2017 RotoGraphs Staff Picks
You know the drill! The criteria for each “award,” so to speak, precede each table. Pitchers first, then hitters. Here are last year’s picks, by the way.
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Pitchers
Sleeper: Within picks #201-300 overall, per NFBC ADP
Deep Sleeper: 301-400
Undrafted: Outside top 400
Rookie/sophomore: Best hitter – <50 IP / 50+ IP previous season
Steal: Best value pick; outside top 200
SP Bust: Worst value pick; limit to top 100
RP Bust: Whoever, man
Pitchers
| ROTOGRAPHER | Sleeper | Deep Sleeper | Undrafted | Rookie | Sophomore | Steal | SP Bust | RP Bust |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Melchior | Shoemaker | Hellickson | Corbin | Cotton | Matz | Nola | Arrieta | Osuna |
| Alex Chamberlain | Shoemaker | Ty. Anderson | Phelps | Gsellman | Maeda | Nola | D. Duffy | Watson |
| Andrew Perpetua | J. Ross | Liriano | S. Miller | Cotton | Fulmer | Gsellman | Maeda | Allen |
| Ben Duronio | Foltynewicz | W. Peralta | Duffey | Gsellman | Guerra | Eickhoff | Scherzer | E. Diaz |
| Ben Kaspick | Nola | Chen | Phelps | De Leon | Oh | Richards | Hamels | Watson |
| Birchwood Bros. | McHugh | Wood | Boyd | Cotton | Maeda | D. Norris | Hamels | Oh |
| Brad Johnson | Corbin | M. Montgomery | Morton | Gsellman | E> Diaz | Reed | D. Duffy | W. Davis |
| Brandon Warne | E. Rodriguez | Ty. Anderson | Bradley | Gsellman | Matz | Eickhoff | Hendricks | Kimbrel |
| Brice Russ | Ray | T. Ross | B. Anderson | Cotton | Matz | Capps | C-Mart | Allen |
| Jeff Zimmerman | Ray | Berrios | Morton | Hader | Urias | Pineda | DeGrom | W. Davis |
| Josh Shepardson | Shoemaker | Liriano | W. Peralta | Cotton | Maeda | Gsellman | Arrieta | Robertson |
| Justin Mason | Desclafani | Skaggs | B. Anderson | Cotton | Fulmer | Richards | Price | W. Davis |
| Justin Vibber | S. Gray | Wood | Morton | De Leon | Urias | Nola | Arrieta | K-Rod |
| Mike Podhorzer | Walker | S. Miller | Hutchison | Cotton | Maeda | Nola | C-Mart | K-Rod |
| Paul Sporer | Walker | Cobb | S. Miller | Cotton | Fulmer | Wacha | Hendricks | Davis |
| Rylan Edwards | Richards | Skaggs | Phelps | Cotton | J. Gray | Nola | Strasburg | Familia |
| Scott Strandberg | Shoemaker | Liriano | S. Miller | Cotton | J. Gray | Pomeranz | Price | Robertson |
| Trey Baughn | Bundy | Foltynewicz | Green | Hader | J. Gray | Lynn | D. Duffy | Ramos |
Note: The table scrolls laterally. Make sure you view the columns getting cut off to the right.
* * *
Hitters
Sleeper: 201-300
Deep Sleeper: 301-400
Undrafted: Outside top 400
Rookie/sophomore: Best hitter – <130 PA / 130+ PA previous season
Steal: Best value pick; outside top 200
Bust: Worst value pick; limit to top 100
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Hitters
| ROTOGRAPHER | Sleeper | Deep Sleeper | Undrafted | Rookie | Sophomore | Steal | Bust |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Melchior | Do. Santana | Haniger | Joyce | Benintendi | C. Seager | Napoli | Myers |
| Alex Chamberlain | Bell | A. Dickerson | Park | Benintendi | C. Seager | V-Mart | Stanton |
| Andrew Perpetua | Rupp | Conforto | D. Herrera | Benintendi | T. Turner | Duda | Encarnacion |
| Ben Duronio | Cron | Tilson | Adams | Benintendi | T. Turner | Bird | Myers |
| Ben Kaspick | D. Peralta | Duda | J. Peralta | Benintendi | Bregman | Puig | Segura |
| Birchwood Bros. | Do. Santana | Revere | DeShields | Haniger | T. Turner | Bird | T. Frazier |
| Brad Johnson | Brantley | Owings | Altherr | Swanson | Story | Schimpf | Dozier |
| Brandon Warne | Kepler | Panik | E. Rosario | Benintendi | C. Seager | Puig | Desmond |
| Brice Russ | Heyward | Schmipf | K. Vargas | Benintendi | T. Turner | Reyes | Schwarber |
| Jeff Zimmerman | V-Mart | Haniger | Saladino | Bellinger | C. Seager | J. Dyson | T. Turner |
| Josh Shepardson | Joseph | Panik | Park | Benintendi | T. Turner | Pence | Contreras |
| Justin Mason | Semien | Haniger | Vargas | Zimmer | T. Turner | Forsythe | Kipnis |
| Justin Vibber | Do. Santana | A. Dickerson | Park | Benintendi | T. Turner | Bird | Cespedes |
| Mike Podhorzer | Moustakas | Gordon | Saladino | Benintendi | T. Turner | V-Mart | Myers |
| Paul Sporer | Grichuk | Panik | Parra | Brinson | T. Turner | Bird | Schwarber |
| Rylan Edwards | Castellanos | Conforto | Joyce | Benintendi | Bregman | Bird | Stanton |
| Scott Strandberg | Joseph | Choo | Vogelbach | Benintendi | T. Turner | V-Mart | Odor |
| Trey Baughn | T. Murphy | J. Polanco | H.S. Kim | Swanson | Mazara | Choo | D. Murphy |
* * *
Comments
As curator of these fine picks, I also solicited comments from writers about their (or others’) picks. Presented below, without edit:
Comments
| Your Name | Player Name | Category | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Sporer | Schwarber | Bust | This is for leagues where he doesn’t have C-eligibility which is most |
| Justin Mason | Price | Bust | Might be unfair to pick him, but it was that or bank on Strasburg breaking down again. |
| Justin Mason | Schwarber/ Stanton | Bust | Love both these picks, but went with Kipnis just to be different |
| Andrew Perpetua | Maeda | Bust | I feel the league will adjust to his curveball and use of the inside half, he’ll regress to league average, K% drop a lot, 3.75-3.9 ERA. |
| Andrew Perpetua | Encarnacion | Bust | Very afraid of his batted ball profile, seems to be hitting more pop ups with age. I fear a dramatic drop in HR/FB and AVG. |
| Mike Podhorzer | Aa. Sanchez | Bust (not chosen) | Dying to choose Sanchez as SP bust inside top 100, but current ADP is 103.56 and I’m a stickler for the rules |
| Alex Chamberlain | Hendricks | Bust | I’ll speak on behalf of everyone who chose him: None of us think he’ll be bad. He’s good. You’re just overpaying for a Cy Young candidacy you probably won’t see again. |
Sooooo…. you guys know Folty isn’t a rookie, right?
It was my job to vet all these picks, so that’s on me. Wow, he’s not even close to being a rook.
Oh man, so this was 1000% my fault: I replaced Jharel Cotton’s name with Folty while ctrl+H’ing the crap out of the spreadsheet. Fixed now. I’m an idiot!!!!!
Effin’ A, Cotton. Effin’ A.
Just watched Cotton on The Ocho
It going to be really hard to see with that blindfold on
is Justin Vibber’s sleeper Sonny or Jon Gray? I know Sonny has had a bad year or so, but it seems weird to me that Jon is now officially the “Gray” when Sonny has 500+ quality MLB innings under his belt
Went and made the distinction. Didn’t faze me until you said it. Sonny for sleeper, Jon for all sophomore pitchers.
Scwharbs is priced like a Catcher yet if we are lucky he may get eligible by the ASB (barring injuries ofc) hes just a bad investment even in OBP leagues
I totally get the Price picks, but I like to see the bust picks based more on skill and ADP. Anyone that has/considered Price already knows how much injury risk he has. Strasburg ditto.
Scott Spratt was eerily on point last year, even picking Keon Broxton as his Undrafted FA. What happened to him?
Don’t know! I made multiple solicitations to the staff so I’d guess he either didn’t have time or doesn’t go on Slack much.
This made me go back and look at my picks from last year… went, like, 4 for 7 in hitters but 2 for 8 in pitchers. The latter reflected pretty strongly in my performances last year, too. Lesson learned. At least Spratt also picked Buchholz, so I feel a little better.
Is Mr. Zimmerman’s “Turner Bust” Trea or Justin?
The tables would read much better with full names.
Agree on the full names being a necessity. My home league had a guy who would yell “Martinez” when it was his pick. There were only, like, a dozen of them in MLB at the time.
Last year it seemed (to me) like a total cluster-F with the full names. I tried to abbreviate appropriately but obviously goofed. I may put the full names back in later.
I think you meant to have the second Peralta in the pitcher table to be W. Peralta, for Wily Peralta, right? Only D. Peralta I can think of in the MLB is David Peralta, the right fielder for the Diamondbacks.
Also, which Rosario in the undrafted column? Eddie? Amed? Wilin? Alberto? Anderson? Jeisson?
Probably Jeisson
Wily and Eddie. Fixed in table.
David Peralta used to be a pitcher… maybe Shepardson is just being really bold.
David Paulino?
How does Folty end up in both the Sleeper and Deep Sleeper columns?
He’s currently NFBC ADP 299. Depending on when the author made the pick, he was probably on either side of the 300 threshold.