One of my favorite parts about coming out to Phoenix for the Arizona Fall League and Baseball HQ’s First Pitch Forum is getting to do my first draft of the year. I’ve already done mocks, but this is my first draft that actually gets played out. It’s a 50-round NFBC Draft & Hold league. For those unfamiliar with the format, it’s just as the name says, you draft and hold these 50 guys for the entire season. There are no waiver periods at any point. We always do the first 23 rounds out here and then complete the final 27 online starting in January. The D&H format alone is really cool, but the added wrinkle of a split draft makes this one of my most unique drafts every season.
I posted the results from last year’s iteration of this draft – well the first 23 rounds, at least. As amazing* as my first 23 went, I only finished 9th out of 15. I just didn’t uncover too many gems in those other 27 rounds to cover my misses in the first 23. Nomar Mazara, Sean Manaea, and Vince Velasquez were my only substantial hits from the second half of that draft. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pitching carried my team. I had a 28.5/45.5 hit/pitch point split. The pitching was 6th-best, but only three teams had worse hitting than mine. But enough of that team. Time for a new one!
*sarcasm… obviously
Initially, I didn’t think I was going to be able to participate this year. The drafts were scheduled for Friday night, but Mother Nature had other plans for me. We normally go to a game and have a welcome reception on Thursday night of this event, but it was rained out. Yes, it was rained out in Arizona. To fill the time, they decided to host a draft Thursday night which allowed yours truly to play after all! Today, we’ll take a look at my first five rounds. I’ll do another piece covering the rest of my 23 as well as identify where some intriguing players went throughout the draft.
The NFBC does something called Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) draft slotting so when they pick the names out of the hat, you then get to pick what slot you want out of the ones left. I’ve been doing this draft here since 2012 and never picked early. My highest pick has been 8th and I’ve regularly picked 14th or 15th. This year I was hoping to have my name pulled early so I could get a high pick.
And it actually happened!!
I was third or fourth of the hat and wound up with the second pick. Interestingly, my first two picks this year are the same two I got at pick 15 a year ago. Let’s take a look:
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