League 12 (2016-25)
Pick 1.01: 2024 Judge, Aaron
Not quite as valuable as getting 1-1 in a Pedro era, say, but Judge seems pretty clearly to be the top choice here. The other contenders I considered: 2016 Kershaw and 2020 Soto. With Kershaw, you get the best pitcher over 100 innings and a low enough salary to pick pretty high in the next round. Similar for Soto, who actually comes in a hair under Kershaw’s salary. Soto is actually a better hitter (barely) by OPS# over Judge and is left-handed, but he’s a significantly worse defender (B+ range for Judge, D- for Soto) and has nearly 200 fewer PA (704 for Judge, 529 for Soto). 2025 Cal Raleigh at least caught my attention as a full-time, switch-hitting catcher with power but even with those advantages I have him rated far below the top outfielders. Ditto for Ketel Marte, Corey Seager, and any other of the top premium position players. Lastly, there are a handful of top starting pitchers around 200 IP, but I couldn’t justify taking them over Kershaw given the likely drop of several picks in round 2.
In the end, Judge was pretty easily the pick for me, even though I knew it dropped me to the last pick in Round 2.
Pick 2.16: 2025 Raleigh, Cal
My ratings still had Raleigh behind quite a few guys, but I figured he would get taken soon. As I mentioned above, there are lots of positives–switch-hitter, good power, full season from a catcher. It does save me an entire roster spot since I won’t need a backup catcher. There were still some stud pitchers out there, so that’s the primary cost, but this is both fun and helps the team building puzzle, so why not.
Pick 3.13: 2020 Hayes, Ke'Bryan
2019 Gerrit Cole got taken the pick ahead of me, I would have considered him. The best hitters left for me are multiple Mike Trouts–at some point, I’ll take him, but not yet. The Jose Ramirez I most wanted (2017) got taken earlier this round–he had 2B and 3B eligibility giving me extra flexibility. There are other Ramirezes I like but not yet. First, I have to get the perfect right-handed platoon mate. Hayes has a monster short PA season (hitting and fielding) with the perfect amount of PA (257) for a short-side platoon.
Pick 4.10: 2019 Marte, Ketel
This was a tough one for me. I had two Trouts (2017 and 2019) atop my rankings, but there are 5 good Trouts and generally other right-handed hitting OF, though he’s obviously the best of the bunch. There are left-handed sluggers–Soto, Freeman, Harper, Ohtani, but most of them take up a DH/1B/corner OF spot. I want to get a platoon partner for Hayes, but I would need to get someone who can play somewhere besides 3B vs LHP. My top choice is 2020 Jose Ramirez who plays poor 3B (C/D-) but is a switch-hitter with pop who can also DH. However, there are other options, such as 2016 Murphy (can play 2B/DH, but is left-handed), other Ramirezes, even a young Freddie Freeman in there. And then there were the Martes. I chose 2019 over 2024 with the primary tradeoff being 2024 has the defense (A/A at 2B) while 2019 has the bat. 2019 has A/D- at 2B but does has a little more versatility with A/D+ in the OF and a better bat if shifted to DH. Both could even play SS in a pinch (D/D and D/D-).
Pick 5.08: 2020 Ramirez, Jose
I decided to grab my Ramirez now over taking a left-handed power bat or a Trout. I may want to end up with two of the lefty bats, putting one at DH and one at 1B/corner OF, but there are quite a few options here. Hoping to ideally end up with one Ohtani (2023 or 2025) for the fun factor but there are others like Harper, Ortiz, Soto, Alvarez that are similar quality so I think I can wait. I decided on 2020 Ramirez because he’s the best option to complement Hayes. First, I need a 3B vs RHP and despite the D- range, he can do that well. There are no great options at this point that aren’t full-time players, so I need this player to have a spot to play vs LHP and this is where 2020 Ramirez separates himself as he can DH well vs RHP, compared to 2016 Murphy (lefty, so not as good vs LHP) or other Ramirezes that wouldn’t hit as well at DH.
Pick 6.10: 2017 Trout, Mike
I had this narrowed down to 4 types of options. One was Trout, the righty. Three were lefties: 2023 Ohtani was the DH option, 2018 Yelich and 2024 Soto were the OF options, and 2021 Harper was the versatile option. I also looked at 1B but there was 2022 Goldschmidt as a righty and he didn’t stack up to Trout and the lefties (mostly Freemans) were further down the list. I didn’t see a reason to take Ohtani over Harper, who is a similar hitter (exact same PA too) but with the versatility to play 1B and OF. So my final three were Trout, Harper, and Yelich. I don’t love Harper’s D- range at 1B and OF, but he can capably play both positions and DH, plus is a lefty bat which I don’t actually have any of. However, I have been looking at Trout versions for a few rounds now and one of my top two options (2019) just got taken. 2017 only has 507 PA but that’s fine as I can find a half-time platoon mate (maybe Marte slides over) and he has the speed (88) and OBP (.445) to lead off vs LHP.
I definitely need some lefties and will probably take two with my next couple picks. Hopefully some of Harper, Yelich, Ohtani, and Alvarez are there for me.
Pick 7.11: 2023 Ohtani, Shohei (Hitter)
2021 Harper finally went as did a few other lefty 1B/OF/DH options. I think 2018 Yelich was probably a smarter pick given his OF flexibility but I wanted a Shohei and this is the best version for me. 2025 Ohtani has more PA, but I already have my DH vs LHP spoken for, so the 599 PA from this 2023 version is more than enough. He’ll DH and leadoff vs RHP while spot starting or pinch-hitting against lefties.
Pick 8.11: 2016 Murphy, Daniel
Whenever I can’t decide, I usually try and opt for the flexibility and Murphy provides a lot of that. He’s probably best deployed as a 2B, but he can also play 1B or DH. Along with Marte, I can slide those two guys in any direction to open up PA at 1B, 2B, LF, or RF. I also thought about 2021 Bryan Reynolds who has the advantage of being a switch-hitter, but would have to take up an OF spot, sliding Marte to 2B and forcing me only into 1B as an opening. Murphy won’t play much vs LHP so his 582 PA isn’t an issue.
Pick 9.10: 2022 Goldschmidt, Paul
In addition to SS, I basically need 3 more hitters–two righties and one lefty in the 1B/2B/RF spots. I went first with Goldschmidt primarily to get his A+/A+ defense. He’ll definitely start vs LHP at 1B, but with 651 PA he can play vs RHP as well, he can slide to the OF if needed, or just be a great defensive replacement, which I’d need if I play Murphy’s B/D- ratings at 1B. It also gives me some more flexibility later on if I need to fill in some PA vs righties.
Pick 10.13: 2018 Pham, Tommy
Need one righty and one lefty OF. Among lefties, I have 2017 Bryce Harper and 2024 Kyle Tucker as probably the best balance, with decent OF defense, good bats, and enough PA (especially Harper’s 492). 2016 Blackmon and 2019 Alvarez are also options. For the righties, I have 2021 Buxton rated slightly ahead of 2018 Pham thanks to his A+ outfield defense and extra PA, but with Trout and Judge, I don’t need CF-level defense so I prefer Pham. Given there is less depth among the right-handed options, I opt to go with Pham first.
Pick 11.07: 2020 Anderson, Nick
I decide to start of my pitching with the best quality I can find over some bigger-inning relievers or a starter. Anderson’s 2020 season only has 44 innings but an ERC of 0.52 and an OAV under .100 should do the trick. I felt good enough about the left-handed options to wait at least another round.
Pick 12.05: 2017 Kimbrel, Craig
Kimbrel is not the quality of Anderson but he does have 69 innings and still an ERC of just 1.14. I’m also likely to play in a bit of a homerun park with Judge, Raleigh, etc. on board so his respectable 0.51 HR# is better than many other relievers around his quality.
Pick 13.05: 2024 Tucker, Kyle
I wasn’t by my computer after traveling but there were a handful of lefty sluggers that went in between my picks. 2017 Harper is a safer pick with the extra PA, but I liked Tucker better per-PA and can fill in the difference with Goldschmidt. The other player I took a long look at before this was 2021 Mitch Moreland, who is the best lefty hitter but has just 213 PA and plays B/D- at 1B. That would force Goldschmidt not just into the lineup vs RHP to spell Moreland, but also into RF to play alongside him. Grabbing Tucker allows Goldschmidt to only play 1B (and less of it) vs RHP, which I preferred.
Pick 14.03: 2018 Hader, Josh
I did not expect this pick to get back to me so fast and didn’t even have some options. I do know I’m down to just needing a SS on offense. I remembered Hader having a solid season with good innings. I guess the HR (0.76) and BB (3.29) are a bit high but he gives me a lefty with 81 innings and .140 OAV.
Pick 15.04: 2020 Martin, Chris
Not quite to Nick Anderson level, but Martin is the last of the uber-elite relievers left and at 49 innings, it’s pretty usable. Great stats across the board with 0.31 HR#, .137 OAV#, and just 1.41 BB#.
Pick 16.02: 2018 Cole, Gerrit
I’ve moved up to #2 in the draft order and usually in the 16th round I try to stay low on salary for the double picks. But in this case, the main owner I’m competing against for starting pitching is njbigwig (we both have under 300 IP, everyone else is 750+) and he’s the one guy ahead of me and already went reliever. Cole is the best starter with a HR# under 0.70. I considered 2019 Jack Flaherty, 2016 Scherzer, and 2020 Lucas Giolito but Cole has the lowest HR and more innings than any of the others except Scherzer (who has a massive 0.94 HR# problem). I opted to just get the best starter now as dropping in the order won’t hurt me too much as most teams have their top starting pitching.
As for SS, that was my other consideration. There are 3 of us that have no SS at all and probably 3-5 more that may take a backup. I’m torn because 2018 Story grades out as the best option, but I would love to add another lefty or switch-hitter to my lineup, so I like both 2024 Gunnar Henderson and 2024 Lindor. Instead of choosing now, I’m hoping I can wait and let others make the decision for me. Even if I somehow miss out on all 3 of those, there are plenty of other nice options like 2019 Semien, 2020 Story, 2018 Lindor, etc. to fall back on.
Pick 17.04: 2024 Henderson, Gunnar
Pick 17.04: 2022 Manoah, Alek
The shortstops were coming off the board and I was down to two in my top tier: 2024 Gunnar and 2024 Lindor. Lindor is a switch-hitter with good speed but the bat is just okay (.840 OPS#) and the defense is good but not elite (A-/B). Henderson is a lefty, with better range but worse fielding than Lindor (C/A). The main advantage is he just has a better bat. He’ll probably be worse than Lindor would be vs LHP, but he’ll be much better against RHP and I could use a little extra pop there. I needed a SS who wouldn’t need a rest and both would have been fine there, but Henderson gives me a little extra cover with 719 PA just in case I need to save some PA elsewhere.
As for pitching, Manoah offers nearly 200 innings with at least a reasonable 0.55 HR#. Most of the other starters left at the top have higher (and sometimes much higher) HR allowed rates.
Pick 18.06: 2022 Javier, Cristian
Pick 18.06: 2023 Snell, Blake
Both Snell and Javier have lower inning totals (180 and 149 respectively) but better quality than the 200+ options. Javier has a higher HR# but a .180 OAV while Snell provides a left-hander with solid HR# (0.51) and low OAV, although per usual a very high BB rate (4.89). With my HR power, I will need to put this team in a hitters park, but picking my pitchers this late means I have to make some concessions. Most of my pitchers are trending low OAV but with either a higher HR or BB rate (or both), which is always a bit disconcerting. I spent my first 10 picks on offense so I guess they’ll have to carry us!
Pick 19.11: 2024 Glasnow, Tyler
Pick 19.11: 2018 Leclerc, Jose
I am at 969 IP so I need at least 500 more and probably a little more cushion than that. I have 5 spots left and there aren’t really many pitchers in the 100-150 range so I start to map out my options. If I can get one big-inning starter (16 Verlander and 16 Bumgarner have 225+), three mid-volume relievers in the 60 IP range, that leaves about 150 IP to get me around 1500 total. 2024 Hunter Greene fits that perfectly with exactly 150 innings. And then he gets sniped from me a few picks ahead by njbigwig! Luckily, there was one other guy that fit the bill and that was 2024 Glasnow with 134 innings and 2.03 ERC. I will hold off on my last bulk starter for the last round to see exactly how many innings I need so for my second pick, I grab one of my 3 relievers. Leclerc does have high BB rate but 58 innings with a HR# of 0.01 and OAV of .131 is a fantastic fit for my team.
Pick 20.12: 2022 Helsley, Ryan
Pick 20.12: 2020 Jeffress, Jeremy
Pick 20.12: 2022 Burnes, Corbin
I need 340 innings to get to 1500. The two relievers I settled on were 2022 Helsley and 2020 Jeffress. Like Leclerc, Jeffress is low HR and low OAV but very high BB. Helsley is even lower OAV but has a higher HR rate. I could get over 1500 innings with either Verlander or Bumgarner but I went with 2022 Burnes for his slightly lower HR rate and slightly better OAV/WHIP which still gets me to 1490 IP. That should be enough.
I ended up using all 13 pitcher slots for I think the first time. I have 4 high-inning pitchers (180-202 IP) with ERC between 2.30 and 2.60, two swingment (130-150 IP) with ERC between 2.00 and 2.15, and then 7 relievers with ERC under 1.60. Unfortunately, I do have 9 pitchers with HR# over 0.50 and 4 over 0.75, plus a few with very high BB rates. My strength is all my pitchers are .213 OAV or better and outside of my 4 starters all are below .200. We’ll see if that’s enough.
Ballpark: Kingdome
I don’t have enough PA or IP to go huge in Coors or something but I can’t stifle an offense with Judge, Ohtani, Trout and the Big Dumpers too much. Kingdome gives us +2 for HR, +1 for 2B while being negative for 1B and 3B. Seems about right for this team. Our pitchers will give up some long balls but I’ve gotta think we’ll be able to out-homer most teams anyway.
Lineup:
This was a fun puzzle to put together during the draft, but outside of Marte, most of my players will settle into one position. I have 5 nearly full-time players: C Raleigh, SS Henderson, OF Judge, 1B Goldschmidt, and Jose Ramirez who will play 3B vs RHP and DH vs LHP. Ohtani (DH vs RHP) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (3b vs LHP) essentially form a platoon around Ramirez. Kyle Tucker and Pham form most of a platoon in RF, Trout will hold down most of CF starts. That leaves Murphy to start at 2B vs RHP while Marte starts there vs LHP but Marte will be a super-utility man vs RHP starting almost every game but at 4 different positions (spelling Judge, Trout, Tucker, and playing some 2B shifting Murphy to 1B).
| |
vs LHP |
vs RHP |
| 1 |
CF |
Trout |
DH |
Ohtani |
| 2 |
LF |
Judge |
LF/CF |
Judge + Marte |
| 3 |
DH |
Ramirez + Ohtani |
3B |
Ramirez |
| 4 |
3B |
Hayes |
2B |
Murphy |
| 5 |
2B/RF |
Marte |
RF |
Tucker + Marte |
| 6 |
RF/2B |
Pham / Murphy |
CF/RF |
Trout + Marte |
| 7 |
C |
Raleigh |
C |
Raleigh |
| 8 |
1B |
Goldschmidt |
SS |
Henderson |
| 9 |
SS |
Henderson |
1B |
Goldschmidt |