Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Points Mock Draft Part 1! Rounds 1-10 Picks & Analysis (3/22 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Listen as we conduct the first half of our 12-team H2H points listener league draft! Who does Scott White take first overall? What's the latest on Juan Soto? Dustin May went how early in this draft?? We're breaking down the first 10 rounds. Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Fantasy Baseball Today is a finalist in the Baseball Category for the Sports Podcast Awards! Quickly create an account and vote here: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi 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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today 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

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. It's time for our 12 team headshead points listener league draft. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today will be a two-part podcast. I will cover the entire draft and then recap our teams in part two of today's podcast. Before we get started, make sure like this video and subscribe if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, please download, follow, and leave a five-star review. We really do appreciate it. If you missed any of our recent content, make sure to go back and listen on demand. We broke down all of the Jose Altuve and Vaughn Grissom News on the latest podcast. Well, Scotty, thank your lucky stars.

because you have the first overall pick in tonight's draft. Yeah, so that makes two drafts in a row that we've recorded here where I have the number one overall pick. Must be nice. Yeah. Well, I don't know whether to thank you or curse you for this, because if you'll remember the way that mock went, I took Judge Number One,

and Aeronado didn't make it back to me in round two, and I was tilting the whole draft because I couldn't get a third basement at a reasonable price. And considering this group, is comprised of people who hang on our every word who've been hearing me hammer home the point that you can't skimp on third base early. I think the chances of Aeronado making it back to me are virtually zero in round two. And I gave some thought to taking Jose Ramirez because of that. But no, I'm not.

I'm going to take judge. And we'll see what happens at third base. Maybe I'll pull out a surprise. You never know. You never know with me. Chris, every podcast we do is fun, obviously. But I think tonight will be extra special because we've got the WBC game going on. USA versus Japan.

It's the final. USA is down right now. And you and I are donning the red and orange of the Miami Marlins. Let's go. 305 in the house. What's up? MIA stand up. You have different generation shirts.

They're orange, but they're the different... Oh, no, mine is red. Frank's is like bright red. I don't know why they look so similar on the screen. Okay, so yeah, you have the second generation Marlins. Yes. And Frank has third generation. Yes, I've got the ugliest one possible.

Grab my first generation Marlins hat and we'd really be representing. But alas, I did not. And we begged Scott to do it and he just wouldn't do it. True story. He said his hair looks really good, so he didn't want to mess it up. Let's actually preview tonight's draft. This is the listener league that we chose these submissions for last Friday. So it's 12 team league. Randomize the draft order. Scott will be drafting first overall. Chris is seventh and I will be picking eighth. So back-to-back picks. Hopefully some fireworks between Chris and myself. Standard CBS head-to-head points lineups, one of each infield position. Three outfielders, one utility bat, no corner. or middle infielder. We've got five starting pitchers and two relief pitchers, five bench spots.

So it is a shallower league that I think most people might be used to. And I won't go through the entire point system, but hitters lose half a point for strikeouts. So plate discipline matters a lot in this format. Pitchers earn three points per inning pitched. And seven points for a win, seven points for a save, three points for a quality start and minus five for a loss. I would say that we've previewed this thing enough, Scotty.

Let's get it started. you are on the clock with the first overall pick. Yeah, and as I already explained, I'm going to take judge. But get ready for a lot of tilting from all of us in this particular draft, because as I said, the recent history of the podcast league is that the listeners just take all our favorite players, like three rounds before we're used to seeing them go. And so we have to, it ends up being. an uncomfortable draft for us because our teams are unfamiliar to us.

And I'm going to try and just roll with it, do what I did in the Tau Wars draft and just take the value that comes to me, not obsess over getting my guys. But that's easier said than done. I'm happy to start with Judge, who in this format like every other, was far and away the best player last year. I think in points leagues, it's even clear that he's number one, though, because obviously you don't have to sell out for stolen bases the same way you do. doing a rotelike.

All right, so Scott takes Aaron Judge, and unsurprisingly, if he were completely healthy, I would agree with this Juan Soto pig, but the latest news that we have is that he is going for an MRI. That doesn't sound too good. MRI on this oblique injury.

You know, I was wondering if he fell to me at seven or eight, well, you at seven, Chris, or me at eight, I don't know, I might have passed just because I don't really know what's going on with Juan Soto right now. Chris, what are you thinking with him? Yeah, no, that's fair.

I think the concern at this point is not that it's like a serious injury that's going to cost him a month to start the season, but just that like there's going to be pressure with the season starting in what, eight days to nine days to push through any kind of issue. And that's a little worrisome just because it is an oblique, even if it's a minor one. It's the kind of injury that like you need to get completely passed. in order to really have a chance. Otherwise, you know, you run the risk of a setback at all times with that injury. All right. Well, Terry Gensler, who made the pick of Juan Soto's second overall, says in the chat, Kevin A.C, who covers the Padres, says the team does not seem concerned. We'll see what happens with Juan Soto. The latest picks, Jose Ramirez, went third overall.

Mookie Betts went fourth. Mike Trout. Fifth overall. All right. So maybe a little WBC bump there for Mike Trout. Then who you? Julio Rodriguez and Chris, you select Ronald Acuna. And I. Yeah, who is my number one player in Roto? He's my number four player in this format. I think he's a great pick there. I think he's gotten kind of a rep for being a better Roto player than I had to

Head Points League player. And that might be true. But Ronald Cunia in 2020, which was the shortened season. He walked like 18% of the time. I think the following season, it was still in like the 12 to 13% range. So if he's right, like if I'm right about Ronald Ocuna being the best player in Roto, he's probably going to be close to one of the best players in head-to-head points as well. Yeah, 14% of the time in 2021, it fell to 10% in 2022, which is still very good.

So I'm happy to get Ronald O'Cunia in pretty much any format. Yeah, and I don't want to dump on Mike Trout at fifth overall because this is his superior format, again, where you don't have to worry about stolen bases. Of course, he's typically been an excellent plate discipline guy, Even last year when his play discipline was down a bit, Trout had the fourth highest point per game average at this position last year. 3.64 versus Julio Rodriguez was at 3.31. I still take Julio Rodriguez over Trout in this format, but not by much.

All right. So Chris took Ronald de Cunia. I was on the clock and I was debating Trey Turner or Kyle Tucker. We talk about this a lot when you're faced with the decision of taking Trey Turner in the first round. It means you've probably got to pass up on some really awesome shortstop. later on in the draft, but, man, I mean, he's looked so good in spring training in the WBC. We know he's a fantastic player regardless, but I think eighth overall, even in a points league, even being shortstop, got to end the skid there.

So I take Trey Turner at eight, and then at number nine, we see Kyle Tucker, and 10th overall, we see Manny Machado. We are coming up on the turn here, and Kyle's team name is the Church of Scott White. So I was just thinking we haven't seen a pitcher yet, guys. first round of a points league. But I'm pretty sure someone whose name is Church of Scott White does not taking a pitcher.

He does take Freddie Freeman, which is not something I've... So he didn't take an outfielder. He didn't take a third baseman. We'll get a third basement on... I'm predicting Church of Scott White guy will get a third baseman on the way back in round two.

Freddie Freeman, of course, a great head-to-head points player, even if he doesn't fill a weak position. Scott, stop trying to speak these picks into existence because maybe I want to... third paceman. Come on, man. I know. I know our listeners and I know what we've said. And that's one thing to keep in mind with this league that we're going, we're about to draft in particular. You know, it's something we talk about a lot, but what we're about at that point where you can kind of throw our ADP out the window. You know, people are going to go get their guys. And

especially in a league like this, you know, with people who listen to the podcast, people who are diehards for fantasy baseball, they're going to, they're probably going to go get their guys. You know, we're going to see some picks that aren't going to line up with the rankings or the ADP necessarily. And that's fine. Finishing up round one, we saw Freddie Freeman at 11. Yordon Alvarez at 12, Rafael Devers with the first pick of round two. Chris, if Yordaun Alvarez was completely healthy and we didn't have any questions,

I mean, I doubt he would have even made it to either of us. But did you have any consideration of taking Yorda Alvarez? Yeah, I think I would have taken him if Ron DeCuna and Trey Turner weren't there, but both of them were there, so I have them ranked ahead of Yaron Alvarez, but he is still sixth for me in points, just because I do think, like, yes, I have the concerns about health with him and Juan Soto, but I do think there's a gap between those two guys and Julio Rodriguez and Kyle Tucker, who are the next up in a points league. Well, look what you did, Scott. You spoke it into existence. You said that the church of Scott

White will likely take a third baseman and that's exactly what happens. So it looks like I will not be getting one of those elite names and I won't be getting Nolan Aronado either. So the next couple of picks in round two after Devers, Austin Riley, Sandy Alcansara, first starting pitcher off the board. This is a head to head points league. You get points for innings pitched. So I think Sandy Alcounter is the odds on favorite to lead baseball in innings once again. And then Nolan Aronado goes 16th overall. The team name is Lenars's new bars. So maybe a Cardinals. fan. That's what I'm wondering here. I could be the second team

to take a starting pitcher. This is a head to head points league. First base is really deep, but I don't think I could let him go. So I'm going to go ahead and take Vladimir Guerrero. I'll start my team with two of the deepest positions at shortstop in Vladimir Guerrero, but I think

both were just great values where I'm getting them. So to get Tray Turner at 8 and then Vladimir Guerrero at 17, I love starting my team with those two picks and head to head points league. And Chris, you are on the clock. And you know who it's going to be. I know exactly.

Once I didn't take him, I knew exactly who you were taking. It's the guy I take in the second round every time, no matter where I'm picking in the second round. If he's there, it's Fernando Tatis. I will have to find a shortstop replacement for the first 20 days of the season. But after that, it's all systems go, baby. He's going to have an awesome season. All right.

So no surprises with Chris taking Fernando Tatis at 18 overall. Again, there's only been one starting pitcher taken. and that was Sandy Alcantra. Scott, what are your latest thoughts on Yordon Alvarez? It sounds like he could play in a game this upcoming weekend. And do you think he should have went earlier than 12 overall in this format? I'm not sure exactly where I have him ranked. I actually do have like Sandy Alcantra on round one

as much as I'm not in favor of taking a starting pitcher this year. So it's possible, let me get my rankings up. Alvarez is better in this form. any early round pick who isn't a big base dealer is probably going to be more valuable in this format than standard five by five. So I know I'd take Alvarez earlier than 12th and five by five. I'd probably take him earlier in this format too. He is one of the three outfielders who averaged more points per game last year than my trout. In fact, he was second only to Aaron Judge a distant second because everybody was a distant second. But Alvarez was the second best outfielder on a per game basis in this format last year. Oh, geez. Look what this happened. I was thinking of doing that myself. Oh.

I was. I was going to do it. Well, let's talk about what's actually happening because after Chris took Fernando Tatis, Bobby Wood Jr. goes off the board, maybe a little bit early in a head-to-head points league. But if you want to prevent Scott from getting a third baseman, then you got to do it there.

Garrett Cole goes 20th overall. Alex Bregman, 21st overall in the second round. There's no doubt that it's early, but this is his best. format. I mean, Breggman, more walks in strikeouts last year. He plays a ton of games. He's in a great lineup.

The counting stats should be really good again. And Scott said he was considering it, so it's not crazy. Well, yeah, I was thinking, okay, maybe Shohay Otani is going to make it to me just because he's utility only. No, don't do it. Terry,

take Shohei Otani so Scott can't get him. No, he could take him. That's fine. But Otani average 3.18 points per game as a hitter last year. in this format. Bregman was 3.19. He was actually better. So why am I going to mess around at third base

and risk getting a total scrub there? Oh, he doesn't take Otani. Now you got yourself a little bit of a decision point here, Scotty. Scott is on the clock. I mean, it's not that tough of a decision, right? It's Shohei Otani. You take him. It shouldn't be, but this is probably his worst format.

Head-dead points lead where the steals don't matter. and you can't reap all of his benefits. You either have to choose to use him as a utility bat or a starting pitcher each week. And you're almost certainly going to use him as a hitter because there might be an occasion or two where he gets two starts because it sounds like they're going to go with what they did down the stretch last year where they use a six-man rotation,

but he's going to pitch every sixth day. You know, if there's an off day, he's still going to stay on schedule from what I understand. So like he'll have a couple of two-starts. weeks, but for the most part, he's a hitter here. Yeah, and I am going to take him with that plan, but because this is a league where we only start nine hitters, there's only that one utility spot,

having the ability to shift him at starting pitcher, if I wind up with a hitting surplus, is a nice luxury, even if it's not the ideal place to use him. And I am going to pair him with, Paul Goldschmidt, who was the best first baseman in terms of head-to-ed points per game last year. Hopefully he'll follow up on that this year. 3.7.9 points per game for him. 3.72 for Freddie Freeman.

And third place was Pete Alonzo 3.49, quite a bit of ways back. All right. So Scott winds up with Chohay Otani with the last pick of round two. Paul Gulchmidt, first pick of round three. Again, Aranola went 23rd overall, the 11th pick of round two. And we're going to keep things moving here. Speaking of, by the way, for the live audience. I don't want to tell you to not watch our stream.

Shohei Otani is apparently about to pitch in the World Baseball Classic in the next inning. Gosh. And USA has their work cut out for them. They're down three to one. And now you're going to have to face one of the toughest pitchers on the planet in Otani. So, no, no, it's kind of a tough spot. It's fun having these things go at the same time. If we just start freaking out at some point,

it's either because of a pick or something crazy going on in this WPC game. By the way, it was fairly amazing that Corbyn Burns made it to the 22nd pick of a head-to-head points draft. I think that's the sort of thing that would only happen in a listener's league like this. Like, he's probably a first-rounder

in most points leagues. Yeah, it seems like a good number of these players in this league, Scott, are part of the church of Scott White waiting on starting pitching. Although the exception, Frambervaldez

just went 26th overall. Not the same team that just took Corbyn Burns. They took Aaron Nola, but you know, that kind of sounds like a reach. I mean, it definitely sounds like a reach. His ADP is much later than that. Remember Faldives had 43 more fantasy points last season

and then Aaronola. Like, he was actually excellent in this game, in this league, because you get bonuses for quality starts, and he had, what, 27 of them last year? He actually had, he had the second. He would, you know, somebody had to be second to Pat, to Sandy Alcantra in innings and complete games, and that's somebody in both of those categories was from Bervaldez.

I think Frambervaldez actually outscored, yeah, he outscored Corbyn Burns in this format by half a point, but still outscored him. Yeah. So it was a, it was somebody who clearly is paying close attention to the scoring format. And, you know,

singling out Framber Valdez is a specialist for it, which is fine. I mean, that's going to happen sometimes. I wouldn't take him over Justin Verlander, who now goes two picks later. I want to take him over Max Scherzer or Brandon Woodruff, but it's...

But if he outscores those guys, I wouldn't be surprised. Right, exactly. After. I mean, that's part of the reason why I don't want to invest in a true ace is because you get enough of these like Framber Valdez types who can close the gap more than you think. All right.

Well, I've got to ask the chat a little question here and see what's going on because the reason is Pete Alonzo went at 27th overall. Justin Verlander, Jacob de Grom, and then at 30th overall. Dustin May. I don't know if that is. Go get your guys, Chris said. Go get him. I mean, I know Chris likes him,

but you didn't have to worry about him taking him in round three or four. All right. Well, did mean that pick. Chris, you're on the clock, and you won't be getting Dustin May this draft. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's unfortunate.

That would have been a good one. 10 rounds from now. Get your guys. Yeah, I'm going to go, I would prefer to have, have Boba Chet to Marcus Simeon. I have him ranked higher. Simeon has actually been better each of the past two seasons in this format for what it's worth.

But because I already have Renetta Tad Tis, he's shortstop eligible. I may end up using in the outfield, but I don't want to, you know, double up on a position that early. So I do take Marcus Simeon who, you know, this team could get off to a slow start between Marcus Simeon's, you know, possibly likely struggles. April as a result of the deaden ball and the humidor and all that stuff we saw last year. And, you know, no Fernando Tatis until April 20th. So, yeah, we'll see what happens. Well, thank you, Chris, because I am ecstatic to get Max Scherzer at the end of the third round. I thought you might have taken him because I know you like the old Metsies up there,

Max Scherzer and Justin Burlander. So I know typically wait a little bit longer on pitching, but head to head points league. I still won at least one ace on my team and see what happens here with the next pick. I was going to think about taking Spencer Strider because he does have relief pitcher eligibility in this format, so he's kind of a cheap code. He is far and away the best spark. We talk

about that often. That's a starting pitcher as relief pitcher, and it is a cheat code in a Head to Head Points League if you play on CBS because you could use Spencer Strider as a relief pitcher. I was thinking about him at the turn. If Terence

Gensler before my pick, if he had taken O-Ton's, I might have gone with Goldschmidt and Strider there instead of Otani and Goldschmidt. Okay. Well, would you have taken Strider over Scherzer, Scott? Because I thought about it, but... Yeah, I would have. Just for team building purposes. I know I don't rank... Well, I moved Scher down a little bit. Why is that? Is there any specific reason? I do have Scher technically one spot ahead of Strider in my rankings. Just kind of gaming my rankings a little bit. You know, I talked throughout the off-season and early in draft prep.

Oh, I have Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer one and two, and I kind of wanted to hold to it on principle, but like a number of starting pitchers go off the board before you need to consider taking Verlander and Scherzer. And so I didn't want to see them overdrafted at my behest because of where I put them in my rankings, if that makes sense. So I had nothing to do with Scher himself. It's just thinking strategic.

through my rankings. All right. After Spencer Shrider went, Boba Shet at 34th overall. And Zach Wheeler, I know we've heard some good things about Boba Shet this spring. A lot of his teammates

talking about how great he looks and how he could get back on track this year. No doubt it was a letdown season for Boba Shet last year, but had a huge September, and hopefully that's something that can carry over into this upcoming season. Yeah, that's a great pick.

Getting Boba Shet at 34 is awesome. I like I said, I considered him at 31, so the fact that he fell a couple more spots, that worked out really well for, uh, who was that? Team peanut butter jelly time. With the final pick of round three, you know who it is. Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talks. Here comes the money. Shane McClanahan, who for most of the offseason I was pretty worried about with the shoulder injury, he's looked good in the spring.

The velocity has been fine. So, you know, I'm feeling a little bit better. still haven't drafted them anywhere. So I've got, I think, after today, four more drafts left. We'll see if I can wind up with one share of Shane McClanahan. The confidence is growing there. Then the first pick of round four. I think in a head-to-head points league, I don't really have a problem with this. It's Corey Seeger going 37th overall. Scott Francisco Lindor is still on the board. What do you think about Seeger versus Lindor in this format? Yeah, I think it's closer than a lot of people would think it is. I do have Lindor one spot ahead of Seeger, but it's the kind of

situation where I would probably pass up Lindor and hope Seeger makes it back to me. I don't think I just, I mean, obviously, I wouldn't just take Seeger ahead of Lindor because I rank Lendor ahead, but it's close enough that I don't have a big problem with it. Okay, Luis Robert with the next pick at 38th overall. I am up in two picks, and got to take a break eventually. I got to do promo read here too but I don't want to get caught in the middle of my read while I'm making a draft pick so we'll just talk it through and until these picks are made. How about this one? I'm considering with my next pick someone that I haven't taken yet this spring. Wow. Can you guys, I want to want to know if you guys can can guess who it is. I don't think I can guess who it is. I haven't been to all of

your drafts, Chris. I'm starting to get a little fomo on this guy based on what we've seen in the spring. Okay. All right. I'm kind of upset because... I'm not sure if he's going to still be there. Max, Maximilian Freed. My cue just got, my cue just got wiped out here. I was looking at Woodruff and Schwabber. They both went the picks before me. Now I'm on the clock. I'm actually pretty happy that I took Max Scherzer there because if, uh, if I didn't get one of him or Woodruff, I would have been pretty upset. I've got 30 seconds left. I could use an outfielder. And one of Chris, his favorite players is still there. He's very good in this format.

Thinking about taking him. Looking at a few other positions. And I think I am going to go that route. I'm going to go ahead and take George Springer here at 41st overall. Really good plate discipline. Typically leading off of the Blue Jays should get a ton of plate appearances.

And with that, we're going to take a quick break. And when we return, we'll find out who Chris was talking about here on Fantasy Baseball today. Thursday at 7. 15 Eastern on CBS, we head to the Sweet 16 at the NCAA men's college basketball championship, beginning with Arkansas taking on Yukon, followed by a huge showdown between UCLA and Gonzaga. Then on Friday night, Miami faces top-seated Houston and Xavier meets Texas. Our coverage continues with two more games on Sunday at 2 Eastern, with the winners

punching their ticket to the final four. March Madness continues this week on CBS. And Chris, the player you were referencing is, Blake. Matt Olson, who has just been absolutely crushing the ball this spring, which, look, Matt Olson goes through stretches where he absolutely crushes the ball. He's got, what, five home runs in spring, like a 1400 OPS or something. He's been absolutely ridiculous. He's not someone that I've drafted. I typically wait a little longer at first base.

But I decided, you know, like I said, a little bit of fomo here about, you know, what if we do get the big Matt Olson bounce back? You know, he only had 477 points in this format. 564 in 2021. Guys often perform better the second season that they're in a new league. So I'm going to take that opportunity to get Matt Olson on one of my squads this year. I don't want to overreact to spring training numbers, especially for a veteran like this, Chris,

but I am starting to feel the same thing on Matt Olson. You could just talk yourself into, okay, it was his first year in Atlanta. He's filling the shoes of a legend on that team and Freddie Freeman. He was still pretty good last year. But, you know, I think for most standards, it was a bit of a down year for Matt Olson. He's looked fantastic this spring. So just wouldn't surprise me if, you know, he hits 40 plus homers this year, some massive counting stats. And he does walk a lot, which matters in this format.

After, go ahead, Chris. Oh, no, that was it. Although, before we move on. Yes. Watch TBS Sports HQ at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon. Yes. You'll see these three beautiful faces. Yes.

A little fantasy baseball today draft special. Yes. You see, you're a better host than I am Chris, because I probably should have mentioned that sooner. After Chris took Matt Olson, Francisco Lindor, Max Fried,

Ozzy Albies, Michael Harris, Alec Manoa, Chris, Scott, you're on the clock with five seconds left. Okay. So,

I mean, I was thinking about all these obvious in the end of round four, I like filling second base with one of those high in second basemen. He's gone. Michael Harris was still hanging around for a long time, but he went two picks before mine. So I'm looking at my situation now. Francisco Lendor's gone. I'm going to have a second tier shortstop.

I'm going to have a lower tier second baseman. I'm going to have issues at third base. I'm going to go ahead and take JT Real Muto. I don't like taking the top catcher in a way. one catcher league because I find Sean Murphy and William Contreras, the value tends to be great. But Real Muto in this

scoring format is going to give me a clear advantage. I think. I mean, Adley Rushman could close the gap potentially, but I think he's going to give me a clear advantage at this position. And since I'm not going to have advantage of other positions, that's fine. I'll go ahead and

accept it. Real Muto at the end of round four. And then my second pick, like Chris, a bit of a FOMO pick. Love it. Corbyn Carroll, who I was just writing him up in Breakouts 2.0, like an assistant principal, writing him up. And I know what he did. He does.

What he did was draw nine walks compared to six strikeouts so far this spring, like, just reminding me of the incredible plate discipline he has. And I think everybody's counting on him for 30 plus steals. This format, he might actually be a safer bet to contribute big numbers because the most questionable part of Corbyn Carroll's skill set is the power, the home run power. However, he falls short in home runs. He's going to make up for it with doubles and triples.

Those don't have direct value in a five-by-five league, but they, of course, do in a points league. So I think a little bit of a reach here at 49th overall, but I'm glad to fill a weak position, which is something I haven't been able to do a lot of early in this draft, and I think Carol's going to live up to it when all said and done. Yeah, I love the pick too, Scott. Once I scroll down a little bit, I want to move him higher in the rankings,

but it's just, it's tough. I mean, there's a lot of players that I do like a little bit more than him in a head-to-head points league. But, yeah, I think that's a fine place to take him. And I noticed on Tuesday that he was batting sixth in the lineup, and that was against the lefties. So maybe that's something that they're experimenting with, He'll lead off against righties, maybe drop down a little bit against left-handed pitching.

But either way, Corbyn Carroll is going to be an everyday player for the Arizona Diamondbacks. After Scott took him, Wanda Franco goes off the board. It's a touch early, but he is really good in this format. He just barely strikes out. So it really, really helps in a points league. Jazz Chisholm at 51 overall, I actually debated taking him over George Springer. And that was a really tough call for me. Second base, let's be honest.

I mean, the past couple days, we've got a lot of news. that has kind of shaken up the position with Jose Al Tuve getting heard and Vaughn Grissom option down to AAA. So I thought about it, but I think that's a really good value for Jazz at 51st. Julio Reyes, Dylan Sees, Cedric Mullins, Shane Bieber,

and Chris, you are not on the clock because you were the one who took Shane Bieber. Talk to me about it. Yeah, he's a really good option in this format. You know, the volume's going to be there, 200 innings. Two of the last four seasons, obviously one of those.

seasons he got hurt. The other one, did he lead the majors in innings in 2020? If not, he was very close, you know, averaged more than six innings, probably about six and a half

innings per start in 2020. So I believe it was Lance Lynn who led that year. Okay, yeah. As long as the shoulder holds up and it did last season, I do think Shane Bieber, you know,

he's someone we talked about, I think on yesterday's podcast is someone we haven't talked much about. I think there's some risk there, but at this point I think he's a great pick. All right. Well, one pick after you take Kevin Gosman. I took Kevin. No, you took Shane Bieber. I took Kevin Gosman. A little bit of foreshadowing there. He is my SP2 to go along with Max Scherzer and then Christian Javier. I'm a little annoyed by that, Frank. Why? Why? Because I had just put Kevin Gosman in my queue as my next pick. Clearly he wasn't making it to me since you had two picks there. Yeah. Yeah. Good pick. I was debating him in Louise Castillo. I kind of like them in that, you know, 15 to 20 starting pitcher. range. Though Christian Javier, I mean, he goes with the very next pick and it's hard to argue it. He's gained a lot of steam in the in uh, throughout spring training and just I think people realizing

how good he was last year. And the fact that he probably shouldn't go two rounds later than someone like Spencer Schreider. I don't know that their skill sets are that different. Strider's better, but two rounds better. I'm not so sure. And he does have the RP eligibility with which helps strider as well. Yes. Yes. Yes. That is the. reason. He went two rounds ahead of Javier, I would say. But I think we see that in a lot of draft, Scott. Well, that, yeah, I mean, I guess ADP does show a distinction there. Yeah.

But Javier has been on the rise. After Christian Javier, Brian Reynolds goes at pick 58, Luis Castillo, to pick 59. We're at the turn here, round five and round six. And the reason I took Goss in there, Chris, is there was no hitter that I loved necessarily. You know, there's some pitchers that I like. See who makes it back to me here, but it's like, all right, look, it's still a points league. Could get Gosman as my SP2 to go with Scherzer. I like my first three hitters a lot for this format.

You know, Trey Turner, Vlad, and George Springer. So just kind of wait and gobble up some pitching and see who falls. And that was one of the hitters that I was thinking about taking. It's Eloy Jimenez, last pick of round five, who we got some news on Tuesday. I know he left a game on Monday with right calf, cramping, but it sounds like he'll be in the lineup Wednesday and the White Sox are not worried about it. You know, maybe just TH the guy and this won't happen if he's not playing in the field. Apparently, it actually was an issue in the dugout.

And then he got pulled once he went back out. He tried to, I guess, play through. It was what I saw. So that, that's a nothing injury, I think. I think, you know, obviously whenever Elo Jimenez and left a game is, you know, we're going to be concerned about that, but it seems like there's nothing there. All right. Well, maybe I should have taken them then because some of these pitchers available are still pretty good.

Probably would have been fine with one of these guys. No, there's... Maybe I'm lying. Yeah, a drop-offs approaching, I think, it's starting pitcher. Scott, you haven't taken a pitcher yet, have you? I have not. Oh, all right. So...

By design... I mean, obviously, I could have taken a really good one in place of Corp and Carol. And that's, you know, I was saying 49th a bit of a reach. What justifies that reach for me is that I am willing to go the thrifty route at starting pitcher. And that's why I can't move Corby and Carroll up much higher in my rankings is because I don't want to make them so exaggerated that nobody else is going to follow them, you know. Well, you've got Choha Tani, Scott, so you could just play him at starting pitcher. Well, you know, I was thinking so Benny Pasquantino here goes with the first pick of round six. I was think, who Scott?

Vinnie P. Baby. First pick of round six, and I was thinking if he blasted to the end of round six, that might have been something I could say. You know, I already have Goldschmidt. I have Otani occupying the utility spot, but I might have considered taking Vinny Pasquantino and just shifting Otani to SP and I don't know,

maybe working out a trade down the line if Fasquantino proves he deserves to be a starting caliber, first basement in this format. But this would be as better format as a guy who, he walked more than he struck out as a rookie, right? He actually had more walks than strike. Which is to go along, of course, with the power production we expect him to have. All right, well, another one of those starting pitchers went. It was you Darvish with the second pick of round six.

So, all right, I'm actually, I think it worked out that I took Kevin Gossman there because there's one other pitcher here and will I say his name? Yeah, sure, why not? It's Zach Allen. I think he's kind of the end of a tier. But I wrote him up in Bus 1.0. I don't think he's going to bottom out. I just think maybe he's a little bit like a touchover valued.

He was so good in the second half, but he had a 230 Babbat last year. I just can't see that sustaining as great as he was. And I think he's a solid pitcher, but I just don't know that he's going to come close to replicating something like that. Zach Allen has been someone throughout his career that has had really low Babbits. I think he's at like 270-ish for his career. So that's something that he does appear to have some skills basis in.

Although I do think there was a clear better pitcher available who just went off the board, U Darvish, who actually also outscored Corbyn Burns last season, which is pretty impressive. I think I might have that right. He threw a ton of quality starts last year. So in any league with quality starts as a bonus or a category, I think U. Darvish could see a little bit of a boost there. Byron Bucks and Goats. Sorry, Chris.

Randy Arosa Rana So I was thinking about Randy I mean a Roto league is a much better format for him Same thing with Adoles Garcia So I don't really want to do that I'm gonna go the same route as Scott And I just think this is really good value For a catcher that I don't typically wind up with

There's just not really anybody that I love Taking here so it's gonna be Will Smith For me and at 65 In a head to points league He's got good plate discipline he walks He doesn't strike out very much I'm fine with that pick And Chris you are on that.

clock. Let's take a look at your team and see what you got going on over here. I don't necessarily love the options available right now. I think there's definitely been a drop off at this point in the draft. I, yeah, I'm, I'm unclear as to where I want to go right now. I'm going to think it through. Please, please somebody else start talking. I'm going to run through your team so far and you've got Matt Olson at first base, Marcus Semi, at second, Fernando Tatis at short, Ronald de Cunia in the outfield, and Shane Bieber as your SP1. I actually think that this group,

and you should be very proud of yourselves, they're doing a good job. They're, you know, sucking all the value out of the players that we like. And that's why we're kind of in this position where, okay, there's not really any player that we love at this spot. And that's why I think maybe

we're going to wind up with some kind of different teams that we don't normally wind up drafting here. And with that being said, Chris, you took a manual class A. Normally closers go a little bit later in a points lead format, but even with that, he is the best closer available and you just got him in round six.

Yeah, he's, I think, the clear second best RP in this format. And honestly, he might be better than Spencer Strider just because Spencer Strider, you know, it might be tough for him to give us 170 or 180 innings. Class A, obviously, I don't think he's going to get 42 saves again, but he was 486

points in this format. You know, even if you take five saves off of that, I think he's going to be a very big contributor. at the point now where like, I think there are tiers, right? Like your first round players are like 600 point players. Then you got a bunch of 500 point players. We're kind of running out of 500 point players at both the hitting and pitching side. So I think, you know, Class A could get close enough to that. Yeah, I'm okay with getting him there. After a manual class A goes off the board,

Brandon Lau at 67th overall, there's no doubt that that is early for Brandon Lau. But it's got the upside for Chris, I'll come back to you because, Scott, I know you're about to make your picks. I think this could be part of the injury and the news shakeout for second base, is that maybe some other players will get pulled up the board, and that's why we see Brandon Lau in the sixth round. Yeah, I mean, you could, I think we're still a little far away from the point where you'd want to take Jose Al Tuve. It's well ahead of where I'd want to take Andros Jimenez.

You know, Max Muncie, I guess you could make a case for him in a points league. But yeah, I think if you're looking for a difference maker at second base, I think Brandon Lowe has more upside than Tommy Edmund and Andrus Jimenez and probably even Max Muncie. So I think it's defensible. I've certainly argued Brandon Lowe is underrated or undervalued for most of the preseason. Interestingly, it's the same guy who took Dustin May in round three. So we have a bit of a wild card. Getting his guys.

Go out and get your guys after Brandon Lowe went, Jose, Starling Marte, Zander Bogarts, love the value on all those players. Kind of thought about Jose Abrayu, but we know first base is that, wait, I already got a first base, and what am I talking about? I got Vladimir Guerrero. And Chris, you mentioned, might be a touch early for Jose Al-Tuvae. Well, not for Team Gensler. 71st overall. Scott, you're on the clock, and I hope you weren't planning to take Jose Al-Tuvei.

No, I was, I was, maybe it was somebody I had in mind for maybe my next pair of picks. Okay. Which would be closer to where I moved to them in my rankings. but it's a shallow league, so I think it's a justifiable play to get a singularity at second base like that. I kind of wished somebody had taken one of these two pitchers because now I feel obligated to take both.

It's just, I'd be looking at gift horse in the mouth if I didn't take these two as someone who hasn't taken a starting pitcher yet here in round six. Zach Gowan and Robbie Ray, among pitchers who are healthy, they're pretty clearly the last two who you can squint and see an ace pretty easily, I feel like. And so the fact that there was exactly two left for these pair of picks on a team where I've completely neglected starting pitching up to this point. I think it's just a must for me.

So I'm going, Zach Allen and Robbie Ray, Robbie Ray, the spring's been striking out everybody in sight. Yeah, I know. I'm happy to get more of them. I read an article that he's been working on a new pitch. I think it's a splitter. A whole Mariners staff is working on a splitter. It's crazy. And his velocity apparently has been up.

I was watching highlights. I believe he made a start on either Sunday or Monday. And he looked ridiculous. I mean, the tight pants were on. He was like screaming on every single pitch that he threw. I mean, half the time you don't know if Robbie Ray is playing in a tennis match or pitching baseballs because the guy is like grunting and yelling. and just classic Robbie Ray stuff there.

Interesting. So the team that takes Jose Altuve also takes Bryce Harper worth mentioning that we have three IL spots in this league. Well, two of them are already occupied. Looking to play, I guess, for June and July and beyond.

I don't know that I would take both of them, Chris. You know, maybe one of them, but using your six and seven-th-round pick, it's a lot of draft capital on two injured guys. It is. It's worth pointing out. I think Scott and I are about to make the same We're about to make the same point.

But the Phillies opted not to put Bryce Harper on the 60-day DL yet. They still could, but they are not going, they're not planning on doing so. And I was looking back at some of the reports back when he had the surgery. The report was he's planning on swinging a bat in late May was the initial report. That was back in November, I think, when he had the surgery. Well, he started swinging bat in late February. and he's going to be facing live pitching within the next week or so. And so, Bryce Harper, I think you're looking at like June is still likelier than May,

but May is on the table. May is on the table. And like I was worried for most of the draft prep season to be maybe like August. They were saying the second half, right? And this, you know, last week there was actually a. report from John Heyman and he didn't really cite anybody specific in the Phillies organization. He just said some are hoping he could be backed by May. So I was, you know, I kind of brushed it off, whatever.

But now there's this news of them delaying, putting them on the 60-day DL, Dave Dombrowski saying, we just want to keep our options open. Yeah. They don't need a 40-man roster spot right now. So that's- I'm not going to take Harper this high, 74th overall. but I'm certainly much more open to taking him around pick 100 now in light of this news, especially in a shallower league like this, where you can pick up replacements off the waiver wire potentially.

You only have nine hitter spots to fit. Like, this is the sort of league to take those chances. So the same guy taking Jose Altuve and Bryce Harper back to back here in round six and seven. Well, it's maybe two rounds earlier than I would do it. I do think it's more or less the right idea. I get what he's thinking. All right, mini relief pitcher run here. We've got Josh Hater and Ryan Presley off the board

in the middle of round seven, followed by Chris Bryant, Salvador Perez, and Chris, you are back up. And I'm going to take another guy I have not taken yet this spring, and I'm going to take the last third baseman left, and that's Gunner Henderson, who doesn't have as much hype as Corbyn Carroll. I think the minor league numbers aren't quite as impressive, but, you know, as we continue to see Corbyn Carroll pushed up and up and up,

and, you know, this is not the first time I've seen Corbyn Carroll go around 50 or even earlier than that. Gunner Henderson doesn't have quite the same helium. Maybe his spring numbers. Yeah, he's had a pretty bad showing this spring. I don't think the Orioles are considering sending Gunner Henderson down or anything. Brandon Hyde, the manager, said he just feels like Henderson's having a, typical rookie spring. Yeah.

But, you know, while Corbyn Carroll's putting up numbers, Henderson isn't. I will point out, like, he's got a 723 OPS. You know, when you said that,

I was like, oh man, Gunner Henderson must be in like the 500s. And, oh, well, 723, that's not, he's walking a bunch.

He's got some extra base hits. It's largely walks. Yeah. He's only got five hits on 27 at bats, but like, you know, he's striking out

about 25% of the time. So it's, it doesn't necessarily, suggest, no, no, I'm not saying, it's not especially meaningful. It's not especially meaningful. I'll grant that. But that explains, I think, the disparate helium. Sure. I just, uh, I was, I was a little surprised. Like, I did expect worse. Once, once you said that. So, yeah, I think, uh, I think it's okay.

Gosh, Chris, I'm most, you just crushed me with that Gunner Henderson pick, man, because I was scrolling around. I'm like, what positions do I need? I need second and third base. So my plan was, you just, you just, you just, you just, I'm most, to go Gunner Henderson and then Max Muncie. And you ruined that plan. Sorry, that's why you don't make plans. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Then you did follow up with Muncie.

Yeah, a bit of a... It's a bit of a reach. I mean, 80th overall, I think I have them just outside the top 100. He is much better in a points league. His ADP and CBS leagues is 74, which are primarily points leagues. I don't have a second baseman or a third baseman. So Max Muncie will fill one of those roles for me.

And I'm all right. making him there. We'll see what happens with the next couple of picks here. I still only have one outfielder. But Gunner Henderson and Max Muncie, those were the two that I had in mind. When I made the Will Smith pick, Will Smith the catcher. I know what you're going to say. You know, I didn't really want to do it because I knew that some good catchers would fall and Adley Rutchman being here. I wonder which one you mean. I was just, oh, gosh. I mean, now that we're talking about if somebody's going to snatch him up right away, I'm sure. But it is it is a little bit crazy. that he is, what, there have been five catchers taken and none of them is Adley Rushman. He's my number two catcher in this format. His plate discipline is so good. I almost took him over,

I almost took him over Will Smith, Scott. I haven't ranked over Will Smith. He had a zillion doubles last year, so even if he doesn't take that next step forward with the home run power, he should be great in this format with doubles. But he has four home runs in the spring. Just hit a big one off Chris Sale today on Wednesday.

In fairness, I hit a home run off Chris Sale today. He did give up a couple. A couple shots today, though. Both he and Alex Cora were not, did not seem the least be concerned after the game, for what it's worth. All right, well, let's catch people up on some picks. And after I took Muncie, Carlos Rodon, another name that I was thinking about. I think that this is a good range to get him. Some good news coming out.

He, you know, through, I believe it was a bullpen the other day. And it sounds like he's doing. he's doing fine in terms of just recovering from that bullpen so far so maybe it's a couple of starts and we get Carl Srdon back in by the end of April. I think this is a good spot to get him. Dalton Farsho, Logan Webb

Teoscar Hernandez and boom goes the dynamite. Adley Ruchman goes off the board. Let's take our second break here and when we return we'll catch you up on the latest picks. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today.

Thank you to those watching us live on YouTube, make sure to like, leave a comment, and subscribe if you haven't already. Steven Kwan, the second pick of round eight, and we know Kwan barely strikes out. And he was really good in the second half last year in terms of getting on base. And I do think, I think he's fine in either format, offer some batting average and, you know, 20-ish steals in Roto. But he's probably even a little bit better in headset points league. So I think that's not overly surprising. I kind of like the team that Church of Scott White is putting together.

It's a bit of a misnomer because he's got four starting pitchers through eight picks. Maybe he's 2021, Scott White. I don't know. But like I loved the value on Logan Webb there. I was going to take him, if not, he was sneaky, really good in this format last year. He's got Freddie Freeman, Austin, Riley, Louise Robert, and Stephen Kwan. So a very good start to the offense, but obviously some, a lot of picks left. But Zach Wheeler, U. Darvish, Luis Castillo, Logan Webb,

that's a very good pitching staff for this scoring format especially. Okay, after Stephen Kwan, Jake Cronoworth, who is sneaky good in head-to-head points leagues, and he has some versatility. He has second base and first base eligibility. And then after him, O'Neo Cruz goes at pick 88. He does fall a little bit in this format because of the strikeouts. And, hmm, I was just getting ready to cue him up, though.

Got myself. Got myself a little bit of a decision here. I'm preparing to be very mad at Frank, because I feel like he's going to take the... Is that how you wanted? I got you back. I got you back! That was exactly, that was the last guy in my queue

from my previous pick, and I wasn't sure if I should take Gunner Henderson or Joe Musgrove. I don't think Gunner Henderson would have made it back to me. Now I know Joe Musgrove wouldn't have. I'm very upset with you. That was very rude of you to do. You want to make a trade, Chris?

Because technically, if you didn't take Gunner, I would have taken him, and then I would have taken Muncie. And Joe Musgrove might have made it back to you. Well, I was going to take, I was either Musgrove or Henderson there. All right. Well, I get Musgrove.

Look, hopefully the tow is fine because I keep drafting a bunch of Joe Musgrove. I took him in a recent NFBC draft. I got him in Tout Wars. Sounds like he's only going to miss one turn in the rotation, you know, maybe it's two. I haven't seen an update on him recently, so hopefully everything is progressing there.

I don't know if we need to pause the draft or anything, Chris. No, I'm fine. I was just like Musgrave was my clear best player remaining, and I said I was preparing, yes. I said I was preparing for Scott to take the guy I wanted, but I wasn't actually prepared for it. And so I, well, it was Frank anyway. Yeah, Frank, sorry.

I didn't do anything to you. Yeah, in spirit, you did. Unless the record shell. Not yet. You haven't done anything yet, Scott. So through eight rounds, I've got Will Smith, a catcher, Vladimir Guerrero,

Jr., Max Muncie at second or third base. Trey Turner at shortstop, George Springer is my lone outfielder, and at starting pitcher, I've got Max Scher, Kevin Gausman, and Joe Musgrove. Let's see what else is going on. Chris took Trista McKenzie,

then Reese Hoskins, typically is a little bit better in this format. Lots of walks, really good OBP. Brandon Nimmo goes 92nd overall. He's battling like an ankle and knee sprains right now. We'll see if he was the number nine outfielder in this format last year. Amazingly, I think that speaks more to the state of the outfield in 2022 than Nimmo specifically. The fact, Nimmo stayed healthy.

But, you know, he gets extra base hits. He gets on base in a nice rate. Can we I'm going to just throw out a conversation point about a sleeper that I want to take in the later rounds and I may screw myself over in that but a bit of news from today that I think

actually really could matter. Carson Kelly fractured his four arm. Oh. I don't know if you saw that. He got hit by a pitch yesterday. He's going to miss probably a couple of months. Gabriel Moreno, we thought he was probably going to be the small side of the

catcher platoon in Arizona. he's about to play a ton early on in the season. I'm just going to go ahead and this is this is kind of what we talk about in season more where like any catcher who has a pulse pretty much jumps into the top 12. I'm moving Gabriel Moreno into my top 12 at catcher as a result of this news. Maybe that's an overreaction, but I'm going to overreact. That is interesting because I saw that he that Carson Kelly left after getting hit by a pitch on his forearm yesterday.

So, yeah, it turns out he's going to miss some time. No! No! Scott is tilting. I was holding my breath ever since Gunner Henderson and Max Muncie went back to back.

To take Jordan Walker here. And I thought it was going to happen. I don't even know what I'm going to do now. He's picked. Well, I will let you figure that out, Scott. Let's catch people up on the picks. After Brandon Nimmo, Sean Murphy, Logan Gilbert, Jordan Walker. 95th overall at the end of the eighth round.

I'm eyeballing my catcher rankings to see if I agree with you, Chris. I think I can get Gabriel Moreno up to 13 ahead of Danny Jansen, ahead of Grandal. Yeah, Cow Rally is the toughest one. He's 12 for me. I'm moving Moreno up above Cow Rally in, but out of principle for now. and then, you know, we'll see in the harsh light of day tomorrow whether I actually agree with that decision. But Gabriel Moreno, obviously one of the,

the top 10 prospect last season was traded in the Dalton Varsho deal, if you don't remember. Yeah. Very, very similar profile to someone like Alejandro Kirk. It's the problem is it's a very similar profile to Alejandro Kirk or Cabaret Ruiz. And it's like which path is he going to go down? He didn't necessarily impress a ton last season while losing rookie eligibility,

but it was only like, he lost rookie eligibility, but not because of games played or played appearances. It was time served on the roster. So he only got like 80 played appearances last year. And Gabriel Moreno so far this spring is 8 for 20 with two home runs. The biggest question mark is can he raise the launch angle?

Can he hit for power? And I think he's purposely trying to, you know, quiet some of the doubters here in spring training by lifting the ball a little bit and popping some home run. So, yeah, that is a really interesting note on Gabriel Moreno. At the turn, Scotty, you jump into the starting pitcher pool.

You get one of your favorites in Chris Sale. But the next pick, that was kind of interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there was nobody... So I took George Kirby. There was nobody obvious, I thought, to take. So it was a... chance to luxuriate a little bit. And I decided, well, I don't have any shares of George Kirby yet. It was a popular

breakout pick. I don't share the enthusiasm for him, but it's nice to, when you don't feel like you're having to reach for it, when you do have a chance to kind of go off script a little bit, it's nice to get in on the hype. And if all those very smart people who are predicting big things for George Kirby are right, then at least in this league, I'll be able to benefit from it. I considered going Devin Williams instead because, you know,

we've just attacked relief pitchers so little here than in round nine. The third ranked one, according to my own rankings, leaving out Strider, of course, is still there. But I decided that I didn't want to. I don't love investigative.

an relief pitcher in this format, and I'm going to stick to it. All right. After you took George Kirby, Nick Ladolo, who threw six shutout innings on Monday with eight strikeouts. He looked fantastic. He was going up against an Angels lineup that was missing both Mike Trout and Chohei Otani, obviously. And then after Nick Ludolo, Christian Yelich, Willie Adamus, Carlos Correa, Devin Williams, and Chris, you took Hunter Green. And we talked about him recently. Was it in breakouts? You said he could be both a breakout and a bust. And I actually wound up writing him up in Bus 2.0. I get the upside. I get the hype when Hunter Green.

He's super fun to watch, but 48% fly ball rate in Great American Ballpark. It just scares the crap out of me, man. Oh, yeah. No, it's, I think I did end up, I'm trying to remember. I might have ended up taking him out of Bus 2.0. He is still in breakouts 2.0. And I think that highlights just he's an incredibly high variance player. What we saw, I mean, remember when he came back from the aisle last season, and he looked like the best pitcher in baseball.

It was five starts, you know, 20-something innings. But he had like, I think it was 38 strikeouts in 26 innings or something absurd like that. His swing strike rate was through the roof. The fastball is not a good pitch right now. It gets a ton of whiffs. It is the hardest fastball. I'm going to say ever, maybe some old person will yell at me about Nolan Ryan. Either way, there has never been a recorded starting pitcher who throws as hard as often as Hunter Green.

The problem is he gave up a lot of home runs with the pitch. It was, I think the third, I want to say the third highest expected slugging percentage on a four-seem fastball of any pitcher, any starter in baseball last season. And he's given up three home runs so far in, or two home runs so far in spring. training. So still a little bit of an issue. He's working on a change up. There's so much upside. The slider is an amazing pitch. It's one of the best swing and miss pitches in baseball. It's, uh, you know, this is kind of my FOMO team where I'm, you know, I took, I don't, I don't think I've drafted Tristan McKenzie this year. I haven't really drafted Hunter Green. I haven't really drafted Gunner Henderson or Matt Olson. So this is a, this is going to be a team that

stands on its own a little bit among the, the teams I've drafted. And I totally get why you're doing it, Chris, and I've done drafts like this in years past, and I find that every time I do something like it, it doesn't work out. Now, I'm not trying to say that your team isn't going to be good. It's going away from my valuations to a certain extent. So yeah, there's risk in it. With Hunter Green, I actually just wrote him up in bus 2.0, so I have him, I have all these things fresh in my mind. You're right that over his final six starts, he was fantastic.

A 102 ERA. the teams that he faced, Marlins twice, Cardinals, Brewers, Pirates, Cubs. So some really good matchups. I mean, it was still a 102 ERA, so I get it, but... A little 2020 Zach Plexak

mirror there. I just kind of thought about this while you were talking about Hunter Green. He's kind of the pitcher version of O'Neill Cruz, no? Like, he's a huge wild card. He is massive upside, but he also has really big downside, too. So, just kind of. Yeah, 100%.

I mean, remember, there were a lot of points last scene where we're like, oh, this is it. Hunter Green's figuring it out. And like, he was probably written up in the waiver wire column like six or seven times last season because it was just like he would have a really good start and then he would come back and give up four home runs. You know, that's just like the kind of skill set he has right now. After Chris took Hunter Green, I come on this podcast a lot and I tell you that the disrespect for Dolies Garcia has gone too far.

Well, guess what? I had to end that disrespect once again because I just took him at pick 104. I debated taking him back in round six when I took Will Smith and he was here three rounds later. This is not his preferred format. He does not walk very much.

He strikes out quite a bit. But last year he still averaged around three fantasy points per game. I'll take that in round nine. Yeah, last year, even in this format, not being, even with this format, not being his best format. He was the number seven.

outfielder. Now again, I think that is partly just the state of the outfield and the number of players who missed time there and it was just an especially bad year for outfield. And I've talked about how I think Adolice Garcia is going to take a step back this year. But just from a pure value perspective, if I had

gone hitter with that George Kirby pick instead of pitcher, I probably would have gone with Adoles Garcia as my third outfielder. In fact, I think the main reason I didn't is, is because it's only a three outfielder league. And I have those two outfield spots filled already. And I just wanted to leave one there for some of my late round targets that I like. After I took Adoles Garcia, we see the old relief pitcher run.

Jordan Romano, Ryan Helsley, Andres Jimenez, and Reisel Aglacius to finish out round nine. And then Lance Lynn, my heart. My heart breaks for the first pick of round 10. and then Tim Anderson and Chris Bassett. I've got one more pick coming up here. Blake Snell, another pitcher that I like. But I've already got three starters. I've got Scherzer.

I've got Gosman. I've got Joe Musgrove. So I don't really feel the need to take another pitcher here. And now I'm just going to go ahead and build the best Roto lineup ever in a head to head points league and see how it turns out. Because this is another player where I just feel like he's lasted too long in this format. And it's Tommy Edmund who I will. now slide over to second base and I've got Max Muncie at third. So yeah, again, it's not as

better format, but I'm just going to keep gobbling up the value. And Chris, I love your next pick because you had to do it for the brand. John Carlos Stanton in the middle of round 10. Yeah, I haven't also actually someone I haven't really drafted this year at all. I don't think I've drafted John Carlos Stanton once so far. So fraud. I'm going to end that. And, you know, I just, I've said it before on the podcast. I feel like, given the fact that he still hits the ball just about as hard as anyone. We can no longer say John Carlos Stanton hits the ball harder than anyone because O'Neill Cruz exists. But because he still is a one of three in terms of how hard he hits the ball,

I still think there's a chance we get like one last like 45 to 50 home run season from John Carlos Stan. He still has the skill set for it. So yeah, let's stick with the FOMO theme here. All right. Well, after Chris took John, I'm Carl Stanton. There was a very interesting pick. What we'll do is we'll wrap up part one here of the podcast

and we'll pick things up part two of the podcast. So we will see you over there. Make sure to tune in.