Fantasy Baseball Today - Live H2H Points Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 11-21 Picks & Strategy (3/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Join our FBT March Madness Bracket for a chance to join our listener leagues- cbssports.com/FBTbrackets Let's pick things back up with the 11th round (0:30). Raisel Iglesias lasted too long and could Nelson Cruz bounce back? ... Daulton Varsho and Willson Contreras finally go in round 13 (10:20). Don't sleep on Cal Quantrill as a SPARP. ... C.J. Cron lasted all the way to round 15 (18:30). Is Adley Rutschman worth a pick in this format? ... What is Alex Kirilloff's upside (28:28)? ... Hunter Renfore goes too late and somebody has to draft Mark Melancon (40:13). ... Is Mitch Keller a sleeper (43:43)? ... We wrap up the draft by looking at each of our teams (47:33). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  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 lead. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. All right, hour two, we are jumping into round 11. And Scott mentioned that he selected Rysa Liglasius, just lasting way too long in this format.

Pick 121 overall. And then Mike Clevenger, Zach Allen, Nathan of all of these so we see a run of starting pitchers and then I selected Nelson Cruz 125th overall

Scott we did our util only kind of preview last week we looked at each of the players who have that eligibility it's Nelson Cruz it's Otani it's friend Morayas

and don't sleep on Gavin Sheets for those in deeper leagues and man the more that I think about it I really just think Nelson Cruz struggled in Tropicana field he did not have good career numbers there. Obviously, last year included, he was not good there last year.

I kind of just think wherever Nelson Cruz winds up, as long as it's not back in Tampa Bay, that he's going to go back to being really good. So, I mean, yeah, one word of caution on that, because I've, in this specific format with the nine hitter spots to fill, and obviously it's head-to-head, so you're playing a week at a time. You can't afford to take too many chances. Nelson Cruz at his age

so often has that Red Cross who is next to his name going into a week that it's just super frustrating it's super frustrating because you know five man benches points format you want a bench full of starting pitchers

you don't like keeping extra hitters around but you have to for Nelson Cruz and then it's very likely you miss out on a productive week from him because you were just playing it too cautiously not wanting to take an L for the week you know the thing with Nelson Cruz, though, to back up Frank's point is, one, the overall numbers were still very, very good.

Yep. And the underlying numbers were all pretty uniformly excellent still. He's still a cross-5% hard hit rate, yeah. Yep. So I still think, yeah, that he's very likely to once again be one of the most profitable drafted players in fantasy for probably the 11. year in a row, which is probably pushing David Ortiz's likely record. Those two guys just kept falling as they got older, and Nelson Cruz is definitely following

a similar trajectory for Ortiz, where we just have not seen any real signs of decline from him yet. All right. After I selected Nelson Cruz, Marcus Stroman was selected next. Someone that I was eyeing as my SP5. I do like him in points leagues quite a bit. And then Logan Gilbert, someone I have pegged as a breakout candidate, Thai France. And then Chris, you select the number two, or I guess arguably number one, Sparp.

I guess it depends on how you feel about him versus Ranger Suarez. But Luis Severino for this upcoming season. And we spoke about him recently. And you said that you're going to draft a lot of Severino. And you're doing exactly that. Yeah, the higher upside sparp, I think, for sure. When you talk about Luis Severino and you go back to, you know, the last two healthy seasons for him, which now are 2017 and 2018, so four years ago at this point. But, you know,

the numbers he put up there, he outscored the number one closer last season, Liam Hendricks. So he has a chance to be the single most valuable relief pitcher and fantasy this season in this format. Obviously, the chances of him throwing 190 innings again, I think, are very slim. And coming back from Tommy John, shoulder, all kinds of issues. It's entirely possible. he's just never the same guy. But I think with the state of pitching in this draft in particular, I wanted to chase upside with an RP like Luis Severino. Again, another spot like Christian Eilich, it's a risky pick,

but it's an opportunity to get a significant advantage on the competition. All right, after you selected Luis Severino, we see Ian Anderson, Lance McCullors, and Chris Taylor to finish out round 11. And I wonder if RJ White saw the report that Lance McCullors' forearm was like deep. from his his bone or from his elbow or whatever it was that I mean I don't think that was an accurate uh accurate description of the the report I don't think his forearm was detached it was something like that muscle maybe a muscle yes but I would assume that he's not like a kendall or a GI Joe and right have like a removable hinge yeah on his elbow that would be very bad that but you know what

it reminded me of. I mean, obviously, I've got to go to an Adam Sandler movie here, but have you guys seen Mr. Deeds? Yes. I actually love Mr. Deeds. Mr. Deeds. Mr. Deeds is a really funny movie. Scott, have you seen Mr. Deeds? I, I'm not sure if I have. Well, there's a point in the movie where this old guy just, like, picks up his kneecap, and he's just like, he's, like, stretching it around, and he's asking if there's a, I don't know, like, he's asking the nurse if she's got anything to, like, heal this. And it's reminded me of that Lance McCullors. What it made me think of was Nathan Philean's character in last year's The Suicide Squad was a character known as the Detachable Kid. And his superpowers, he can remove his

lens and throw them at you, which I thought was just hilarious. All right. I haven't seen that Suicide Squad. Was it good? Very good. All right. I got to check it out. But let's catch people up. After Lance McCullors goes Chris Taylor. Again, that finished out round 11. And then to start round 12, Randy or Rosarena, 133rd overall, where, I mean, say what you want about the guy. I know he's better in Rodo versus this format, but that feels like a pretty damn good value, 133rd overall. He walks more than you think. I think he had like a 9% walk rate last season, so he's not totally out of his depth in this format.

After Randy or Rosa Rana, then Jared Walsh, Emmanuel Class A, again, those closer's lasting just too long in this format. Chris Selects Patrick Sandoval. Curse you. Pitcher valuations in this draft are just completely off the, off the, I don't know what the term would be. Off the chain.

Yeah, they've exploded. And so a lot of guys are being, a lot of guys going 40, 50 picks earlier than they probably normally do. Yeah. At starting pitcher. But you have to adjust to that kind of draft. No, I mean, we're, we're, I wanted seven of my top 55.

At this rate, I'm going to be lucky to have five. My top 55, unless you count Suarez. And you should. And here I am. I don't have an SP5 yet. My top ranked starting pitcher is Luis Garcia. I know he struggled third time through the order last year, so not sure how much volume he's going to give me on a per-star basis,

but he was really good last year. And for the most part, I think that he is better than the names available. so I will select Luis Garcia and his rocking back-and-forth motion, which is very fun to watch as my SP-5. So I don't blame you for taking it. I was going to. Now I for sure will not have even six of my top 55, unless you count four hours, which Chris says I should.

No, I think this makes sense though. I mean, it sounds like we're admonishing the... The draft room here for pushing starting pitchers up like this, you look at the quality of hitters available. It's not great. There just aren't any, for this format, and given how many few hitter spots there are to fill, you just don't see anybody worth paying up for.

Maybe one or two guys. But I think a lot of times if you do a head-to-head points draft, particularly with people who are used to drafting in roto or categories, as this group mostly is, I'm sure, there's kind of just this, you know, there's kind of like a carryover effect where they're used to drafting this hitter here, so this hitter gets taken here. And I think this group has shown a lot of restraint and really thinking about how to build their team most optimally for the format. And that's why we're seeing this happen at starting pitcher. So I'm going to take Noah Sendergarde here at the end of round 12.

He is the last of that top 55 for me. So counting Suarez, I have six of them. And then I'm going to take Dalton Varsho. Dalton Varsho and just hope that he meets his upside and that I can have a real advantage at that position where only half the league will have a real advantage and hopefully make up for some of my... some of the areas where I lack with that.

Yeah, this is not Dalton Varsho's strongest format. Rodo obviously because he's a catcher eligible player who could potentially steal I don't know what do we think 15 stolen bases is probably the upside he was more like an 18 to 20 guy in the minors it really comes down to how many bats

he gets like yeah that's the true everyday player then I mean I think the ultimate ceiling with the extra bats from playing the outfield and the stolen bases I mean I don't I think

Salvador Perez is a distant number one at the position, so I'll say Varshot could challenge for the number two catcher this year. Let's catch people up, and there is an update on the labor negotiations. Nothing crazy yet, but I will get you caught up there. Scott selected Noah Cindergarde and Dalton Varsho, as he mentioned. So we're into round 13, and Yowal Mankata, John Gray, and Michael Kopeck were selected. Michael Kopeck has relief pitcher eligibility in this format. who could really benefit from a shorter schedule.

If he only has to pitch five months, he might be a starter for four of those. And I will select Wilson Contreras. Somebody who strikes out more than you'd like. I don't know that he's going to be a true standout in this format, but someone I do think is going to play quite a bit. They signed Jan Goams. I think that's either with the idea of playing Wilson Contreras a lot as their DH,

or they're going to flip Wilson Contreras and he'll just wind up in a better situation. So either way, I think it will work out for Wilson Contreras. And that update that I wanted to provide, granted, this comes from John Heyman. So I guess take it with a grain of salt. Oh no, it was also tweeted by Evan Drellich of the athletic sources. MLB offered to start the CBT, that's the competitive balance tax at $228 million. So for anyone who's been following, the MLB has been at 220. The Players Association has been at 238. So this is kind of a meeting in the middle here, but they go up to $240 million by the end of the five years.

There's still quite a bit of a gap there between what the players are asking for and this offer, but it is certainly moving in the right direction. So we'll see if some good news can come on Tuesday. After I selected Wilson Contreras, Lourdes-Guriel, really strong pick. Thereby, Dan Schneier, I was looking at him as my outfield three.

And then Aaron Ashby, who also has relief pitcher eligibility, Lots of upside. We just are not sure what the role is going to be yet. And then DJ LaMayhew, who has triple eligibility that is first, second, and third base. That one hurt. Chris. You're reacting to LaMayhew.

Okay. I wasn't sure if it was LeMayhew or Ashby, that you let out a big side. It was LeMayhew, which is sad. But, yeah, he was, I have a hole at third base. And I was hoping I would have a DJ LaMayhew to fill in. there. And because he's another guy who the plate discipline helps him a lot in this format. And I think he's going to bounce back. I don't think he's going to be what he was in 2020 or even 2019. But I do like his chances of bouncing back. So that was frustrating. I'll admit. All right. Yeah. Look,

if everything works out for LaMayhew, he could be a true standout in this format as well. And if the Yankees lineup bounces back, then we should get a lot of volume and a lot of run scoring opportunities. So again, things that could definitely help LaMayhew in this format. format. Chris instead selected Jared Kellnick and then we see Steven Strasberg, Edwin Diaz, and Zach Granky, man. Nathan Judah has basically been your rival today, Scott. Carlos Carrasco now. Yeah. The forgotten ace trio getting pushed up to the 150 range here.

Which I think, especially in a points league, I mean, these are guys, you know, Zach Granky, the strikeouts were down last year, but you know, if he's right, then what his most valuable asset is innings and volume. And again, that is what helps you in this format. If Carrasco could stay healthy, he got a, I believe a bone chip removed from his elbow in the off season. I think, I personally feel that's what plagued him more than anything else last year.

I know he was dealing with the hamstring injury, but hopefully Carrasco can bounce back. If he's anywhere close to the pitcher he was in, I think even the short in 2020. Yeah, 2020, it was awesome. Then, yeah, he's going to be a steal at this point in the draft. Now I should mention it's a forgotten ace trio. I only mentioned two names there. There's another one hanging out.

We can't mention that name yet. Maybe I'm going to select him. I don't think you should. I don't know. We'll see. After Carlos Carrasco goes, we are in round 14. Joey Gallo, Jose Orquit, and Chris selects Kenley Janssen, who I believe, and I think most people believe,

will be the closer wherever he signed. I mean, maybe there's like three or four teams that he goes to where he isn't the closer, but I don't I can't imagine he's gonna sign anywhere that he's not gonna be the closer. Right. Yep, makes sense. And there he goes. Kyle Hendricks, the third of the forgotten ace trio pick 162. Who else went? Cabot Ruiz, someone who else who should form, who should excel in this format. And then we see Will Smith the closer for the Atlanta Braves. A hundred and 63rd overall. I need an outfielder. I don't have a single relief pitcher yet either, so let's see what's going on here. Oh, gosh. I'll roll this Chapman. Don't want to do that. A lot of groaning going on in this mock chat right now. They have just destroyed starting pitcher. Oh, geez. There are a lot of openings in people's starting lineups, the hitter spots, and yet we're already, we're already into drafting bench pitchers. Again, I think it's the right way to approach it. I'm just not used to everybody approaching it that way.

What I'm going to do is, even though he's not my highest ranked reliever, he's not Scott's highest ranked reliever, I am going to select Cal Quantrell, who I think pretty uniformly is the third ranked SPARP this upcoming season. Yeah. I guess however good you think Michael Kopec is going to be,

like maybe there's a conversation there. But I forget, about copick. Cinderguard is not RP eligible? No, he is not. But yeah, Calquantral, he's,

Calquantral, one of these guys, he was ridiculous down the stretch last year. The problem is the underlying numbers don't really line up with, you know, what he was doing. Not as many strikeouts,

the walks a little bit higher than you'd imagine, but he does excel in hard contact suppression. So, you know, usually those kinds of pitchers are hard to project year over year.

But you give the better benefit of the doubt to Cleveland, and I mean, we're pretty late in this draft. It's around 14, and he's my first relief pitcher, so I did come into this one. No, I think the spark, I don't believe in Calquantra what he did last year, certainly not that, what was it, a 15-star stretch with a sub-2 ERA or something? Yeah. Sub-3-E-R-A or sub-2? A-89 ERA overall.

Oh, okay. Yeah, so I think it was a sub-2 ERA over the stretch I'm talking about. Very long stretch, and I don't believe in it, but I think that, I think that. The upside of that and your RP spot makes it worth gambling on in this format. And he might go undrafted in 12th team roto. And he probably should. But the thing about that also is we've got, what, four at least viable sparts this season, which means that potentially only 20 actual closers are going to be starting at any given point.

So that's the other thing about this format is that there are only in 12 team league at most 24 closers starting. Right. So I guess occasionally you'll get a starting pitcher eligible player closing, but you probably wouldn't want to use them anyway. So it's not, it should be easier if Calquantrol or Luis Severino flop to find a replacement option. Because nobody, it's not, it's not just everybody going after every single person who might theoretically get a save like you have in a lot of road up leagues.

Exactly. There's always a closer on waivers in a 12-team points league. And like a true closer, not like whoever the Orioles happened to have been running out there last week. Let's see what else has gone on since I selected Cal Quantrell in the middle of round 14. We see Jake Cronoworth, Anthony Rizzo, Jorda Romano, and then Scott goes with Aaron Savale and another of the profit pocket. That is C.J. Cron to kick off round 15. What's he still doing there? That was one of the few pitchers,

hitters I thought was worth taking ahead of everybody else as all these starting pitchers go off the board. Five rounds after Josh Bell. Yeah, I know Crone doesn't walk as much as like Josh Bell or Votto or even Hoskins, so maybe that's what people are looking like. in 470 at bats. So 530 played appearances. He walked 60 times last year.

He at least did last year, okay? The issue is, in a league with shorter benches, you would prefer to have the ability to sit him those times when he's on the road. Oh, that would be the one thing. That's actually... He has a full week on the road, yeah.

That's a really good point, Chris. And I think everyone who plays in a head-to-head league where you are facing one opponent week over week throughout the course of your season, you probably don't want more than one Rockies player. There was one year where I think I had two or three Rockies in a head-to-head league, and it was brutal. Like, they would all, they would be great when they're all at home,

but when they're all on the road together in your lineup, it is rough. So keep that in mind. Maybe you draft one. I probably don't even want two, but just keep that in mind. Don't ever do it with the Rockies players in this format. I mean, there's all. only in a head-to-head points league, are there three Rockies worth drafting?

CJ Cron. Yeah, I don't know. That's a good question. Story, Crone, maybe Blackman. Well, story's not going to be back. But Cron... I'd put Brendan Rogers. I'd put Brendan Rogers ahead of Blackman. Yeah, I think Rogers and... Oh, I'm about the timeout. I'm just going to select Austin Meadows.

I think this is too late for Austin Meadows anyway. I think he averaged three fantasy points. for game last year. So, it might sit against lefties. There's a chance that he's traded. I don't really know that we know for sure who Austin Meadows is at this point in his career,

but 173rd overall, I'll take a shot at that point. So it's just too late. After Austin Meadows, well, actually, let's see what else happened this round. Scott selected C.J. Cron at the top. Then Arolda's Chapman.

Terrick Scouble, Alex Verdugo, strong pick in a points league. Lots of doubles. Should hit near the top of the Red Sox lineup. I selected Austin Meadows. Then Eddie Rosario, and Joe Ryan and Chris you are on deck

see what you are going to do here let's check in on your team Chris it's been a while since we've seen what you got going on here you don't have a catcher or a third basement but you've got Jose Abraeu with Maryfield Corey Seeger in the infield you've got Mike Trout Christian Yelich George Springer in the outfield very strong Jared Kellnick as your utility bet

then at pitcher you've got Robbie Ray Eduardo Rodriguez Brandon Woodruff Framber Valdez Patrick Sandoval and you've got your two relievers in Kenley Jansen and Severino and you are now on the clock Chris

are you looking at a catcher or a third basement thinking about a third baseman thinking I could probably wait that is what I've been doing and I think the guy I have at the top of my list is unlikely to be drafted so I will go with another one of my favorite sleeper pitcher

much earlier than I would normally take him, but Alex Cobb. Oof. Alex Cobb. I'm pretty happy with this team. Hey, your team looks great. Yeah. I like it as well. I was interested to see where the pitching turned out.

I know you took Woodruff and Robbie Ray early on, but Framber Valdez excels in this format. You and I are both in on Eduardo Rodriguez. We all like Patrick Sandival as a breakout candidate. You've got an elite closer. with a spark. And now you get another pitching option, some more depth there in Alex Cobb.

So it's a nice team you put together. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Obviously, you know, catcher's not going to be good. I mean, that's, if you're going to punt at a position, it's catcher. Yeah, and there's a few decent names available too.

So we'll see who you wind up with there. After you selected Alex Cobb, Corey Kluber, Giovanni Gallegos, Craig Kimbril to finish out round 15, and then starting off round 16, we see Luke Voight and Alex Wood selected. Charlie Blackman. So to answer your question, Chris,

we need one more Rockies player drafted, and that will be three in this draft. CJ Crone and Charlie Blackman are the first two Rockies hitters selected there. Your backup, Chris, is it time for that third baseman? No. No, no. It's time to fill the catcher position

and in keeping with the theme of aiming for potential difference makers. I will go with a guy who maybe will be up on opening day, but certainly has the potential to be a significant difference maker. I mean, we could be talking about Adley Rushman as, I mean, very realistically as the number one catcher in fantasy for most of the next decade, right? I mean, this is, he's a guy who, you know,

I was reading Fangraph's Top 100 Prospects or Top 101, whatever they do, and they talked about how they can, considered giving him a future value of 80, which I think they've only done once before. They ended up giving him a 70, which is still incredibly high. But he is the kind of prospect Adley Rushman, who was the number one pick in the 2019 draft catcher, who expectations should be really, really high. What he did last season and effectively his first real taste of professional baseball between AA and AAA, walked it around a 14. percent clip overall, struck out around 17% of the time, had an ISO right around 200. He does basically everything you want. It's entirely possible that we're talking about him as a Buster Posey's too high of a comparison, but that's the ceiling. I mean, that's the model here.

I mean, I don't think it's far fast. He's a, he's a Hall of Famer. You don't want to, you don't want to do the Hall of Famer comp for every top prospect. I don't know that Poster POSI is a Hall of Famer, first of all. That's a different argument for a different podcast. But, I mean, I think Adley Rushman's power ceiling is definitely higher than Posey's was. It's, he, he's, he's, he's as flawless of a catcher prospect as, I think has ever been.

Since Matt Weeders. Yeah. I say that, I say that a little tongue and cheek, but like Matt Weaders actually was like, he was a huge prospect. An unbelievable prospect. I just wonder if, hang on, I wonder something,

but I'm trying to make my picks here also. Scott, you make your picks in the meantime. I did just want to mention the strikeout to walk rate for Adley Rushman last year in the minors. 90 strikeouts to 79 walks. I mean, this guy's plate discipline was ridiculous. So you're talking about a format where that kind of skill set obviously excels.

So I'm all about it. I actually, I really do think, if you play in a one catcher head-to-head points league and you wait a catcher, I think Adley Ruchman is a really smart move. I know you probably want to load up on starting pitchers in your reserve rounds, but if you have one of those spots dedicated

to just stashing Adly Ruchman until he's up, which he could be on opening day, we don't know, and then just fill in with Mitch Garver or whatever, Travis Darno or Elias Diaz until he gets called up. I think that's a perfectly fine strategy. So I like it. It's just the five-man bench in a league

in a format where you're constantly streaming pitchers. You don't think four bench spots is enough, though, Scott, for starting pictures? No, I would say this. I never have enough bench spots in a head-to-ed points league. You would hope that it's not a month and a half. Right. Because you're going to wait however long it is, right?

Yeah, I think you have to, unless there's some reason not to. Yeah, like he gets heard or there's just some kind of indication that he's not going to get called up. He gets hurt is probably the only one. Let's catch people up, though. After you selected Adelaide Rechman, there were a ton of picks, Jesus Lozardo, Christian Javier, Camilo DeVal. I selected Junjun Riu. He is my SP6.

Then Drew Rasmussen, who I think is a sleeper spark candidate in this format. He was really good for Tampa Bay down the stretch. Gary Sanchez, Jordan Montgomery, and then Scott at the 16-17 turn, selected Tony Gonsolin and Alex Kirolov, two players, who I know you talk about quite a bit, Scott. And then Tristan McKenzie, Lucas Sims, and Tyler Stevenson. Those are the first four picks of round 17.

But if you'd like to tell us more about Tony Gonsolin and Alex Kiroloff, please do. Yeah, definitely going for upside here. I'm drafted a ton of Tony Gonsolin this year. I think the Dodgers need him more than ever. He's hurt a lot of last year and his walk rate ballooned because of it, but he still managed to have an ERA in the lows threes, which is something he's done every year. He's had a great ERA.

And yeah, I think this is his year to take the step forward that we saw Julio Reyes take. Not saying he's going to be a 20-game winner or anything, and we're going to be drafting it in the top 10 starting pitchers a year from now. but I do like the upside relative to most of the starting pitchers that are left. And then Kirilloff, obviously, I think a pretty obvious upside play there. You don't even really need to get into it too much. Big prospect who got hurt, hurt his wrist early last year,

and yet still clobbered the ball until finally giving into surgery. Hopefully he puts it all together. Yep, and he is one of those prospects, much like Adley-Rutchman, where the plate discipline in the miners was really strong, makes a good amount of contact as well. I don't know that he walks all that much, but should hit for a good amount of power,

and even if it's not over the fence, over the fence power, then I think a lot of those will be doubles, which helps in this format as well. I think he could be, I think he could be Kyle Tucker without the steals, Kierloff.

You know what I was thinking? It's got Nick Cassiano's. I feel like that's like a fair, like an upside comp for Alex Kierloff, if it all comes together. But catch people up here. After Tyler Stevenson, when he was the last pick I mentioned,

I selected Hermann Marquez. I understand it's a disaster trying to figure out when to use Hermann Marquez. I'm frustrated that you did that. He goes very deep into his starts pretty consistently. So if you look at last year, he threw 180 innings back in 2019, 174.

That was over 28 starts. In 2018, he threw 196. So, you know, I'm going to have to really pick and choose the matchups here, but I do think head to add points is probably Hermann-Marquez's best format if we're being honest. After I selected him, Robbie Grossman,

K. Brian Hayes, Tommy Edmund, Chris, you selected Luis Aureas. Shout out. I'm a fan. And then Andrew Heaney and Josiah Gray go to Josiah Gray goes to R.J. White. There's just no such thing as having

a cue at starting pitcher in this draft. It's just every time you put someone in there, they're going to get drafted. Boom! Third Rockies hitter selected, Chris. Take that. But yeah, Luis Arias, as my third... Brendan Rogers was later. I figured I could wait

for a few rounds for Louis Sirius. I referenced him a little while ago, but walks a decent amount presumably, you know, if last year was real, especially the second half, he won't strike out too much. So, I think Luis Arias can be a top 12 third basement in this format.

So getting him in the 17th round was, I'm pretty happy with that. Chris, ever since you've made the Luis Arias Jonathan India comp, it's put like a mental block on me drafting Jonathan India. Like, I just have not been able to do it since you made that comp. It's, you look at the second half numbers. The second half numbers from Arias. I mean, he was a very similar to Jonathan India. It's, you know, can he carry it over and do it over the course of a full season?

That remains to be seen. but had some big prospect pedigree, and he was good last year. I think he can take the next step, so me and Chris are in lockstep there on Luis Arias. Round 18, we are into round 18 now, and Alex Reyes goes off the board, Ryan Mountcastle, and Jesus Aguilar,

who, regardless of what you think about the player, the Marlins love him. So they're probably going to play him. And with that... Oh, he's an everyday player for sure. I still want to see what Laywin Diaz can do, Chris, with every day at bats, but... Yeah, but they've got the DH. I'm not expecting them to sign someone to play DH.

I would think they're going to give Aguilar time there or Diaz or, you know, they've still got a handful of recent top prospects who haven't gotten a full amount of playing time yet. So I think Aguilar is going to play every day and it's probably a little undervalued in fantasy. My gosh, starting pitch. right now. Round 18, a little over 200 picks in. My top rank starting pitchers

are you say Kikuchi, Luis Petino, and Nestor Cortez. Same. Yeah, it's not looking too good out here. And how do you know? Chris just selected Chris Paddock. So that's where we're at. Shout out.

Shout out to everyone in this draft. It's, you know, sharp draft room so far. They definitely know what they're doing here and head-to-head points. And pitchers are flying. after Chris elected Paddock, we see Casey Mize and Wascari Noah

go off the board. And Wascari Noah was really good last year. I'm not sure that he has a rotation spot for sure with the Braves, but if he can rekindle some of what we saw in the first half of last season, he could be a steal. He's going quite late in drafts.

He's like a poor man's Denelsen in the Met. Like the version of Denalas and the Met, we hoped we were going to get when he, I think, 2020, I guess, heading into 2020. Yeah. It definitely seemed like just the way they used him versus other pitchers in the postseason that they

don't really value as a starting pitcher, at least not a long-term option in the rotation. I'm not expecting him to win a rotation spot, but he's certainly in the mix. And he's a two-pitch pitcher who's probably going to give up some home runs. So it makes sense why they may not

view him as a starter, but he's probably going to get a bunch of strikeouts too. So, you know, I think there's, there's not nothing there. Yeah. And he's another one of these, Chris, kind of like Jack Flaherty, where stat cast doesn't like Wascari Noah because he allows a lot of hard contact, but the underlying numbers on fan graphs,

the ERA estimators, the K-minus walk rate, all of those things really did like Wascari-Noa last year. I would caution anyone who drafts him with the, just the, like, looking forward, if he gets off to a hot start because he's like that two pitch pitcher he's someone I could see the league kind of adjusting to maybe the second

or third time they face him so if he starts hot I mean maybe look at him as like a sell high candidate I mean this is like we're really looking far ahead at this point but just something I've noticed with Wascari Noah something I would also caution with Joe Ryan with this kind of invisible fastball

I think the more times the teams see him like they might start to pick things up so if he gets off to a hot start maybe try to sell high on Joe Ryan there's always the potential for, I think with Inoa more than Joe Ryan for that like Freddie Peralta type leap where Peralta was his fat, he was a 70 to 80% fastball guy and his fastball was just incredibly hard for hitters to pick up. And so he got a bunch of whiffs on it, but he got hit really hard and he couldn't really get through the order multiple times. You know, Inoa did throw a change up 7% of the time last season. And the results were actually pretty good.

it's a really small sample size. But if he can get that change up to the point where he's throwing it maybe 15% of the time with how good his slider is, then I think things could get really interesting with Vascarino. I would say the same exact thing about Joe Ryan, actually, Chris, because his secondary stuff is really good. He just doesn't throw it that much. He, I mean, he throws his four-seam fastball, which is just 91 miles per hour, 66% of the time.

Slider, 16%, change up 10%, curbball, 8%. So if he just uses that those secondary pitches more, I think we could see a breakout from Joe Ryan. So pretty interesting pitcher. Let's catch people up after Wascarinoa went. We see Luis Patino. I selected Bailey Ober. Then Trent Grisham, Joe Adele, Jorge Salare. Great pick.

Jorge Saler in round 18. I love that. And then Scott at the turn, you go with nasty Nestor Cortez and Hunter Renfro. I mean, for the brand. You got to do it. Did you see Nestor Cortez hit 96 miles? per hour in an arcade the other day. Yeah, I mean, that's a good sign.

We've got to learn more about these radar guns. I mean, that's... With a running start. No, no, it was just a wind up on flat ground. Yeah. I thought I saw him take a step or two. It was off flat ground. Yeah, Nestor Cortez, I'm surprised.

Like, my initial ranking of him was much higher than anybody else clearly had him. So I obviously had to move him down quite a bit. he was really effective as a starting pitcher for the Yankees last year. Now, he gives up a ton of fly balls, and that's obviously a dangerous part to do that in. But he's just such a funky pitcher that, I don't know, I'm willing to give him a shot late, see if he can keep it going.

He likes to throw off Hinner's timing by varying his wind-up in sometimes comical ways and really good control. kind of maybe kind of a poor man's John means. I don't know. I think that's possibly. The biggest, well, maybe not the biggest concern, but one concern is do the Yankees commit to giving him a rotation spot? As of now, I think they have to,

but we'll see what kind of moves they make. David Garcia would have to have a really good spring or something like that, but he was awful last season, so it seems like he'd have to prove a lot. And I want to say this about Hunter Renfro, you know, he seems like a guy that would be better in categories, leagues because the plate discipline isn't so great. He averaged about as many points per game as Randy of Rosarano last year.

He averaged his many points per game as John Carlos Stanton last year. And I don't, maybe the strikeout rate goes south because it was a career best for Renfro. But if that sticks for him, I don't see what part of his 2021 line he's not going to be able to sustain. I think the part of that would be that we've seen so we've seen what happened with John Carlos Stanton when he had the outlier strikeout rate season you know and he was the MVP

whereas Renfro it was like he had the outlier strikeout rate season and it was yeah I know you could point to one exam a lot of times a guy does improve his strikeout rate in stats and I'm not saying for what it's worth that Renfro deserves to be taken on equal footing with Stan.

There were some weird, like the runs scored for Stanton. There were some weird things going on with Stanton stat line. But I'm just saying, like, I don't know why people are dismissing him so firmly when he was genuinely great last year and in ways that seemed like they could stick. Yes, and the Brewers gave up a decent amount to get him. They gave up a few prospects in that deal, and they've talked Renfro up. They view him as a main piece of their lineup hitting. right in the middle there, batting cleanup for the brewers.

We made it to the end of round 19 before I reveal the latest picks. We're going to take a quick break, but we will get you caught up next on fantasy baseball today. All right, so Scott selected Hunter Renfro at the start of the round, and after that we saw Eduardo Escobar, Ryan McMahon, Brandon Belt. I took Mark Melanson as my second relief pitcher. I also have Calquantral. Honestly, I wanted someone else to select Mark Melanson. That's why I waited so long to take him because I didn't want to have to.

to take him, but no one else was going to take him. So I just, I'll be the one who takes Mark Moyanson. After I took him, then Danesby Swanson, Michael Brantley. That's a sneaky good pick in this format. Akeel Badu. We have reached the Reed Detmer's part of the podcast. You know what? Redetmers needs to get more love.

He was really good in the minors last season. Yes, he wasn't good in the majors. And maybe he won't be. He was, what? I mean, Scott, you can probably tell this story better, but college arm lefty who goes 10th overall, I would guess that was more of a projectability signing than a upside draft pick.

He's surprised with a boost in velocity in the minors last year, has an amazing curveball. Very good in the minors, like 100 strikeouts in 60-something innings, a low 3s, R.A. So he is someone that needs to be drafted, I think, in most leagues as a bench option.

I would say, maybe not in most head-to-head points, leagues. It's, we're going especially deep at starting pitcher today. Um, but I would say your typical like 29 or 30 round roto league, Reed Detmer's deserves to, uh, to be in that discussion. And the Angels could definitely use him too. I'm looking at their projected rotation, according to Ross of Resource. And that includes Michael Lorenzen, Jose Suarez, and Jaime Berea as their SP 4, 5, and 6. So, uh, if Reed Detmer's can provide anything, that would be great. After you selected him,

then we see Michael Paneda, James and Tyone, and Kyle Gibson, and then in round 20. A.J. Pollack, another fantastic pick. He was... Every hitter pick.

Really good on a per game basis last year. Adbert Alzali, pretty sneaky pick, too. He was good once he returned from the I.L. last year. I'm interested to see what Alzalai

can do. Then Drew Smiley, Zach Plesack. Oh, Chris. Zach Plesack, 232. Overall, why not? Take the shot.

I drafted him in TGFBI as well. He's going to give you innings, if nothing else. I mean, look, he's going 200 picks later than he was last season. So the risk of him bottoming out is you drop him now, whereas last year you probably hung on to him for too long. So, yeah, I'm totally fine with a dart throw on Zach, please, Zach, that he can find something and go back to being at least a high three ZERA guy who pitches deep into games consistently.

Yeah, and if he does that, he's probably a lot like Aaron Savale or Kyle Hendricks, who went, you know, rounds ago. So take a shot this late. Then Marco Gonzalez, Sean Murphy, Frankie Two Hits, Frank Schwindell, I selected Garrett Whitlock, relief pitcher eligible. You know, with the hope that he gets an opportunity in the rotation, he's another pitcher. We don't know exactly what he's going to be yet.

He could be the closer for the Red Sox. He could be in their rotation. He could just be a multi-any reliever. We just don't know, but the stuff is really good. So at this point, I'll take a shot and see where he winds up on that team. Then Nate Pearson, I think kind of similar situation. We know he's not going to be the closer, but the role is undetermined as of now. Paul Seawald, Dane Dunning, and Scotty at the turn, you select Julio Rodriguez, and Mitch Keller, who was apparently...

You're at the Mitch Keller portion of the program. Mitch Keller, who apparently is throwing 100 miles per hour, according to Twitter at this juncture. Yeah, he's been working out with one of those pitchers. development programs this offseason. I can't remember the name offhand. But yeah, I mean, there's been a lot of buzz building on Twitter because of videos of him hitting like 102, right, or something like that. Basically up three, four miles per hour, there's been statistics provided to, and he's

averaging three to four miles per hour in that facility more on his fastball than he did last year. I mean, control's been a big issue for him, too, so I'm not sure. how much, like, I'm not going crazy, but I'll take a flyer just in case it leads into a big spring training. I think the takeaway from this point in the draft is these are not guys who would typically get drafted in the 12 team league. It's the way this specific draft has gone. Even a typical 12 team head-to-head points league. I don't think Scott would be taking Mitch Keller in the 21st round.

Yeah. Starting pitchers got hidden so hard. And I don't see the need to fill up my bench with a lot of hitters when obviously, ones of similar caliber will be available on the waiver wire in the time I want to tap into that which is also why I took Julio Rodriguez just in the off

chance he does win a job in spring training which Jerry Depoto the Mariners GM has acknowledged as possible then I won't have to fight everybody on the waiver wire for him yeah when you're in the draft and you can see in the last round that Dylan Carlson and Mitch

Garver and O'Neill Cruz and Yule Garreal and Brayal and Brandon Crawford, guys who typically would get drafted are still out there, that's even more of an argument in favor of just continuing to go with that starting pitcher heavy bench, which I think pretty much everyone in this league has. Yep. Yep. So I'll continue that with my last pick as well. I mean, Yuleiguriel, I would have loved to take him if I hadn't already drafted two first basement,

because this is his format. He actually averaged more points per game 307. then Josh Bell, well, then C.J. C.J. Cron for that matter. I mean, he just so rarely strikes out, and he hits a lot of doubles. Yeah, I think that's an even better argument for drafting pitchers early. It's like we're in the last round of this draft,

and Matt Chapman just went. Think about that, right? Like, you can get him at this point in your draft. So I think that's an argument for selecting starting pitchers early and just gobbling up all the, the hitter value that goes at this point. Who else has gone in round 21? I mentioned Scott took Mitch Keller,

then Matt Chapman, James Paxton, Ronesi Contreras. He's a pitcher prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I selected Mike Soroka. Not really sure if we have IL spots in this league, but assuming that we do, I typically, I try to leave any draft where I have an IL spot with a pitcher

or a hitter that I can stash and wait on, and, you know, there's excess value there. someone like a Steven Strassberg where you know he could start on the IEL whoever it might be I like to you know obviously make use of those IL spots if we have them and then Mitch Garver goes Tyler McGill Spencer Torkelson Chris selects Dylan Carlson

Andrew Benintendi Yule Gurriel Yule Gurriel Yule Guriel was the second to last pick in this draft I mean it's it's crazy head to points leagues and then Rich Hill of course is Mr. Irrelevant and we've we've reached the end we are at the end of this mock draft all 21 rounds, quicker than I anticipated. So not bad, good job, guys.

And let's wrap up by taking a look at each of our teams. Scott will start with you. You, of course, we're drafting first overall. Let's take a look at that infield. You've got Dalton Varsho, Josh Bell, Brandon Lau, Alex Breggman, and Bobby Witt. In the outfield, you've got Hunter Renfro, Alex Kiraloff, Juan Soto,

and you've got CJ Crone as your utility hitter. And then for the pitchers, you've got Sandy Alcancera, Julio Arreus, Luis Castillo, Chris Sale, Noah Cindergarde is your SP5, and then your relievers, you've got Ryseli Glacius, Ranger Suarez,

and you loaded up with a bunch of pitchers on your bench, and of course, Julio Rodriguez. What do you think about this team? Is this a typical head-to-head points, Scott White team? Yes and no. I am definitely willing to go light on the hitter front for more starting pitchers. And I think I did that, but because everybody was going heavy starting pitchers,

it doesn't look as overwhelmingly dominant on the pitcher's side of things. And I'm not thrilled with the way my lineup looks, to be honest. I mean, I'm asking for Bobby Witt to come up right away and make an impact. Otherwise, I'm beginning the year with a waiver wire shortstop. My second best hitter is Alex Bregman, who obviously was coming off a pretty underwhelming season. My third best hitter is Brandon Lough.

I don't think it's like... I think I can work with it. I think I can work with it because the reason I'm willing to go light at hitter is because you can really piece together a nine-man lineup off the waiver wire in this format. It's always replete with hitters. There are going to be a line.

lot that weren't on people's radar that break out with big numbers over the course of a season. So I'm not sweating it too much, but it's, it's certain, I don't think it's the best I've ever done. I think you need one more pitcher. Like if it was, like I think if it was, gosh, I don't know who the guy would be. If it was Joe Musgrove instead of Noah Cinderguard, I think it works. I think that's where it's short. Like the offense, the offense feels like you're a pitcher short. It kind of is Ranger Suarez instead of Noah Cindergarde.

Yeah. But I agree. I mean, I wish, given the investment I made it starting pitcher, I wish it looked stronger than it did. I'm trying to figure out maybe where you could have grabbed that starting pitcher, Scott. You took Alex Bregman with the first pick of round five, but I know that you obviously wanted to wind up with a song,

a strong third baseman. It could have been... Let's see, your round seven pick... Max Fried instead of Alex Breggman. Or Max Fried instead of Alex Breggman, yeah. Yeah. Or instead of Brandon Lau in round seven, remember, you know, we talked about how, you know, you were expecting the second base run.

It turned out to be the shortstop run. Yeah, but that crop of starting pitchers after Brandon Lowe's not... Yeah. It doesn't make me feel much better. Yeah. No, you're exactly right. And I don't regret the Breggman pitch,

pick for what it's worth. I mean, sometimes a draft just plays out in a way that you can only do, you can only do the best you can do. And I do think it made sense. Yeah, I'd, I mean, obviously, I need Bregman to stay healthy. If he doesn't stay healthy, then it's a moot point. But I'd rather have that third base spot locked in than have to scrap for that. Because a lot of people are going to be scrapping for a third base. And there's going to be a lot of competition to fill that position. If somebody he does emerge off the waiver wire, like Jose Miranda or whatever. All right, let's take a look at Chris's team. And on the hitter side, he's got Adley Ruchman,

the top catcher prospect in the game from the Baltimore Orioles. Jose Ibrahim, Witt Merrifield, Luis Aris is his starting third baseman. Then Corey Seeger. In the outfield, you've got Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, George Springer, Jared Kelnick is your utility bet. Then at starting pitcher, you've got Brandon Woodruff, Robbie Ray, Framber Valdez, Eduardo Rodriguez, Patrick Sandoval as your SP5,

and then your relievers, Kenley Jansen, Luis Severino. On the bench, you've got Alex Cobb, Chris Paddock, Reed Detmer, Zach Plesack, and Dylan Carlson. I think this is a job well done, Chris. I think it's a really balanced team. Yeah, I'm really happy with the way this team worked out,

and I actually went quite heavy at hitter. I think I only had two pitchers in my first seven picks, I want to say. But then I hit pitcher really hard. And I'm really glad I did when I did because it would have been. It'd be really ugly if I had waited any longer. But being able to round out the Robbie Ray, Brandon Woodruff, combination with Rodriguez, Framber Valdez, and Patrick Sandoval. It's not the most sure thing starting pitching staff ever.

But I think all five of those are in my version of Scott's top 55, whatever that number would be. I do feel I feel good about all of them as a starter and I like the upside of Cobb and Detmer's and Paddock is obviously a big wild card and then please act you know kind of similar but I'm very happy with this team like the pitching staff is good enough for how good the offense is and part of that was I did take a lot of risks at hit her as well you know a lot of people would throw up if they had a Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, George, Springer

outfield. But that's the kind of thing I'm willing to do. Yeah. And again, I think it's easier to take risks in a shallower lineup league because the replacement value is going to be much better on the waiver wire. So I do agree with taking the shots on Trout and Springer and Yelich. This is obviously a very small thing to nitpick, but your only bench hitter is... Dylan Carlson. Dylan Carlson, Luis is your starting third baseman.

I'm looking at the remaining third baseman. Like, I probably take Josh Donaldson just to like sure up my third base position, but whatever. You could pick a moment. Oh, he went undrafted. Donaldson.

Yeah, Donaldson went undrafted. And then there's like, Eugenio Suarez, Alec Boem, who I like as a sleeper. But yeah, it's third base is definitely a weakness.

But I, I wanted, because Kellinix my utility, I wanted to get an upside outfield or in case Kalenik doesn't hit. All right. Yeah. Scott,

do you have any feedback for Chris and his team? No. This might be the first time ever. Scott likes one of my teams more than his. I don't know if it's the first time ever, but yeah, I would say I do in this case. I mean,

obviously it looks a lot worse if Yelich has a year like he did last. Sure. Yeah. That changes the math quite a bit. But, you know, like I just got done saying, you can, especially the outfield.

I think you could assemble the whole thing off the waiver wire over the course of the season and still have a really strong team. All right. And we'll wrap up, take a look at my team here at Catcher. I've got Wilson Contreras, then Paul Goldschmidt, Jorge Polanco, Raphael Devers, Willie Adomis in the infield. In the outfield, I've got Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, and Austin Meadows with Nelson Cruz at My Utility.

At pitcher, I've got Garrett Cole. I've got Logan Webb, Jack Flarety, Sean Mania and Luis Garcia. My relievers are Mark Malanson and Cal Quantrell. So we each wound up with one spark and one closer. That's pretty interesting. I think it's the first time that has happened this offseason. My bench is filled with pitchers,

Junjin Ryu, Mike Soroka, Hermann Marquez, Bailey Ober, and Garrett Whitlock. Chris, I like this team. I don't love it. I feel like, I wish I either. had a better SP2 or SP3. So maybe not being as aggressive on hitters in the, I don't know, rounds two through eight range and probably grabbing another starting pitcher there.

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it comes down to how you feel about Jack Flaherty and Logan Webb. And since I'm a little lower on them both, it looks a little weaker. But if you swapped them for Max, Freed, and I don't know, Musgrove or Luis Castillo or something. Maybe you feel maybe it's a little bit better or a little bit worse. But yeah, I think

I think it's pretty good. But yeah, I think the two three pitcher spots are where you look at it and say it would feel better if it was someone a little more of a sure thing. Scott, I don't know that I've drafted a team this offseason that you like. I feel like

this one's probably going to probably going to also fit that mold. But what do you think? I mean, again, the thing that stands out to me most, you know, I've got Gary Cole, who I think, you know, is our unanimous SP1 at this point. But after that, I feel like the pitching could be a little bit better in this format. I mean, look, based on the way everybody was drafting pitching, I haven't looked at all 12 of the teams, but I'm sure everybody feels like the pitching could be a little better. There was just so much competition. I think, look, I'd feel fine coming out of the draft with that team.

There are no obvious holes in your starting nine there. I think maybe the most questionable is Austin Meadows because I think there's a good chance he's just a platoon player this year but whatever you can replace an outfielder off the waiver wire no problem and the pitching I think is you know you got a true one through three there

and it's not like it's not like Luis Garcia and Sean Manaya are you know they should be perfectly fine options that you keep on your roster maybe move in and out of your lineup some but keep on your roster all season long All right. Well, I will take that. Some nice words there from Scotty, some feedback, which I do appreciate. And speaking of which, Scottie, are you ready? Are you ready for Tout Wars on Tuesday? You are up.

I know, I know. Yeah, I'm ready, I guess. I'm not going to do a lot of smack talk before I even drafted my first player. We'll see how the team comes out. But that's nice that I got to do I got to do my TG FBI draft, at least the majority of it, another 15-team roto draft before. So it'll be fresh on my mind. It'll be a little different because Tau Wars uses OPP instead of batting average.

But I tend to think people overcompensate for that. It's never been really an issue managing that OBP category for me. So yeah, I think I'm ready. And we'll talk about it. on the Tuesday night podcast. Oh, no, Tuesday nights tomorrow. We'll talk about it on the Wednesday night podcast.

Yes. See how it did. If you haven't realized by now, Scott will not be on the podcast tomorrow because, of course, he is drafting in Tout Wars. And we don't want to do anything crazy like, I don't know, live stream is Tout Wars draft and distract the poor guy.

So Scott's drafting. Maybe we do. Maybe it's just us color commentating on his draft. This is the time of year to get a little creative, right? While we're waiting for spring training in the season. You don't need me on to commentate on the draft. if you want to. All right. Chris, I don't know.

We've got something brewing here. Maybe we'll do that. Scott drafting eighth out of 15 people in that draft. Again, it's 5x5-15-team Roto with OBP instead of batting average. I'm open for Harper, baby. I'm open for Harper at 8. Scott, will you be live tweeting about your draft? Probably.

All right, cool. So everyone, make sure you go follow. You should have been following Scott anyway. At CBS, Scott White. If you want to follow along with his Tout Wars draft on Tuesday night, when you are likely listening to this earlier Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon, whatever it is. Anyway, we're going to wrap there. For Scott and Chris, I am Frank, thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.