One of the keys to filling a good roster on draft day is participating in mock drafts. They will help you figure out exactly what kind of lists you’ll want to have in order to effectively draft the players you want and need. For this draft, I used a tiered list of each position and an overall ranked list of all of the players I thought would be drafted.
Let’s jump in.
Players in bold are my picks.
Round: 1
(1) Albert Pujols 1B
(2) Hanley Ramirez SS
(3) Alex Rodriguez 3B
(4) Chase Utley 2B
(5) Ryan Braun LF
(6) Prince Fielder 1B
(7) Miguel Cabrera 1B
(8) Matt Kemp CF
(9) Mark Teixeira 1B
(10) Tim Lincecum SP
No real surprises, here. I went with Cabrera over Kemp due to the fact that Kemp’s only had 1 great year while Cabrera has had several. I’m a fan of low risk in the first few rounds, although none of these picks will probably hurt their teams barring injury.
Round: 2
(11) Evan Longoria 3B
(12) Ryan Howard 1B
(13) Carl Crawford LF
(14) David Wright 3B
(15) Joe Mauer C
(16) Troy Tulowitzki SS
(17) Roy Halladay SP
(18) Ian Kinsler 2B
(19) Jacoby Ellsbury CF
(20) Matt Holliday LF
Again, fairly unsurprising. The only questionable pick, in my opinion, is Halladay at 17. He’ll probably be extremely good in Philly, but I have a hard time justifying a 2nd round pick to someone who will play 2 times a week, at most, for my team. I went with David Wright because I really expect him to bounce back this year in a big way. His batting average will likely come down some, but his power is almost guaranteed to return.
Round: 3
(21) Ryan Zimmerman 3B
(22) CC Sabathia SP
(23) Felix Hernandez SP
(24) Ichiro Suzuki RF
(25) Zack Greinke SP
(26) Derek Jeter SS
(27) Dustin Pedroia 2B
(28) Justin Upton RF
(29) Jimmy Rollins SS
(30) Adrian Gonzalez 1B
This round sees a run on the first couple of starting pitching tiers following the Halladay pick at the end of round 2. I went with Pedroia as the top 2B tiers are pretty thin this year.
Round: 4
(31) Kevin Youkilis 3B
(32) Joey Votto 1B
(33) Grady Sizemore CF
(34) Dan Haren SP
(35) Brian Roberts 2B
(36) Brandon Phillips 2B
(37) Jose Reyes SS
(38) Robinson Cano 2B
(39) Jon Lester SP
(40) Jason Bay LF
As you can see, a run on 2B took place in this round, justifying, at least in my mind, my Pedroia pick in the 3rd round. I went with Dan Haren in the 4th, and while that might be a bit early for a starting pitcher, especially for me, I’m happy with the production I’ll get out of Haren. He’s got the potential to be a top 3 fantasy pitcher.
Round: 5
(41) Victor Martinez C
(42) Mark Reynolds 3B
(43) Pablo Sandoval 3B
(44) Jayson Werth RF
(45) Adam Wainwright SP
(46) Justin Verlander SP
(47) Brian McCann C
(48) Adam Lind LF
(49) Johan Santana SP
(50) Justin Morneau 1B
Two top third basemen and catchers go in this round and I snagged one of the latter. Brian McCann struggled with eye problems last season early on, but rebounded in the second half to put up a solid year. I think he’s set for a full season of great production.
Round: 6
(51) Curtis Granderson CF
(52) Josh Beckett SP
(53) Cliff Lee SP
(54) Nick Markakis RF
(55) Aramis Ramirez 3B
(56) Chris Carpenter SP
(57) B.J. Upton CF
(58) Carlos Lee LF
(59) Kendry Morales 1B
(60) Bobby Abreu RF
I went with my first OF in this round, and, in my opinion, a good one. Markakis is finally going to be in a lineup that has a chance to put up some good numbers around him, making him even more valuable. One player of note is Bobby Abreu, who if he plays like he did last year is a steal at number 60.
Round: 7
(61) Joe Nathan RP
(62) Shane Victorino CF
(63) Andre Ethier RF
(64) Jonathan Broxton RP
(65) Shin-Soo Choo RF
(66) Yovani Gallardo SP
(67) Josh Johnson SP
(68) Mariano Rivera RP
(69) Adam Jones CF
(70) Nelson Cruz RF
Round 7 brings a big time run on some top relief pitchers. I picked Josh Johnson, who I really liked last year, and like even more this year. There is a reason the Marlins gave him all that money, folks.
Round: 8
(71) Ben Zobrist 2B
(72) Tommy Hanson SP
(73) Chone Figgins 3B
(74) Torii Hunter CF
(75) Billy Butler 1B
(76) Derrek Lee 1B
(77) Javier Vazquez SP
(78) Adam Dunn 1B
(79) Aaron Hill 2B
(80) Jonathan Papelbon RP
Round 8 features the question mark group. Ben Zobrist and Aaron Hill are the second basemen that came out of nowhere last year. Chone Figgins bounced back and got himself a big contract. Billy Butler continued his progression towards being a premier first baseman. Javier Vazquez put up great numbers, surprising a lot of people. The question for all these players is whether or not they will do it again in 2010. I went with Torii Hunter who is one of those consistent, but not “amazing” players.
Round: 9
(81) Josh Hamilton CF
(82) Brandon Webb SP
(83) Joakim Soria RP
(84) Lance Berkman 1B
(85) Andrew McCutchen CF
(86) Matt Cain SP
(87) Ricky Nolasco SP
(88) Johnny Damon LF
(89) Andrew Bailey RP
(90) Manny Ramirez LF
I went with Ricky Nolasco here. He’s one of the most underrated pitchers in the NL, and following his early season struggles, he was very good for the Marlins in 2009.
Round: 10
(91) Hunter Pence RF
(92) Elvis Andrus SS
(93) Gordon Beckham 3B
(94) Raul Ibanez LF
(95) Carlos Pena 1B
(96) Michael Young 3B
(97) Francisco Rodriguez RP
(98) Matt Wieters C
(99) Cole Hamels SP
(100) Carlos Quentin LF
Rounding out the top 100 picks we see one of my bounceback candidates for 2010 in Cole Hamels at 99. Gordon Beckham will likely be a steal at 93. I went with Ibanez here, hoping that he continues to produce at 4 billion years old.
After the first 10 rounds, I’m pretty light on stolen bases. Check bringingheat.com on Thursday for rounds 11-20 to see how I do.
