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| Thursday, March 25, 2021 |
| We are now just one week away from opening day! It's safe to say I'm all drafted out, but I still have three more this weekend. When you draft as much as we do, you find that you have an affinity for certain players for a multitude of reasons. Maybe you like a certain skill in his game. Maybe there's that one player who just always falls to the right spot. After about 20 mock drafts this offseason and 8-10 more real ones, I know the players I'm drafting most. |
| The same could be said for Chris Towers and Scott White. We all have those players we gravitate towards. For me, I keep going back to Gary Sanchez at catcher. I know many reading this will scoff at that idea, but everybody's Fantasy baseball experience is different. I've never drafted Sanchez before because he always went higher than I was willing to draft a catcher. Now that his ADP is 145, I have no problem investing. Even with a very low floor, Sanchez still has the upside to finish as the best catcher in Fantasy. Below you'll find the players we've drafted most at each position as well as those we've shied away from. |
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| The players we can't stop drafting |
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| Catcher |
| Scott White keeps drafting Mitch Garver. "He was by far and away the best catcher in 2019 and I'll take a chance on his upside." |
| I keep drafting Gary Sanchez. The chances are you've been burned by him in the past and so he's going later than he's ever gone before. He still has the same upside with home runs, RBI and runs. Scott views Sanchez as a similar play to Garver, but he's just going earlier. |
| Chris Towers keeps finding himself drafting Buster Posey as a catcher who can't hurt him and he can get at the very end of drafts. |
| First Base |
| Towers is drafting Eric Hosmer more than any other 1B. "I think he's probably going to hit his .270 and drive in a ton of runs in that lineup." |
| Coincidentally, Hosmer is also the first baseman I keep drafting the most. I won him for $6 in a Tout Wars salary cap draft. From Aug. 1 on last season, he had a 50% groundball rate -- down from 55% in his previous several seasons. I have been waiting on first base and drafting both Hosmer and Josh Bell late. |
| Scott is most often drafting Andrew Vaughn -- at times is his first baseman and others as his CI. Scott has previously made the comparison to Pete Alonso in that he can be a rookie who makes a significant Fantasy impact in Year 1. |
| Second Base |
| Scott ends up with several second basemen on his bench at the end of drafts like Jorge Polanco and Brendan Rodgers. For Chris, it's a very easy call -- Ketel Marte. Chris has selected Marte in seven of his 15 drafted leagues. He is very happy to reach on Marte and believes his upside is to finish as the No. 1 player at the position. |
| I find myself drafting Jeff McNeil most. Regardless of format, he's going to be a solid contributor. He will also help your batting average in Roto leagues, and that's not easy to find where he is coming off the board ADP wise. In a lot of ways, he's like a D.J. LeMahieu-lite. |
| Shortstop |
| Chris keeps drafting Adalberto Mondesi -- he has six shares including one of them in a H2H points league. "In Roto it's really easy. If he's there in the middle half of the second round I'm probably going to take him. It's so nice to not have to worry about stolen bases. If he stays healthy, you're not going to finish worse than the middle of the pack in that category." |
| Scott believes Corey Seager is one of the four best pure hitters in baseball and so he can't stop drafting him at his ADP. "Seager was arguably the best hitter in baseball in 2020, he has been the best hitter in baseball this spring, and when we look back at 2021 he might be considered the best hitter in baseball." |
| Tim Anderson, leading off for one of the best lineups in the AL, is the player I keep drafting myself. |
| Third Base |
| Scott White favorite Ke'Bryan Hayes -- the player he loved on Valentine's Day -- is the player he has followed through on drafting the most. He doesn't even mind drafting him two rounds above his ADP to lock him in. In Scott's eyes, at worst, Hayes will be Gio Urshela with more speed. At best? He's a league-winning pick at ADP. |
| And I'm with Scott. Hayes tearing up the spring has certainly impacted my decision to keep drafting him, but I think his ceiling is similar to what Anthony Rendon did in his second season. |
| If Manny Machado is there in the third round, Chris will draft him. If Rafael Devers is there in the fifth round, Chris will draft him. He's likely to end up with one of those two on his roster, and they are his most drafted players at the position. |
| Outfield |
| Chris already has Byron Buxton on half of his teams and expected to get him on more -- and the best part is he hasn't had to reach for him past his ADP. |
| Scott is digging deep and finding himself drafting Wil Myers a lot. He can't understand why Myers is being drafted 40 picks later than Teoscar Hernandez with a better track record, changes he made in plate discipline and more. Scott feels like it's easy profit getting him in the 11th round in Roto leagues. |
| I'm in on Austin Meadows. While I'm not sure he'll get back to being a top-15 OF, I really like his price tag this year. |
| Starting Pitcher |
| German Marquez and Sandy Alcantara are the players Chris is drafting most at their current ADP. Both players fit into his overall strategy of targeting SPs in that range of ADP. They are both unsexy picks, but they should both return value. |
| Zach Wheeler -- another unsexy pick -- is someone I am drafting a lot of. You can depend on Wheeler for innings and if the strikeouts bounce back (his swinging strike rate was better last year than ever before), he can return major value. |
| Kenta Maeda, Shane Bieber and Dylan Bundy are SPs that Scott is drafting most. If he picks anywhere from No. 5-9 in a snake draft, Bieber will be on his roster. Bundy is the sleeper here as a SP5 who will pitch deep into games and bolster your strong staff while also being ready to step into a SP3 or SP4 role if your team suffers injuries at the position. |
| Relief Pitcher |
| Scott is drafting Amir Garrett most, while Chris is avoiding the position altogether and grabbing Emmanuel Clase super late. I am grabbing Daniel Bard late and taking advantage of how scared other managers are to draft Rockies pitchers. |
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| Players we're scared to draft |
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| Catcher |
| Scott is scared of drafting Will Smith because there is going to be a playing time concern there that his current ADP hasn't currently accounted for. Salvador Perez is a player Chris has no interest in drafting due to his capped upside, but he's also most scared to click Sanchez in draft rooms. |
| First Base |
| Both Scott and Chris are most scared of drafting Cody Bellinger at his current ADP, or really, anywhere near it. Bellinger's health concerns outweigh everything else. In 25+ drafts, I don't have any shares of Bellinger. |
| One more 1B with similar injury concerns for me is Luke Voit. He's had to have special-made cleats to account for his foot injury. This is sometimes enough for me to avoid grabbing Voit at his ADP. |
| Second Base |
| Scott finds himself avoiding a popular bounce-back candidate in Keston Hiura. He's more scared to draft him than any other second basemen. In a lot of ways, Scott would prefer Dylan Moore on his roster and he can get him multiple, multiple rounds later. |
| Brandon Lowe is the player Chris is avoiding because of playing time (platoon) concerns. |
| Shortstop |
| Based on ADP, Chris is avoiding Bo Bichette, but he doesn't actually think he's going to be a bust. He just feels like we're falling into the small sample size trap when Bichette is coming off the board in the middle of Round 2. He doesn't have a standout tool and that could bring his value down. |
| On the flip side of the coin from Chris, Mondesi is a player Scott is scared to draft due to his injury history and the fluctuation in his numbers. |
| Third Base |
| Scott is avoiding Kris Bryant, and Chris is avoiding Nolan Arenado. He hasn't drafted him at all. I'm with Scott and don't want anything to do with Bryant. |
| Outfield |
| Scott is avoiding Hernandez, as mentioned earlier, but how about Charlie Blackmon? His September was really bad, and I think he's on the decline. Chris disagrees and is happy to get him in the eighth or ninth round -- Blackmon has never hit below .280 and hits in Coors field. |
| Eloy Jimenez was already a player whoChris is unlikely to draft even before his injury on Wednesday night (more on that below). |
| Starting Pitcher |
| Scott is scared to invest anything in Sonny Gray with his back issue. |
| Chris is still scared to draft Stephen Strasburg even after he made his return to the mound and gave up five walks. It's not the spring performance that scares him, but it's the constant injuries. It's really hard to feel good about Strasburg right now, and Chris wants to move him to a point in his rankings where he won't have the opportunity to draft him. |
| Relief Pitcher |
| Scott is most scared and skeptical of Craig Kimbrell. Chris is avoiding just about every top reliever at ADP, and I am avoiding Brad Hand. |
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| Other news and notes |
| The MLB is cracking down on pitcher substances, but will this have any impact? People have been asking about Trevor Bauer on Twitter and it appears this news -- potentially combined with a slow start in the spring -- has depressed his draft stock. I won him for $29 in a 15-team salary cap draft on Wednesday night, and I'm still trying to figure out how and why. White Sox vice president Ken Williams has indicated to Bob Nightengale of USA Today that Andrew Vaughn will not be kept down in the minors for service time reasons. Vaughn made the list of 16 players Scott can't stop drafting and this news will only serve to inflate his ADP and make him harder to land. However, he's still a player we would suggest targeting even his ADP jumps slightly. Scott is also not willing to change his ADP whether or not Vaughn is up for the first two weeks or in the minors. Here is the exact quote from the White Sox VP: "We understand the service-time issue that plays here,'' Williams said, "but our feeling is that when you're ready to help the major-league club, there's a spot for you. We're trying to put the best team out there. We have proven that over and over again." Eloy Jimenez left with a shoulder injury when reaching over the fence. There is some speculation that he dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum. This is based on a video analysis by Dr. Jesse Morse. The team is calling the injury shoulder soreness. |
| Nick Anderson has elbow tightness. We're moving Anderson down and we have a bit more optimism now in Diego Castillo. Having said that, the Rays had 12 different pitchers record a save last season, so let's temper our expectations. Castillo remains unlikely to become the everyday closer. Daulton Varsho was optioned to the alternate training site. Carson Kelly is now in at catcher and the D-Backs are likely to use Ketel Marte in the outfield. Scott believes you shouldn't stash Varsho because it's not a good sign he couldn't win a spot on the roster given the lack of competition. |
| Harrison Bader will miss four weeks at a minimum for the Cardinals. Lane Thomas and Austin Dean could step in his place. Steven Brault will be shut down a month with a lat strain -- he was supposed to be their opening day starter. Tyler Anderson will now be the opening day starter. Good luck Pirates fans! Kyle Wright was also optioned. |
| Tejay Antone will open the season in the bullpen for the Reds instead of as their SP5. Chris believes that if people are going to now move him down their draft boards, there is value to be had. He is a player he is drafting a lot of as a pitcher who can throw 100 innings with really good ratios. |
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