by Perry Van Hook
On Tuesday night, March 8 while we hoped for word on an agreement on a new CBA for baseball, 15 touts gathered online to compete in the Mixed Draft League. This is a 5X5 league with On Base Percentage instead of batting average. We would draft 23 starters and six reserves over the three plus hours of competition.
And if the other drafters felt as much like a ping pong ball as I did, I wouldn’t be surprised. There are a lot of good drafters in the league and when you had to decide on your pick, you could in many rounds be assured that someone would take the player you didn’t draft.
Let’s start with the first round. Here are the participants and their first-round picks:
- Adam Ronis - Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, SD
- D.J. Short - Juan Soto, OF, WAS
- Shelly Verougstraete - Jose Ramirez, 3B, CLE
- Tim McLeod - Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, ATL
- Tim McCullough - Trea Turner, SS, WAS
- Seth Trachtman - Bryce Harper, OF, PHL
- Ray Murphy - Gerrit Cole, P, NYY
- Scott White - Vladimir Guerrero, 1B, TOR
- Charlie Wiegert - Mike Trout
So, who should I draft from the 10th spot? I had thought my choice would be either Trout or Bo Bichette or one of the top two starting pitchers – now Corbin Burnes with Cole off the board. But that assumed that someone would have already take Shohei Ohtani (the hitter, Tout uses both Ohtani the DH and Ohtani the pitcher). As much as I like Bichette in an OBP league, I chose Ohtani for the upside in his HR/SB potential. And or the record I know some don’t like tying up the UT slot so early in the draft and I might agree if Ohtani was just a power guy. But he isn’t – the stolen bases with the power are huge. And minimal but there is a non-zero chance that he gets five games in the outfield and can then be moved if necessary.
1.10 Perry Van Hook Shohei Ohtani, UT, LAA
1.11 Rudy Gamble Freddie Freeman, 1B, FA
1.12 Mike Gianelli Corbin Burnes, P, MLW
1.13 A.J. Mass Mookie Betts, OF, LAD
1.14 Jeff Barton Walker Buehler, P, LAD
1.15 Anthony Perri Kyle Tucker, OF, HOU
Interesting. All of you will have a different view and that is a fun part of the game. Now who would be available at 2.06? I couldn’t believe that it was on the drafter in front of me and Bichette was still available – but no Rudy would take him, but I still think about what a great start that would have been. Still my choice was the anchor for my pitching staff or adding a second strong hitter and the best available were Yordan Alvarez or Aaron Judge. I took Brandon Woodruff.
In the third round the choice become more diverse but I took Xander Bogaerts over Max Muncy because there is a decent chance that Muncy is not fully recovered from his injury on whatever would become opening day. In addition, there were two of the top shortstops already drafted and more would be taken before my next pick.
Sure enough, both Francisco Lindor and Trevor Story were taken on the turn and second baseman Jonathan India by Gamble at 4.05 – Rudy is going to owe me a cold one for his second and fourth round snipes plus whatever he does later. I took Tyler O’Neill who blossomed last year and my well be better this year over a second starter, thinking I could get one in the same tier at my next pick. And that was correct as Lucas Giolito, Chris Sale, and Max Fried were among the pitchers taken between my selections, but I was just as happy with Giant Ace Logan Webb.
I might well have taken Jose Abreu or Raisel Iglesias who went late fifth/early sixth but had to make another choice and am hoping Anthony Rendon is fully healthy because he will have an excellent OBP and fill my third base slot. But like my fellow drafters we didn’t have our normal information from spring training as well at not knowing which teams some of the remaining free agents will play for.
One of the questions when building a roster in any draft league is where you want to take your first catcher? Many prefer to wait until very late and take two; others want one of the top offensive backstops. Generally, I prefer a middle route to find catchers who won’t hurt my batting average or in this case on base percentage. In this draft the first catcher – Will Smith of the Dodgers went very early – 3.03 and the second, Salvador Perez at 3.14. This was followed by Yasmani Grandal at 5.06 and J.T. Realmuto at 5.07. At 7.10 I could have gone several directions but decided to draft Daulton Varsho as my first catcher. For one thing he should steal 15 plus bases and for another, will spend more time in the outfield than he will risking nicks behind the plate. He should also hit twenty some homer and have a decent OBP.
From the fifth round on, I was considering drafting one of the better closers – there are so few really solid ones this year and so many unsettled bullpens. But as happened many times in this draft, when I had a player in mind or even queued up, they were taken before my next pick. In the eighth round I had just seen Yu Darvish, Shane McClanahan, and Giovanny Gallegos get drafted. As I looked at my draft lists, I decided to take a chance and draft top Royals’ prospect Bobby Witt Jr. as my middle infielder hoping that he makes the opening day lineup for KC and give me another strong HR/SB contribution. In case that doesn’t happen, I will draft an extra MI in the reserve rounds.
Time to add another pitcher (some would say past time) and fortunately one of my favorite targets for 2022, the Rays’ Shane Baz was there at 9.10. Baz has a very good arm and we saw a glimpse of his potential last year – in fact as a free agent addition last year he helped me win an AL only league. At this point, while I still needed more pitchers, I felt that my biggest need was to add some very good outfielders if they were available and as luck would have it was able to add Mark Canha, NYM at 10.06 and Trent Grisham, SD at 11.10. Both will contribute double digit HR and SB as well as provide more ballast in OBP before we get to later rounds.
In the 12th round I still did not have a closer and added Corey Knebel hoping he is the man for the Phillies bullpen. In the next round I wanted to address both second base and my second catcher if the right player was available. With Keibert Ruiz and Mitch Garver drafted in the twelfth, and Adley Rutschman in the thirteenth round I picked Omar Narvaez at 13.10. He will have a good OBP and should hit around fifteen home runs. I was pleasantly surprised (for a change) that my top 2B target at this point, the Brewers’ Kolten Wong was there for me at 14.06.
In the 15th I added another Tampa starter with Drew Rasmussen. Another pitcher who pitched very well after being traded from the NL to the AL and helped me last season and I think along with Baz, pitchers who are good enough that the Rays will let them go longer into games than they have when they had lesser hurlers who were starting games.
If you are asking where my first baseman is at this point, I am/was right there too. I had thought that I could grab one I liked as we moved along but Rhys Hoskins went before I could pull the trigger as did Josh Bell (9th) and Brandon Belt (12th). So, in round sixteen I drafted Baltimore’s Trey Mancini hoping for twenty plus homers and a good OBP. There is another one who I am hoping will be there later for a corner infield slot who is better than all but one of the remaining third basemen. At this point I need more pitchers, the corner, and a pair of fly chasers.
At 17.10 I took Aaron Ashby, MLW over German Marquez or Steven Matz. In the eighteenth round I took another chance on upside by draft Mariner prospect Julio Rodriguez. I am sure Rodriguez will be in the Mariners’ outfield at some point in 2022, but I don’t know when. I would rather it be opening day, but if it is later in the season, that will be a nice boost from my reserves and save a lot of FAAB units. The next turn I was able to draft Jesus Aguilar as my corner (Jeimer Candelario having been picked earlier). Aguilar seems firmly in the Marlins plans for this year and will be helped with the NL having the DH slot for additional at bats to boost his home runs.
I drafted Cal Quantrill (CLE) at 20.06 thinking he will do well in his first full season as a starting pitcher over the Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin (who I think is a slightly more talented pitcher but not as likely to get as many starts this year). In the 21st round I grabbed my final starting outfielder, the Cubs presumed center fielder Rafael Ortega who should have double digit HR and SB. Back to both pitching and the Guardians in round twenty-two as I took Zach Plesac, hoping he can rebound. Really at this point the pitching selections are dart throws that may be based more on preferences than projections. My pick at 23.10 was Nico Hoerner, my replacement for Witt if necessary and having lost both Nick Madrigal and Jeremy Pena to other drafters.
The balance of the draft is one pitcher and reserves, so I will list them quickly
24.06 Dinelson Lamet – a great arm when healthy – not sure if he is a starter or reliever for the Padres
25.10 Roansy Contreras – showed his potential with the Pirates late last year and should be in rotation
26.06 Kyle Muller – fighting for rotation spot in Atlanta
27.10 Jarren Duran – struggled in debut, but has speed and is potential fill in for Rodriguez
28.06 Dustin May – out for first half of year but what a mid/late season return from IL slot
29.10 Daniel Hudson – very good arm and who knows how the Dodger’s bullpen will sort out
I must tell you that after three plus hours of mostly tough choices and feeling like I was beaten to several players I wasn’t in a great mood. Yet I think this team has the potential to contend. It may well require Witt and Rodriguez to be good right away, but they are my top-rated prospects this year. And I need some of the pitchers to be as good as I think they can be. But the offense on Todd’s projections is in good shape in all five categories – very strong in OBP, SB, and Runs and still top third in HR and RBI.
Here is the full squad by positions with (rd) drafted:
C – Daulton Varsho (7) and Omar Narvaez (13)
CI – Trey Mancini (16), Anthony Rendon (6), and Jesus Aguilar (19)
MI – Kolten Wong (14), Xander Bogaerts (3), and Bobby Witt Jr. (8)
OF – Tyler O’Neill (4), Mark Canha (10), Trent Grisham (11), Julio Rodriguez (18), and Rafael Ortega (21)
UT – Shohei Ohtani (1)
SP – Brandon Woodruff (2), Logan Webb (5), Shane Baz (9), Drew Rasmussen (15), Aaron Ashby (17), Cal Quantrill (20), Zack Plesac (22)
RP – Corey Knebel (12) and Dinelson Lamet (24)
Reserves – Nico Hoerner (23), Roansy Contreras (25), Kyle Muller (26), Jarren Duran (27), Dustin May (28), and Daniel Hudson (29)