I participated in the Mock Draft Army #5 mock draft on Thursday night, and today I discuss how my draft went.
I participated in the Mock Draft Army Draft #5 last night with several industry writers including Mike Gianella from Baseball Prospectus, David Kerr from Fantasy Squads and Fantasy Alarm, Jeff Zimmerman from Rotographs, Ron Vackar from Fantasy Assembly, and several others. The mock drafts are organized and run by Howard Bender, a fellow Dead Head, and writer at Fantasy Alarm. He also co-hosts a show at SiriusXM Fantasy Radio with Ray Flowers.
The draft was a 15 team, 5 x 5, mixed league draft. I went into the draft with a plan to draft an ace starting pitcher early, with a focus on power hitters as well. I might be one of the few, but growing, members of the fantasy industry that advise you to grab an ace starting pitcher early in drafts, and I followed my own advice on Thursday night.
Before we take a look at my draft results, here are the results of the first two rounds of the draft:
Round 1
#1 @Wagdog25 - Mike Trout CF, LAA
#2 64/60 Sports - Paul Goldschmidt 1B, ARI
#3 FanGraphs - Giancarlo Stanton RF, MIA
#4 Baseball Prospectus - Andrew McCutchen CF, PIT
#5 Blue Bombers - Miguel Cabrera 1B, DET
#6 CoolBalls - Clayton Kershaw SP, LAD
#7 RotoBanter - Jose Abreu 1B, CWS
#8 FantasyAlarm - Kerr - Carlos Gomez CF, MIL
#9 FantasyAssembly - Jose Bautista RF, TOR
#10 @JoelNick11 - Anthony Rendon 3B, WSH
#11 Fake Teams - Edwin Encarnacion 1B, TOR
#12 Matt Deutsch - SiriusXM - Anthony Rizzo 1B, CHC
#13 tgmills - Adam Jones CF, BAL
#14 Uptons Back - Robinson Cano 2B, SEA
#15 FantasyAlarm - Ivar - Madison Bumgarner SP, SF
Quick Thoughts
I took Edwin Encarnacion with my first pick at 11, as I wanted to secure a consistent power hitter here. I was hoping Kershaw would drop to me, but that was not to be.
The only real surprise picks in this round for me are Madison Bumgarner drafted as the second starting pitcher off the board, and Anthony Rendon off the board at 10 . I would probably take 8-10 starters ahead of Bumgarner this season.
I like Rendon as much as the rest of you, but I see him as more of an early second round pick. NItpicking? Yeah, probably.
Round 2
#1 FantasyAlarm - Ivar - Jose Altuve 2B, HOU
#2 Uptons Back - Josh Donaldson 3B, TOR
#3 tgmills - Adrian Beltre 3B, TEX
#4 Matt Deutsch - SiriusXM - Yasiel Puig RF, LAD
#5 Fake Teams - Felix Hernandez SP, SEA
#6 @JoelNick11 - Troy Tulowitzki SS, COL
#7 FantasyAssembly - Ian Desmond SS, WSH
#8 FantasyAlarm - Kerr - Hanley Ramirez LF, BOS
#9 RotoBanter - Buster Posey C, SF
#10 CoolBalls - Bryce Harper LF, WSH
#11 Blue Bombers - Chris Sale SP, CWS
#12 Baseball Prospectus - Jacoby Ellsbury CF, NYY
#13 FanGraphs - Carlos Santana 1B, CLE
#14 64/60 Sports - Ryan Braun RF, MIL
#15 @Wagdog25 - Freddie Freeman 1B, ATL
With my second pick, I took Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. Taking an ace in an early round does not mean you are afraid or scared, as some may lead you to believe. Even with pitching much deeper than in years past, the top ranked aces - Kershaw, Felix, Sale, etc. - offer excellent value in the early rounds, as they are providing elite level stats in four categories.
You can find the link to the complete draft results below:
Fake Teams Roster
Below you can find my complete roster:
Position | Player | Round |
C | Mesoraco, Devin (CIN) | 5 |
C | McKenry, Michael (COL) | 23 |
1B | Encarnacion, Edwin (TOR) | 1 |
2B | Kendrick, Howie (LAD) | 12 |
SS | Hardy, J.J. (BAL) | 18 |
3B | Machado, Manny (BAL) | 8 |
MI | Bogaerts, Xander (BOS) | 9 |
CI | Lind, Adam (MIL) | 17 |
U | Howard, Ryan (PHI) | 20 |
OF | Kemp, Matt (SD) | 3 |
OF | Springer, George (HOU) | 4 |
OF | Arcia, Oswaldo (MIN) | 15 |
OF | Victorino, Shane (BOS) | 21 |
OF | Trumbo, Mark (ARI) | 7 |
P | Hernandez, Felix (SEA) | 2 |
P | Hamels, Cole (PHI) | 6 |
P | Wheeler, Zack (NYM) | 10 |
P | Latos, Mat (MIA) | 11 |
P | Rodney, Fernando (SEA) | 13 |
P | Weaver, Jered (LAA) | 14 |
P | Rondon, Hector (CHC) | 16 |
P | Davis, Wade (KC) | 19 |
P | Roark, Tanner (WSH) | 22 |
More Draft Analysis
I discussed my first two selections in this mock above. As you can see from my roster, I went pitching and power heavy, maybe too much on the power, as I have very little in terms of stolen base potential, and my batting average my land in the bottom third in the league.
You already know how much I like Matt Kemp this year, even in San Diego, so I won't explain the pick. It's my mancrush pick. Everyone has one. Admit it, you have one.
My second mancrush pick was Astros outfielder George Springer. For me, Springer is a young version of Matt Kemp. Remember what Kemp did back in 2011, the year he should have won the MVP award? Springer has the talent and power to come close to that....maybe a 30-30 season. Maybe not in 2015, but in the next 2-3 years.
Drafting Mesoraco in the fifth round might appear to be a round or two too early, and you might be right. But, I looked at the depth at the catcher position, and didn't want to get stuck with the Miguel Montero's of the world, so I grabbed Mesoraco, who is a top 2-3 fantasy catcher for me. Reds manager Bryan Price stated a few days ago that Mesoraco will play up to 145 games in 2015, so his fantasy value improved after those comments. Plus, he may gain first base eligibility, ala Posey, Lucroy, McCann and others.
In a 15 team league, I figured the power would be leaving the board quickly, but I was able to find power hitters like Ryan Howard and Adam Lind very late in the draft. Lind is moving to Milwaukee in 2015, so he leaves one hitters park for another. He may be platooned with Jonathon Lucroy when Lucroy needs a break, but he should play against all righties.
I went pitcher heavy in this draft and couldn't be happier with my rotation:
Felix Hernandez
I have to admit that the Wade Davis pick was that one pick where you are pondering several pitchers and an outfielder, and time was running out, so you panic and draft the one pitcher who won't hurt you. Yeah, that explains that pick. Don't overthink things in mock drafts.
I explained the Hernandez pick in the second round, and I was happy to grab Hamels as my second starter in the sixth round. His win total may barely reach double digits on a very bad Phillies team, but that could change should he get traded to a contender (hi Andrew Friedman).
Fake Teams writer Timothy Finnegan wrote about Mets young starter Zack Wheeler last week, and you should read it. Wheeler made some impressive strides on the mound last season, and I think he takes another step toward becoming an ace in 2015.
I won't discuss everyone I drafted, but if you have specific questions about my roster, or my reasoning for selecting a player, let's hear it in the comments section below.