for the Diamondbacks, and if not he'll get holds (which are once again a category in this league). 

Nineteenth Round: Kenley Jansen, RP (225th overall)
    The same idea goes for Jansen. If Ben Joyce gets the nod as closer, he'll get some holds (although I may want to trade him before the season starts for something good).

Twentieth Round: Gavin Williams, SP (232nd overall)
    He was projected to be pretty good, and I was dying for one last starting pitcher. Hopefully this one turns out well. I think it's got a good chance to.

Twenty-First Round: Yennier Cano, SP (249th overall)
    Holds.

Twenty-Second Round: Blake Treinen, RP (256th overall)
    More holds.

Twenty-Third Round: Chad Green, RP (273rd overall)
    I waited until the last rounds to get my holds in. As a result they are all older pitchers, but they should still be effective. And if not I can always drop them for another rising set-up man.

Twenty-Fourth Round: Garrett Mitchell, OF (280th overall)
    Garrett Mitchell hasn't played a ton in the majors, but when he has he's been pretty good. Plus he runs well for stolen bases. Also, I had only three outfielders at the time, so I kind of needed him. I was extremely happy about this grab, though at the time of his drafting I was a little bit frustrated.



    My strategy going into the draft was to get an overpowering offense and then work on the pitching, since there are plenty of good starting pitchers. This didn't work too well, however, since the guys in the league ate up all the starting pitching really early. Even so, this is what I have for my team:

C: Adley Rutschman 

1B: Vladimir Guerero Jr.

2B: Nico Hoerner

3B: Manny Machado

SS: Bo Bichette

OF: Yordan Alvarez

OF: Bryan Reynolds

OF: Riley Greene

UTIL: Tristan Casas

What I Like: We got some pop. Good power. Should have a pretty high batting average.

What I Don't Like: I wish I didn't need to take a chance on Bo Bichette. Also, everybody here (except for Nico) is on training wheels. I'll probably lose steals most weeks (this is where Masyn Winn and Garrett Mitchell will come in handy).

SP: Tanner Bibee
SP: Jared Jones
SP: Kevin Gausman
SP: Tanner Houck
SP: Robbie Ray
SP: Gavin Williams
RP: Devin Williams
RP: Mason Miller
RP: Justin Martinez
RP: Kenley Jansen
RP: Yennier Cano
RP: Blake Treinen
RP: Chad Green

What I Like: I think I took some good chances and got some good sleepers (Kevin Gausman, Gavin Williams). I believe Jared Jones will be filthy and a good second pitcher. The bullpen is pretty nice too. It could be better, but I expect to win saves more often than not.

What I Don't Like: The starting pitching situation is very mediocre. Clearly my strat was not very effective. I also grabbed a couple relief pitchers who I wasn't sure would be closing games, and drafted one too many relief pitchers (I don't have enough slots, so one sits on my bench). As someone who usually has one of the top three pitching staffs in the league, I don't like this very much.

Overall:

Offense: A-
    I like what I did with a lot of my positions. I think I have a top three or four offense in the league. What I would have liked is a more reliable shortstop and more stolen bases.

Pitching: C-
    I don't like it very much. I'm not sure it'll be too good.

Total Grade: C+

    I can't predict where my team will land, especially since I tend to make a ton of trades in the season. 

    

    The more I look at the team the more I've been liking it, and I think the C+ grade might be the slightest bit harsh. But upon the writing of this post that's what I thought was fair, so I'm sticking with it. 

    Well, there you have it. Please let me know in the comments what you think of my draft, and if you like these posts or not (I have another draft in a week and would like to know if I should post on it). Come back to the blog on Wednesday for the finale of my serial-card countdown. Have a great start to the week, thank you for reading, and happy collecting!