Prospect News: Spring Winds or Is There A Draft In Here?

My plan for the day is to share some of my first-year-player drafting process, starting where I left off with the Razz 30 write-ups. Click here to see the first three rounds. In that article, you’ll find the first 90 picks from a competitive, long-running 30-team league in which everyone has a pretty good idea what they’re doing. 

My first four picks were Padres 2B Sung Mug Song (1.26), Tigers P Drew Anderson (2.56), Dodgers RP Edgardo Henriquez (3.80) and Reds RP Connor Phillips (3.86). 

I still feel good about the third-rounders, but the Padres and Tigers have both added a lot of playing time competition where there was once an open runway. I still like both players, and I’d still make the Song pick, but it’s a peak at how quickly things can change this time of year. 

I’d traded Jeffrey Springs away for my next pick (4.103) and used it to add Rays OF Brailer Guerrero, who struck out a troubling 29.3 percent of the time in Low-A but produced a 121 wRC+ anyway because he does damage when he connects. Could be a consensus top 100 guy if he stays healthy and takes a half-step forward in High-A. 

My next pick was Brewers RHP Coleman Crow (4.116), another guy I probably wouldn’t have today if events were sequenced a bit differently. Milwaukee traded 3B Caleb Durbin to Boston and got two ready-now pitchers back in LHP Kyle Harrison and LHP Shane Drohan. I still like Crow the pitcher. I just wouldn’t have broken the ties in his favor if I could rewind the pick. Perhaps I need to reevaluate my process. Hunting playing time might backfire this year. Maybe it backfires more often than not. 

Round five brought a reunion with a familiar face in Diamondbacks OF Kristian Robinson, who has an outside shot at a job in Arizona’s outfield. I have learned over the years that I quite dislike being in on a player for years and years only to miss out when he finally breaks through. 

Rangers SS Cameron Cauley was my next pick and might be my favorite get from the whole ding dang draft at this point, specifically in this league. Texas played him on day one of spring training and could use him at any number of positions. He’s already eligible at 2B, SS and OF in Fantrax leagues. He went undrafted in my other, more standard-sized leagues (15 teams, 50 spots per team) and will likely remain a free agent in leagues that shape until he gets called up or shortly before then. 

I had two sixth rounders as part of a Ryan Helsley trade and took Diamondbacks RHP Yilber Diaz in my own slot at 6.175. He was throwing 100 mph out of the bullpen in the Fall league and could help a beleaguered Arizona bullpen. 

Baltimore SS Elvin Garcia, my 7th round pick, is among my favorite bets to climb the lists this season. 

I surprised myself a bit when I took Marlins 3B Jacob Berry 230th overall in the 8th, but he’s eligible at 2B, 3B and OF and should give me some up-and-down at bats I can tuck away on the minor league side of the roster. 

Balancing that ready-soon floor with some far away upside, I next selected Brewers SS Ricki Moneys, a top 25 international prospect in this year’s class who signed for more than a million dollars. 

My final pick was Mariners LHP Robinson Ortiz, an SP eligible reliever who had to be added to the 40-man after he got nudged off his 40-man spot with the Dodgers. Talented pitcher but extremely niche to this particular league’s settings. 

In the next league, 23 Jump Street, I’m the commissioner. When I set the league up, I prohibited the trading of draft picks. It might have been a premium setting, and I wanted to take the free version as far as it could go and avoid paying at all for the hosting if possible, but I also wanted to try a league without draft pick trading. I think it gets messy in a hurry, and somebody typically gets ripped off paying for what’s behind door number three, so to speak. It creates several moments of false leverage, or leverage that wouldn’t exist outside a draft, anyway. 

All that is to say, this league picks faster than any I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to say what portion of that pie can be traced back to the lack of people trying to trade picks during the draft, and there’s probably an argument to be made that the league is somehow less fun because of it, but you’d never guess that being in the draft room. We cruised through this thing in two days and made all kinds of trades in the process and in the direct aftermath. 

If I did the setup right, I should be able to let you click and view the whole draft board here: 

My haul here was:

1.8 Blue Jays SS JoJo Parker

2.23 Guardians OF Jace LaViolette 

3.38 Rockies 2B OF Roldy Brito

4.53 Angels 3B Yoan Moncada 

5.68 Rockies 2B Edouard Julien

Another thing I wanted to try for this league: allowing everyone to allocate their 50 spots however they choose. Most leagues have some kind of cut-off point between two roster pools: minor league side and major league side. We just got rid of that. One impact of this is that veteran bats retain value after they graduate from prospect eligibility even if they haven’t established themselves as a mixed league viable starter. 

The Parker pick was fun at eight, considering I ranked him third in Prospect News: First-Year-Player Draft Dynasty Rankings.

I traded LaViolette shortly after picking him in exchange for Rockies 2B 3B OF Willi Castro. Maybe I’m selling low on LaViolette and buying high on Castro, but I needed the roster flexibility Willi C provides, and it’s fun to buy a solid player heading to Colorado for what should be an everyday gig. Plus, I’d like to compete this year after languishing in the middle the last few.  

Moncada and Julien are, similarly, depth plays in a year where I’d like to have some depth. Just now realizing as I start writing about Brito that I came away from this thing with three Rockies. I guess I really do expect them to be a little smarter in the Jonah Hill regime. 

Thanks for reading!