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Fantasy Baseball: CttP Fantasy Draft Rounds 1-10

By Jason Reed |
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /

This season, the staff here at Call to the Pen are orchestrating our very own fantasy baseball league. Our league is considered a dynasty league, a fantasy roster that carries over the off-season. With so many baseball driven minds, this should be interesting.

Fantasy baseball is an interesting game, and it is even more interesting here at Call to the Pen. Our very own Benjamin Chase created this league, and with a league of 16 teams it will be fun. The varying strategies of the league have been interesting, and quite frankly it should be very competitive. I was blessed with the opportunity to get the first overall pick, so I was graced with Mike Trout‘s abilities. The team list reads as following:

  • Elysian Fields – Benjamin Chase

  • Backdoor Sliders – Matt Weyrich

  • Bum Dingers – Jason Burke

  • Marty Bergen‘s Axe – David Hill

  • MoneyBallz – Ehsan

  • New Team 3 – Jason Evans

  • Parch Players – Michael Parchinsky

  • Pitch Slap – Brendan Dlubala

  • Reedies – Jason Reed

  • San Mateo Padres – Simon Rose

  • Team Fustor – Nick Fustor

  • Team Haswell – Keven Haswell

  • Team Koonce – Jason Koonce

  • Team Mayer – Josh Mayer

  • Teach Schmid – Andrew Schmid

  • The Freak Show – Adam Labakin

As for scoring, our league is based on the rotisserie scoring system. It is a 5×5 rotisserie to be exact, so at the end of the season teams are ranked in five pitching and hitting categories. Those categories are runs, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, and batting average for hitting. For pitching, the stats are wins, strike outs, saves, ERA, and WHIP. 

How the scoring actually works, the scoring is based on where you place. So the first place team in a stat gets the most points, and then second gets one less, and so on. Then at the end of the season all the points are tallied up. So with everything laid out, let’s take a look at the first two rounds.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Rounds 1 and 2:

As you can see, the draft order we selected was a snake style of draft. Being the first overall pick, I was especially excited to be able to pick up Mike Trout for my team. However, I was sort of bummed that I had to wait until pick 32, then picking up Brian Dozier. But hey, that is how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

As for the selections, they were pretty standard in terms of who went at what pick. Two picks that I wish I was able to pick up were Simon Rose’s (San Mateo Padres) 16th and 17th overall picks. In these selections, as you can see, he picked up two aces in Noah Syndergaard and Chris Sale. That is already a dominant start to his pitching rotation. When asked about it, Simon recalled that he was “happy to get them at #16 and #17.” This is because heading into this draft, they were ranked 8th and 12th respectively.

However, Simon did mention he was on the edge of the fence in selecting Chris Sale. He was considering good bats to take, (Buster Posey, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, and Francisco Lindor to be exact. Instead, he went with Sale, and all of those bats were taken by his next pick.

The only real shocker to me personally would be Trevor Story selected 29th by Josh Mayer. It is not a knock on Josh, in that situation I would have likely taken Lindor over the Colorado shortstop.

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Rounds 3 and 4:

I was very happy to be able to pick up Jake Arrieta with the 33rd overall pick. He may have taken a slight dip least season, but he is still a stellar option and a true ace atop my line up. Bias had me take Justin Turner 64th overall, which admittedly was probably a bad choice. Overall, there was some good selections in these two rounds.

Two picks in particular was David Hill‘s (Marty Bergen’s Axe) two selections of pitchers.  As you may recall, Dave took Madison Bumgarner already with his first round pick. That gives David Bumgarner, Strasburg, and Archer all atop his rotation. This was very intentional, as David’s strategy was to load up on top of the rotation arms. David claimed ” I just need to have a middle of the pack offense if I dominate the pitching categories.”

What David is saying is pretty true, he has a point where after the fifth round most of the batters kind of blend together. Sure, he may be missing out on a superstar bat, but once you get out of the first few rounds, many of your options seem similar.

Dave will be battling with Simon however for pitching dominance. After picking up Chris Sale and Noah Syndergaard the first two rounds, Simon continued by picking up Aaron Sanchez. Those two staffs will likely be at the forefront of our league.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Rounds 5 and 6:

In these two rounds, as you can see, I managed to pick up two good young pitching options for the team. Behind Arrieta will be Braves ace Julio Teheran, and Tigers rookie Michael Fulmer. Both have very promising futures, as Fulmer just won the American League Rookie of the Year. Having those two arms slotted behind Arrieta is a great start to a solid rotation.

As for the rest of the picks, I wanted to highlight “New Team 3″s picks. This team is directed by a CttP expert, Jason Evans. Jason picked up two young guys, deGrom and Contreras, and if you look at past picks they fit a certain trend. Jason has selected Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Yu Darvish, and Kyle Schwarber as well.

Jason cited that his strategy was to not draft a single player over the age of thirty. With Darvish being the oldest, clocking in at a ripe age of 30,  Jason has succeeded in his goals. Most of these guys are very young and promising as well, Correa, Freeman, and Schwarber stick out exceptionally well as a solid core to a great fantasy team.

The biggest surprise here to me was seeing Todd Frazier drop to the 95th overall pick. Looking back at it, part of me wishes I would have picked up Frazier to serve as a utility or corner infield role.

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

Rounds 7 and 8:

I know he had a down season last year and was hit with the injury bug, but seeing King Felix drop to the 128th pick bewildered me. My intents were to select J.T. Realmuto, but he was taken six picks prior. I had no real game plan outside of that yet, as I did not want to waste that pick on someone I could pick up later. Then, I saw Hernandez still available, and I considered it a steal.

As for the player pictured on the slide, for those of you that don’t know that is Edwin Diaz. Diaz was an electric rookie reliever last season. Diaz managed a 2.79 ERA in 51.2 innings pitched out of the bullpen. He was assigned the closer role to begin August and picked up 18 saves with a total of 88 strike outs.

The owner that picked him up was the leagues commissioner Benjamin Chase. Ben stated that he had stuck to his original game plan the entire draft, up until Diaz’s selection. Adrian Beltre was originally Ben’s next choice, and when he was taken the next man on the list was Seung-Hwan Oh. Ben made the switch, selecting Diaz over Oh because of Diaz’ “age and dynamic stuff in the Seattle pen.”

I think a huge steal in these rounds was Lance McCullers falling to 99th overall in the draft. McCullers has been good in his young career, and at 23 he is only posed to get better. That may be a popular trade target as McCullers performs throughout the season.

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /

Rounds 9 and 10:

129: Reedies: Lorenzo Cain

130: Pitch Slap: Sonny Gray

131: Bum Dingers: Keon Broxton

132: Team Mayer: Zack Greinke

133: The Freak Show: Evan Longoria

134: Elysian Fields: Adam Jones

135: MoneyBallz: Marcell Ozuna

136: Marty Bergen’s Axe: Dellin Betances

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137: Team Haswell: Khris Davis

138: Parch Players: Yangervis Solarte

139: Team Koonce: Kenta Maeda

140: New Team 3: Kelvin Herrera

141: Backdoor Sliders: Tanner Roark

142: Team Schmid: Salvador Perez

143: Team Fustor: Dallas Keuchel

144: San Mateo Padres: Sam Dyson

145: San Mateto Padres: Jose Bautista

146: Team Fustor: Dustin Pedroia

147: Team Schmid: Brad Miller

148: Backdoor Sliders: Adrian Gonzalez

149: New Team 3: A.J. Ramos

150: Team Koonce: Jake Lamb

151: Parch Players: Alex Colome

152: Team Haswell: Eduardo Nunez

153: Marty Bergen’s Axe: Raisel Iglesias

154: MoneyBallz: Aaron Nola

155: Elysian Fields: Matt Moore

156: The Freak Show: Matt Kemp

157: Team Mayer: Carlos Santana

158: Bum Dingers: Greg Holland

159: Pitch Slap: Evan Gattis

160: Reedies: Tony Watson

Taking Lorenzo Cain was more of a risk than anything, as he has potential to be a superstar. Injury did plague him last season, however Cain still shows the potential to be a .300, 20 home run, 30 stolen bases kind of player. On a dry Kansas City Royals squad however, the production can either sky-rocket or lack. Then, I selected Tony Watson 160th overall. My original choice was A.J. Ramos, but he was taken 149th. I have some risks so far on my team, however if they pay out it can be great.

One team that is in a weird position is Adam Tabakin’s “The Freak Show”. Adam’s team was originally owned by another owner, who failed to make a single selection in the draft process. That led to the first 11 rounds being auto picked for the new owner, Adam. In the first ten rounds, Adam was selected nine hitters and one pitcher (Johnny Cueto).

While Cueto is great, having only one arm after ten rounds can be a bit concerning. However, Adam stated his selection process may not have been much different. While he necessarily wouldn’t have selected the same guys, he stated he would have avoided picking too many pitchers as “[He] feels starting pitchers went off the board way too early.”

Next: Rockies all time 25 man roster

Overall, the first ten rounds of Call to the Pen’s fantasy baseball draft have been interesting. I know personally I am looking to make some impact trades, and I am sure many others are as well. Sound off in the comments on who you think has the best squad so far, who got the best steals, and who you are surprised isn’t drafted yet.

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