This year I participated in two leagues. The draft took place on April 1 at 9pm EST. In terms of the player commentary, there are some similarities in the players I drafted. I didn’t want to repeat myself so I encourage you to see my write-up on my other draft.
League Background
This is a 12-team mixed NFBC draft. The roster consists of 14 hitters, nine pitchers and seven bench players. You set your pitchers once a week; hitters are set twice a week; waivers occur once a week.
Overall Thoughts
This team has a lot of similarity to my other team. I am a little reliant on Guardians with Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes and I’m banking on Oneil Cruz coming up to the Majors in a couple of weeks. My starting pitcher staff isn’t quite as deep as my other team but I think I’ll end up in the middle of the pack which is all I need to win the league.
Below are my draft picks:
| Player | Round | Pick |
| Ramirez, Jose | 1 | 3 |
| Perez, Salvador | 2 | 22 |
| Marte, Starling | 3 | 27 |
| O’Neill, Tyler | 4 | 46 |
| Kimbrel, Craig | 5 | 51 |
| Varsho, Daulton | 6 | 70 |
| Romano, Jordan | 7 | 75 |
| Reyes, Franmil | 8 | 94 |
| Adames, Willy | 9 | 99 |
| Lopez, Pablo | 10 | 118 |
| Votto, Joey | 11 | 123 |
| Cruz, Oneil | 12 | 142 |
| Gray, Sonny | 13 | 147 |
| Benintendi, Andrew | 14 | 166 |
| Segura, Jean | 15 | 171 |
| Lowe, Nathaniel | 16 | 190 |
| Verdugo, Alex | 17 | 195 |
| Nimmo, Brandon | 18 | 214 |
| Gray, Jon | 19 | 219 |
| Means, John | 20 | 238 |
| Gonsolin, Tony | 21 | 243 |
| Rasmussen, Drew | 22 | 262 |
| Urias, Luis | 23 | 267 |
| Frazier, Adam | 24 | 286 |
| Lowe, Josh | 25 | 291 |
| DeJong, Paul | 26 | 310 |
| Megill, Tylor | 27 | 315 |
| Gonzales, Marco | 28 | 334 |
| Cooper, Garrett | 29 | 339 |
| Odorizzi, Jake | 30 | 358 |
Jose Ramirez was my second rated hitter so I got a slight discount. He’ll play the year at the age of 29 so I think the stolen bases decreases; the question is how much. I projected 20 but I wouldn’t be surprised if he only steals 10-15.
I’ve drafted Starling Marte for seemingly for the past 4-5 seasons. He’s always been undervalued except for this year. Marte probably leads off or bats second and should score 100 runs with 25-30 stolen bases.
Tyler O’Neill brings a lot of raw power and the ability to steal 10-20 bases which is exceptionally rare. Among qualified hitters he had the 8th hardest hard hit rate. He got lucky with the batting average last year; I only projected a .260 average but his bat is good enough that he should hit 3rd or 4th all year and be a really good statistical accumulator.
Joran Romano was the best closer available.
I picked Willy Adames off waivers for free last season. I think leaving Tampa and being able to see the ball was a huge difference for his offensive production after being traded. The batting average will probably be in the .250s but he should provide production in every category.
Joey Votto made a lot of hard contact last year. In fact he was 6th in all of baseball last year. Votto spoke about a change in his approach last year and the advanced metrics show it. I projected 31 home runs but I wouldn’t be surprised if he hits a career high this year. The new power comes at the expense of the batting average; I think he’s a .250 hitter.
I selected Oneil Cruz based on the hope he’s in the Majors in 2-4 weeks. Cruz already made it to the Majors and if he played a full year he’s a potential 30/30 candidate. The Pirates just signed Ke’Bryan Hayes for $70 million; why not bring up Cruz and showcase both players to their fanbase. Kevin Newman, the current shortstop, is a little bit above replacement level. Barring injury I don’t know why Cruz is still in the minors on May 1.
I drafted Alex Verdugo primarily for his batting average. He does a little bit of everything else which means if he doesn’t hit for average I may have overpaid.
John Means benefits the most with the fences further out left field.
Luis Urias is currently injured but the reports are he should only miss 1-2 weeks. I drafted Urias and Frazier back-to-back as placeholders for Oneil Cruz. My thinking is Frazier scores a lot of runs for the first three weeks and then Urias is healthy and hits for power; and the combination of both players is similar to what Cruz would have provided…in theory.
Adam Frazier is a placeholder until Oneil Cruz gets called up. Frazier should bat leadoff to begin the season and if he does I think he can score 100 runs. The batting average regresses but he should hit safely in the .270s with 5-10 stolen bases.
I drafted Josh Lowe as a late round lottery pick. My thesis was if Kevin Kiermaier gets hurt, Lowe would be the first player called up. Well, it turns out Austin Meadows got traded to Detroit which means Lowe got the call up. I think Lowe could steal 20-30 bases if he played every day. The fact he batted 7th against a lefty encourages me that he will play most days.
I looked at Eno Sarris’ rankings and threw a dart at Tylor Megill.
Marco Gonzales and Jake Odorizzi were both dropped three days later for Mitch Keller and Madison Bumgarner. They were dropped because Bumgarner had a better week one matchup and he had a velocity uptick in the spring. Keller was a lottery ticket pickup; if he reaches his supreme ceiling, which is highly unlikely, he’s a top 10 starting pitcher. If Gonzales and Odorizzi reach their ceilings they’re top 30 starting pitchers. Lastly, I’ll be able to find pitchers like Odorizzi and Gonzales on waivers all year.
