After pushing myself to draft nothing but starting pitchers until all the good ones were gone in our last Head-to-Head points mock, breaking only for Alex Bregman late in Round 3, I got the fourth pick in our latest one, which basically meant I couldn't draft a pitcher in the first round.
See, Shane Bieber, Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole all figured to be gone by Pick 4 -- and they were -- and while I'm convinced starting pitchers will have the greatest say in the final outcome in this format, where few hitters are rostered and the waiver wire is plentiful, it's still true certain hitters are capable of so much more than the rest of the crop that they have to go before second-tier arms like Trevor Bauer and Lucas Giolito.
Juan Soto was my choice, but Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna, Fernando Tatis and Jose Ramirez are of a similar caliber. I might go so far as to include Freddie Freeman and Christian Yelich (who slipped to the middle of Round 2 in this one). Once they're all gone, that's when you can zero in on pitchers.
Gotta say, though, it's a tough spot picking fourth in a 12-team points league. I was extremely fortunate to get Lucas Giolito on the way back and surely wouldn't have if Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Luis Castillo and Lance Lynn hadn't all gone out of order. Fourth might be the one spot where you won't be getting an ace with either your first or second pick. The real question is whether I would have reached for someone like Brandon Woodruff or Kenta Maeda if if that's the best I could do in Round 2. After all, once all the good pitchers are gone, they're gone.
As it is, I took Maeda in Round 3, then departed again for Bregman in Round 4 before devoting myself to pitching in Rounds 5, 6 and 7. It turned out OK, I think. Others let off the gas at starting pitcher earlier than I did, which is why I felt relaxed enough to take a second hitter among my first four picks. I might not have done so if I didn't think Bregman had first-round potential in this format.
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Some other things that happened:
- James Vecchio threw a wrench in things by taking Kershaw and Greinke at the Round 1-2 turn. They're better in this format than standard 5x5, which rewards strikeouts more, but it's still difficult to see what advantage they have over Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer. James ended up getting Trevor Story, a borderline first-rounder himself, at the end of Round 3.
- James Paxton got a nice boost following an impressive Cactus League debut in which he showed improved velocity and struck out eight of the 16 batters he faced. He went 104th overall, just after Corey Kluber.
- Marcus Semien went late in Round 11, which might not sound so surprising except that Javier Baez and Dansby Swanson were both still on the board at that point. Semien's superior plate discipline does shrink the gap between him and Baez in this format, but I'm not convinced he's anywhere near the hitter he was in 2019 and believe his 2020 struggles were more revealing than those of Baez.
- Though I like him as a sleeper, I felt a little silly taking John Means in Round 12, but it turns out basically every other pitcher I might have hoped to take in subsequent rounds -- Michael Pineda, Eduardo Rodriguez, Domingo German and Tarik Skubal -- were gone by the end of Round 13. Sometimes you just have to feel out the draft and not hold so closely to ADP.
- Speaking of feeling out the draft, I'm the one who ended up with Teoscar Hernandez, who I've called my No. 1 bust for this season. What can I say? He lasted all the way to Round 14, and everyone has their breaking point.
Here's who all took part in this draft:
1) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)
2) Jeremy Latzke, Fantasy Life App (@jeremylatzke)
3) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)
4) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
5) George Kurtz, RotoWire (@GeorgeKurtz)
6) Nick Mimikos, Stack Attack podcast (@NMimi)
7) Nathan Judah, Express & Star (@NathanJudah)
8) B_Don, Razzball (@RazzBDon)
9) Raymond Atherton, 810 Fantasy Baseball Podcast (@810Fantasy)
10) Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Company
11) Connor Rooney, FantasyPros (@c_rooney_)
12) James Vecchio, For Fantasy Sake (@whatmoney3000)
So which Fantasy baseball sleepers should you snatch in your draft? And which undervalued first baseman can help you win a championship? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Will Smith's huge breakout last season, and find out.
