Lessons From A Mock: Round Two

Yesterday, I participated in Howard Bender’s Mock Draft Army for the second time. In my first go around, we had a 15-team league. I leaned heavily on my favorite targets. This time, it was a 12-team, 23-player draft with no bench spots. In the first draft, I picked first, meaning 29 picks separated my choices. This time, I picked fifth. Crazy looking position reaches like Jonathan Lucroy and Todd Frazier with picks 30 and 31 were unnecessary.

Before we get to the results, I added a wrinkle to this draft. I decided to push myself outside of my comfort zone by removing 12 of my favorite targets from my draft board. Those players include:

Six pitchers and six hitters. I simply pretended they weren’t there, which was hard when Pearce was still floating around in the 19th. He was already a value pick for awhile by that point.

This wasn’t just about challenging myself, it helps to inform me of two things. First, where are my targets being drafted when I’m not a contender for their services. Based on this one draft (sample size N=1), I should have the opportunity to build a rotation of targets in most leagues. I can also address outfield, first base, and middle infield late if I so choose.

Taking this approach to a mock also prepares me for a possible scenario where somebody is cherry picking my draft board. Ironically, it doesn’t happen often in industry leagues. However, I have a home league and a college league where my rivals specifically target the players I discuss here. Since I’m generally honest about who I like and dislike, I’m often forced to think outside the box.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the roster. I’m not sure about ceiling, but it’s a well-balanced unit on offense with risk and upside from the pitchers.

I call the team – “Boring Veterans and Bad Elbows.” Offensively, my team has big home run potential and shouldn’t complete flop steals. Nearly all of my hitters will feature in the top half of their respective lineups, so I should do fine in runs and RBI.

Santana isn’t catcher eligible on this platform; a fact I overlooked after mistaking CI for C. I would have used my fourth (and probably sixth) round pick differently had I noticed. I’m used to targeting Santana since he’s likely to receive over 600 plate appearances as a “catcher.”

Once again, I was impressed with the depth of the so-called shallow positions. As long as you can pick up enough stolen bases in the outfield, it’s possible to draft a good middle infield beginning in round 15.

At least among experts, Wright is getting the ol’ Adam Jones treatment. Nobody knows what to make of him, so he’s being left on the draft board for a long time. I’m down on Wright too, but he needs only the tiniest of bounce backs to return seventh round value.

On the pitching side, I acquired Chapman early because I believed my targets at other positions would remain on the board. They did. My rivals were understandably wary of injured pitchers, which left a ton of them on my roster. I would usually draft three or four relievers. With three high risk hurlers (not even counting McCarthy and Pineda), I figured it would be best to bulk up on starting depth. Keep an eye on how your leaguemates approach injured players. Some leagues will be passive while others will be overly aggressive.

Once again, the crazy reliever depth makes it possible to build an excellent bullpen late. Unfortunately, your rivals all have the same opportunity. An elite bullpen used to be a (relatively) unique strategy, but it’s entered the mainstream in the last year.

Injured closers like Sean Doolittle, Jake McGee, and Bobby Parnell went undrafted. Tyler Clippard was also undrafted while Brad Boxberger and Jenrry Mejia went in the 21st and 23rd rounds. Brett Cecil went entirely ignored. In other words, don’t fret if you miss out on an early closer runs. There are still good pitchers to be had after the 20th round.

One undrafted position player really stood out – Steven Souza. Everybody’s favorite sleeper is still sleepy enough to be left alone in a 12-team, 23-round format.

This is probably my last article on mock draft results unless we do another FanGraphs league. If you have any questions about mocks or real drafts, you know where to find me.