Last year I had an accident where I slammed my head into a wall, which caused me to say stupid things, and I said Elly De La Cruz was overrated. Thankfully, I had an operation, removing the idiot from my brain and I have a chance to make amends. As they always say, “Make amends, makes a men out of dumb brains.” This is a very famous saying. So, I took part in my first Draft Champions league with a bunch of Razzballers and was able to draft Elly De La Cruz with the third pick. Let’s see how badly I messed up the draft after that. For those unfamiliar, it’s a 50-round draft and hold, so no waivers. It’s 15-team, two catchers and weekly for pitchers, and bi-weekly for hitters. Anyway, here’s my Draft Champions draft recap:
PSYCHE! Before the recap, just wanted to say top 500 and all my 2025 fantasy baseball rankings are updated as soon as possible. Also, Rudy’s War Room is updated multiple times per day, and in-season subscriptions are open for business. I plan on getting the 1st Buy/Sell up on the Patreon early next week, then that will be up on the site about ten days later. Okay, think that’s it. Good luck on your weekend drafts! Anyway II, the draft recap:
Pos: Player (Draft round)
C: Sean Murphy (15)
C: Jonah Heim (23)
1B: Josh Naylor (4)
2B: Luis Arraez (13)
SS: Elly De La Cruz (1, 3)
3B: Manny Machado (2)
MI: Thairo Estrada (20)
CI: Alex Bregman (8)
OF: Bryan Reynolds (6)
OF: Dylan Crews (9)
OF: Taylor Ward (11)
OF: JJ Bleday (17)
OF: Garrett Mitchell (18)
UTIL: Kyle Manzardo (22)
Bench: Jacob Wilson (25), Jose Miranda (27), Christian Moore (28), Nick Kurtz (30), Jarred Kelenic (33), Tirso Ornelas (34), Mickey Moniak (38), Korey Lee (40), Addison Barger (42), Justyn-Henry Malloy (43), Nick Fortes (44), Kyren Paris (46), Ezequiel Duran (48), Scott Kingery (50)
P: Dylan Cease (3)
P: Spencer Schwellenbach (5)
P: Robert Suarez (7)
P: Reynaldo Lopez (10)
P: Ryan Pressly (12)
P: MacKenzie Gore (14)
P: Michael Wacha (16)
P: Tobias Myers (19)
P: David Peterson (21)
Bench: Luke Weaver (24), Tyler Mahle (26), Aaron Ashby (29), Ben Lively (31), Andrew Heaney (32), Kyle Hart (35), Michael Kopech (36), Frankie Montas (37), Beau Brieske (39), Shane Smith (41), Robby Snelling (45), Albert Suarez (47), Ben Casparius (49)
LET’S SEE WHAT THE WAR ROOM TOTALS SAY SO I KNOW WHERE TO FOCUS MY VITRIOL.
Fair enough, here’s my War Room totals:
YOU MENTIONED IN THE OPENING YOU HAD THE ‘IDIOT’ REMOVED FROM YOUR BRAIN, BUT…WELL, ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, YOU MIGHT HAVE YOURSELF A MALPRACTICE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE DOCTOR WHO PERFORMED THE OPERATION.
Now’s a good time to mention that that just because some other people’s projections say a guy should be bad for WHIP doesn’t mean I have to believe them.
I’M DYING AT YOU GOING TO IMMEDIATE RATIONALIZATIONS. DON’T PASS GO, DON’T COLLECT $200, JUST STRAIGHT TO WHY OTHER PROJECTIONS ARE WRONG AND I’M RIGHT. NEVER CHANGE, YOU GIANT BOZO.
Okay, that’s hurtful.
IT’S HURTFUL FOR MY EYES TO LOOK AT YOUR TEAM!
So, everyone (besides me) is saying Dylan Cease is projected for a 1.19 WHIP. Dylan Cease just cut his walk rate from 4 to 3.1 BB/9 and his BB% from 10.1 to 8.5. Maybe his walk rate bumps up this year (no idea why that would happen, it could get better), and maybe it’s a 10.4 BB% and 3.8 BB/9. That would be the same as 2022 for him when he had a 1.11 WHIP. Still nowhere near his projected 1.19. Besides, all we care about is K-BB%, and he was 10th best in the majors. Then, Spencer Schwellenbach had a 1.04 WHIP as a rookie, a 20.8 K-BB% with 25.4% and 4.6%. Oh, and projections say he’ll have a 1.21 WHIP. Um, sure. I have no idea what to tell you, but my pitching is better than you think it is. I have galaxy brained myself into thinking this.
CLEARLY. OKAY, TALK ABOUT YOUR HITTING AND TRY TO KEEP ME AWAKE BECAUSE I GET HALFWAY THROUGH IT AND FALL ASLEEP.
Ya know, I think because I was able to draft Elly De La Cruz, I didn’t feel the need to slam an adrenaline needle into the heart of my offense. I was fine with Bryan Reynolds, Luis Arraez and Manny Machado types. Just solid, non-exciting hoo-ha’s that don’t get the blood pumping, but produce fantasy value year in and year out.
SORRY, I DID FALL ASLEEP. YOU WERE SAYING?
I managed to work Dylan Crews into my team for some of that sweet upside, and for the first time in maybe his career, I am genuinely excited about Alex Bregman. Fenway plus his swing and his doubles are gonna feed generations. Put him in the three-hole and let Bregman eat.
FIRST HE’S FEEDING GENERATIONS AND NOW HE’S EATING. ARE YOU JUST WRITING THIS DURING DINNERTIME?
Yes, but I do like Bregman.
DO YOU HAVE ANY GENERAL TAKEAWAYS? ANYTHING I CAN TAKE AWAY FROM THIS POST AND NOT FEEL LIKE I’VE WASTED SEVEN MINUTES OF MY LIFE READING IT?
Outfield gets shallow much faster than you think it will. The outfielders drafted after round 20 that might get full-time at-bats? Andrew Benintendi, Wilyer Abreu, Evan Carter, and Brandon Marsh, and I am being incredibly generous by saying full-time at-bats. They’re all barely projected for 410 ABs, besides Benintendi. He’s being projected for 500+ ABs but he sucks. Of course, some guys could come out of the blue like Austin Hays, Kyle Stowers or other ex-Orioles. (Pretty hilarious how the Orioles feed every team’s depth charts.) I said after round 20. That means there’s 30 rounds where outfield is pretty sad.
WERE THERE ANY GUYS YOU WANTED ON THIS VERY BAD TEAM THAT YOU DIDN’T GET?
Had a few guys queued up that I just missed out on. Really wanted Victor Robles — wrote a Victor Robles sleeper — Wanted Bowden Francis, but thought I could wait another round, which is always the dumbest thing I do.
AND THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING!
There’s also guys I did draft that I wanted — JJ Bleday sleeper — is one, and what might not be readily apparent is how excited I was for this run of guys I drafted:
Been a long-time fan of four of those guys. All have nice upside and are going way too late. Then Manzardo isn’t a guy I was targeting in my rankings. He was a super late addition to my 1st basemen rankings. Finding myself warming up to him because he has a solid hit tool, and maybe everyone is underestimating his power. People think he’s a 15-17 homer guy, and maybe he is, but he hit 20 HRs in Triple-A in 83 games, and he hit a 430-foot Spring Training homer the opposite way about six minutes before I drafted him, so there’s that.
GREAT FOUR PLAYERS YOU’RE EXCITED FOR WHO NO ONE ELSE CARES ABOUT. ALSO, GREAT STUFF WITH SEAN MURPHY.
Sigh, you’re tough, Mr. Al Capps. I drafted Murphy before his injury, and it will teach me to ever draft a catcher before pick 250. Anyway, to play against us for free, hit up the below links:
