Fantasy Baseball Today - H2H Points Mock Draft Recap! Teams & Strategy (Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 Podcast)

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. We just wrapped up a 12-team H2H points mock draft. Scott was drafting fourth overall and started his team with three straight hitters. Frank was drafted 12th and also started with three straight hitters. Which team worked out better? Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We just did a live head-to-head points mock draft. Let's break down our teams on fantasy baseball today in five. Welcome to FBT and 5. Today is Friday, February 3rd. I am, for example, joined by Scott White. And in this draft, Scott was drafting fourth overall, and I was drafting 12th, and we'll start with Scott's team. Take a look at the offense first before we get into the pitchers.

And here's who Scottie had. At catcher, Alejandro Kirk, first base, T.J. Cron. Second base, Jose Altuve. 3rd base, Austin Riley. Shortstop, Zander Bogart's, in the outfield. Chris Bryant, Cody Bellinger, Juan Soto, and your utility bat was O'Neill Cruz. Worth mentioning, no corner, no middle in headset points.

A little bit of a shallower format here, Scott. What do you think about your offense? Very interesting with O'Neill Cruz at the utility spot. So I went pretty heavy on offense, especially given that it's a points league. And it's something I plan to do regularly this year. my first three picks were the positions that I hope to be my first three picks in most every draft outfield in Juan Soto third base in Austin Riley second base in Jose Altuve so I got off to a nice start with the

what I think are clearly the three scarcest positions the three most critical to fill early and yet I feel like the offense could look a little better I'm a little underwhelmed by it I think there were some efficiency issues in terms of target certain positions at the wrong time. Alejandro Kirk, I kind of jumped in in the middle of a catcher run. There were still the Contreras brothers and Sean Murphy left on the board,

and they stayed on the board for a long time after that, many, many rounds. And I would have been just as happy with them, or almost as happy with them as Kirk. I mean, this is a great scoring form effort, Kirk with a low strikeout rate and everything. So that was one issue. The other issue, Zander Bogartz,

so I was kind of anticipating a run at shortstop after Wander Franco went off the board and didn't want to get left out of that and it was a similar situation shortstop's who I like nearly as much stuck around for several more rounds. So I think if I had gone outfielder

with both of those picks because I kind of just drafted Soto and that was it for the outfield and I ended up with Chris Brian and Cody Bellinger as my other two. I think if I had gone outfield instead of catcher and shortstop when I did and taken Brian Reynolds and Starling Marte and still gotten one of the Contreras brothers of catchers,

still gotten like a Willie Adomas at shortstop. I think I'd like my offense more. But, you know, shallow league like this, you know, it could still go very well for me, as long as I'm aggressive on the way for wire. Hey, Scott, it was our first live mock draft, right? We'll have others. This is why we do them to iron it out

and figure out what to do better. Let's take a look at the pitching staff. We've got Kevin Gosman, Max Fried, Lance McCullors, Trista McKenzie, and Hunter Green as the starters. Scott Barlow and Yohan Duran as your relievers. And on the bench, we've got Martin Perez, Merrill Kelly, Jack Flaredy, Reed Detmer, and Jesse Winker to help out with your outfield.

And you got some volatility with the pitcher, Scott, but then you balanced it with some veterans on the bench. How do you think the pitching staff worked out? I'm really happy with the way my pitching staff turned out, considering I didn't draft one until round four in a points league. Traditionally, pitcher values are higher in this format. So I go Freed and Gosman there to, I feel like, pretty good foundation guys. And I feel like the depth is like I have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the league.

And I prefer to go that route in a points league because so much the year you're playing matchup, you're taking advantage of two weeks. Like volume is so important that if you go too top heavy, it can kind of be a hindrance. and then you have to neglect your bench because you have all these holes in your hitter spots that you have to fill. So I'm happy with the way the pitching staff turned out. All right, let's quickly run through my team, Scott.

I mentioned I drafted 12th overall. You were drafting fourth, and here's what I wound up with M.J. Melendez, a catcher, then Nate Lowe, Jorge Polanco, Raphael Devers, Francisco Lindor. In the outfield, Kyle Tucker, Adoles Garcia, Corbyn Carroll. Taylor Ward is my utility bat.

At starting pitcher, I've got Lance Lynn, Joe Musgrove, Julio Arias, Luis Severino, Christian Javier, my relievers, Kenley Janssen, and David Bednar. Not going to run through the bench here, Scott, but it feels pretty good. It feels balanced. I took hitters with three of my first four picks

to Julio Arreus in round four, and then I kind of hammered starting pitcher, and then I went back to hitter. So I had a lot of runs in this draft. A lot of hitters, then a lot of pitchers. done a lot of pitchers, and then I went back to hitter, and I feel like it worked out pretty well.

Yeah, I mean, there's some volatility in the lineup here with Melendez, Nate Lowe, Jorge Polanco, Adoles Garcia, I have as a bus candidate this year, Taylor Ward. And there's volatility in mine, too, though. So I think, I feel like on paper, this looks like this is a really strong team, and, you know, nobody can predict the future. Nobody can predict what's going to go wrong with those guys.

but based on what I think is most likely to happen for them, you're going to be fine with them as your starters all season, and then your pitching staff is deep as well. So I think I like your team a little more than mine. Yes. And, yeah, yeah, I'll just keep it at that. Yeah, look, I normally don't wait on starting pitcher in this format, but I wanted to try it out and see how it works,

and it turned out pretty good. so maybe this is something I'll do in actual leagues this season. We are going to wrap there. If you want to listen to the full-length podcast, you can do so at Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in five,

and we'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.