Fleetwood 2018 BRASSball Draft Diary

Perhaps the most important way to build a successful team – be it Major League Baseball or BRASSball – is through the draft. Sure, free agency can bring stars...but it can also easily lead to overspending and budget issues. And trades are great...but, of course, one must already have players worth trading FOR to swing a deal!

And finally, unlike Major League Baseball, the BRASSball draft also provides a key opportunity to fill those last remaining roster holes, often at a very affordable salary.

With this background in mind, I thought it might be interesting to prepare this "draft diary" to let you into Fleetwood's "2018 draft room" this past March.

PRE-DRAFT PREPERATION:

Heading into the draft, I carefully reviewed my roster for needs...i.e. does my team have enough innings to complete the season? Does my team have enough at-bats at each position? Where is my roster already deep, and where is it thin (thus requiring more attention during the draft)? Upon completing this review, I came up with the following draft strategy:

• Relief innings: My pre-draft starting rotation looked pretty set, as I had six starting pitchers that provided a nice blend of inning quality (Rich Hill, Zack Greinke, Drew Pomeranz) and inning quantity (Zach Davies, Eduardo Rodriguez). But what my roster lacked was a deep and effective relief staff. Specially, I realized my team would need about 200 total relief innings to complete the season, and a few relievers who could be effective against either left-handed or right-handed pitching in the late innings. This would likely be highest priority throughout the draft, as I have another window to complete in 2018.
• Backup shortstop: My lineup was pretty set at most positions following free agency. However, one clear hole was help for Carlos Correa at shortstop. Correa would only be able to provide about 475-500 plate appearances, and I knew I would need closer to 675-700 to complete the season. As such, I needed about 200 more plate appearances here. Given that my third basemen were less-than-stellar with the glove (i.e. all have 4 range ratings!), I decided it would also be a nice "bonus" if this player could also provide an improved late-inning glove at the hot corner. Since this pick would be a role player, it was not a TOP priority for the early rounds of the draft...but nevertheless it was a MUST given our league rules on playing time and thus something I would need to monitor closely during the draft before all available options ran out.
• AM players: I entered the draft with only 5 out of a maximum of 8 "amateur" (i.e. non-MLB) players. These types of players are vital long-term assets, and thus I would need to carefully select three of these players during the draft. Over the years, the members of BRASSball have become increasingly savvy about scouting and drafting AM players. As such, I would need to keep a very close eye on which AMs were picked, and jump at the right AM opportunity at the right time.
• "Best Player Available": It is an old adage that the best draft approach is typically to pick the "best player available" (a.k.a. "BPA") at each slot. However, that is easier in theory than in practice (especially in BRASSball) as a team must of course field a full roster while respecting each player's playing time limits.

Finally, with respect to my draft pick slots, I had already traded away my 4th round and 8th round picks without acquiring any others...so I would need to be cognizant of those 'gaps' in my draft grid.

ROUND-BY-ROUND SUMMARY:

Round 1 (24th overall): Given my first priority of compiling an upper-echelon bullpen, I was fully prepared (perhaps even expecting) to draft a top relief pitcher here. My research had shown the best relievers to likely be Blake Parker, Matt Albers and Brandon Morrow. Parker was particularly intriguing to me, as he would only require a cheap "Y2" contract to sign. However, to my surprise, a player dropped to me that I had not anticipated in the form of Yankees third base prospect Miguel Andujar (as he was a consensus "top 50" minor league prospect entering the draft). Despite realizing that it would not fortify my 2018 active roster, the choice seemed clear. My pick: Miguel Andujar, 3B, NYY (MO). Others considered: Blake Parker, Matt Albers, Brandon Morrow.

Round 2 (49th overall): After passing on a high-end reliever in Round 1, the top options quickly started coming off the board in Round 2...Farmington unsurprisingly picked Blake Parker just a few picks after my Andujar selection, and Springfield scooped up both Matt Albers and Brandon Morrow later in the same round. Another quality reliever also came off the board in Round 2 when Brew City selected Anthony Swarzak. By the time my pick rolled around, the top two relievers on my draft board were Dominic Leone and Tommy Kahnle. While I was captivated by Kahnle's long-term upside, Leone had the clearly better card for my 2018 team as he was a more balanced reliever against both righties and lefties. I also considered Tyler Mahle here (a quality young starting pitcher for the Reds), but I had already gone with the "BPA" approach in Round 1 and thus could not afford to let this next tier of relief pitchers pass me by. My pick: Dominic Leone, RHP, TOR (Y2). Others considered: Tommy Kahnle, Tyler Mahle.

Round 3 (76th overall): Showing that others were operating off of similar draft lists as me, both Kahnle (Butte County) and Mahle (Springfield) were off the board before my 3rd round pick. I still felt my bullpen lacked top-end depth, so I was looking at the best available relief pitchers again here. In particular, I was looking at Danny Barnes (Blue Jays), Trevor Hildenberger (Twins) and Scott Alexander (Royals). Barnes in particular was tempting, as he would be dominating versus left-handed hitting. However, he seemed prone to giving up homers to right-handed hitters, and my ballpark would not help hide that weakness. Instead, for better or worse, I went with the player most likely to drive my uniform embroidery department to fits given his long last name. My pick: Trevor Hildenberger, RHP, MIN (Y1). Others considered: Danny Barnes, Scott Alexander.

Bonus Round (101st overall): My picks of Leone (71 innings) and Hildenberger (42 innings) filled much of my bullpen needs, but I still needed another 90-100 innings. As such, I decided to pick another young reliever here. I was also short on left-handed pitchers in my pen (with no "reverse lefties" at all), so that would be a nice benefit as well. I really liked the upside of Atlanta reliever A.J. Minter here, but he didn't have enough innings to immediately help my 2018 roster. My pick: Scott Alexander, LHP, KC (Y1). Others considered: A.J. Minter.

Round 5 (149th overall): I did not have a 4th round pick, so I had to wait a long time for this pick. In the meantime, a lot of quality players were picked...including a few of the last remaining players on my ever-shrinking list of backup shortstops (Giovanny Urshela, Ehire Adrianza, J.T. Riddle). Jace Peterson was a remaining option for that role. However, a couple of other players caught my eye in young Marlins reliever Drew Steckenrider and Cardinals-via-Japan starting pitcher Miles Mikolas. But a player I had considered two rounds earlier was still on the board, and that's where I went. My pick: A.J. Minter, LHP, ATL (MO). Others considered: Jace Peterson, Drew Steckenrider, Miles Mikolas.

Round 6 (173rd overall): At this point, I still had that gaping hole at backup shortstop, and options were running very, very low. As such, I decided I had waited as long as I could to fill this slot. Jace Peterson was still there, and he provided both the at-bats I needed (213 plate appearances) and also had a 3 range at third base (not dazzling, but better than all the 4 range players already on my roster!). My pick: Jace Peterson, IF, ATL (Y3; claim from Portland). Others considered: None.

Round 7 (197th overall): While I had not necessary planned on waiting so long for my first AM player, it just seemed like the better values through this point at each of my picks were carded players. That said, I knew I did not have my 8th round pick...so it would be a full two-round wait until I picked again in Round 9. To this point, I had done an admirable job filling my needs for relief pitching, backup shortstop and "BPA" players. As such, I considered a top college starter in Casey Mize, a hot-shot high school shortstop in Nander de Sedas, and the latest Cuban import in outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez. My pick: Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn (AM). Others considered: Nander de Sedas, Julio Pablo Martinez.

Round 9 (244th overall): Alas, both de Sedas (Parkland) and Martinez (Springfield) were picked before I could select again. And having filled my obvious roster holes, I decided to go back to the "best player available" plan here and wait on my last two AM slots. I was surprised that Miles Mikolas remained available (as I had been eyeing him for most of the draft), and Kyle Crick was yet another young relief pitcher that could contribute immediately. But in the end, I went with a "post-hype" closer prospect that entered 2017 with big potential before struggling during the regular season. Hopefully he finally finds major league success in 2018! My pick: Joe Jimenez, RHP, DET (MO). Others considered: Miles Mikolas, Kyle Crick.

Round 10 (266th overall): Despite having him on my relief pitcher list all through the draft, I had not really paid much attention to this next pick...probably due to his non-discript pedigree and his obvious 2017 "homeritis" issues. But upon seeing his 2017 strikeout numbers and reading up on him a bit more after my prior pick, I decided this next selection was a player I just HAD to have...and I must say, I was thrilled that nobody else scooped him up in this round before I did. An added benefit would be that he would provide yet another 57 innings, which would surely give me plenty to complete the 2018 BRASSball campaign. My pick: Kirby Yates, RHP, SD (Y1). Others considered: Kyle Crick, Wilmer Font.

Round 11 (283rd overall): I was not thrilled to have not filled my AM slots earlier, but there were still some intriguing prospects on my list. The main problem with waiting this long to select an AM is the extreme risk, as the remaining players I liked were so very young...and thus so very far from big league relevance. With this next AM pick, I selected the player who I thought had the most offensive upside among the remaining AM players. My pick: Jhailyn Ortiz, OF, PHI (AM).

Round 12 (297th overall): With one more AM slot to fill, I decided to go with the highest-ranked AM player left on my draft list. It did not hurt that he was also perhaps the highest-upside AM pitcher remaining either.  My pick: Freicer Perez, RHP, NYY (AM). 

Round 13 (309th overall) and Round 14 (320th overall): I had hoped someone might take on one of these two high-salaried players, but no such luck this year. As such, back on my roster they go! Frankly, both have been on my team roster for awhile -- especially Cabrera -- so I am happy they are both returning for another season. My picks: Garrett Richards, RHP, LAA and Miguel Cabrera, 1B, DET.

Overall, I think my draft went well and I had a lot of fun doing it...which is the entire point of Strat-O-Matic anyway, right? I look forward to revisiting this "draft diary" in 3-5 years to assess how it all worked out!

Best of luck to each of you in 2018. May all your prospects pan out.  :-)