While the Mock Draft Army carried on its weekly duties and completed another pair of 15-team mixed league drafts for the sake of building those ADP numbers, we decided to mix it up a little this week and added a pair of 12-team single-league drafts as well. In an effort not to skew the ADP data, these drafts were not included in the overall numbers. However, I thought it was important to share some of the information attained from participating in each, so that those of you who compete in AL or NL-only leagues weren’t feeling neglected here. We’re not going to be looking at it round by round as we’ve done with some of the mixed league drafts. Instead, we’re going to look at some observations made before, during and after each draft to help you build a viable strategy heading into your own.

12-Team AL-Only

Complete Draft Results (courtesy of Real Time Fantasy Sports)

Obviously the player pool is a lot shallower here in single-league play, but at least the AL affords you some extra names thanks to the use of the designated hitter. Obviously the number isn’t that great, but 15 extra players (more even if you consider a small number of platoon situations) is still 15 extra players and when you’re struggling to find bodies in the later rounds of the draft, it can make a significant difference. What’s even better is that we’re not just looking at extra guys to add to your utility spot. John Jaso is a catcher acting as the DH in Tampa Bay. New White Sox DH, Adam LaRoche, is a first baseman. The Angels’ Matt Joyce is an outfielder and both the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Toronto’s Danny Valencia qualify at third base. Again, not deep like Kierkegaard deep, but just deep enough to make it just a tiny bit easier.

Catcher – The top five fantasy catchers in the AL present some solid options. There’s power, there’s batting average, on-base percentage and some decent runs scored. You’d be happy with any of them. You could even stretch it to the top six as Evan Gattis now resides in Houston and Russell Martin’s return to the AL should prove positive. If it’s a single-catcher league you don’t have to jump too quickly, but as you can see in a two-catcher league, if you want a steady backstop to anchor the position for you, you don’t want to wait to grab your first much past the seventh/eight round.

First Base – Similarly to mixed leagues, the position is flush with talent. You need to act early if you want an elite, but the latter part of the top-10 comes off around the sixth or seventh round, so if you wantr to build elsewhere first, you can still find viable options in LaRoche or Eric Hosmer if you need. If you’re looking to fill your corner infield spot with a first baseman, the late pickings are pretty slim but you can still find a Mark Teixeira or a Jonathan Singleton later on.

Second Base – Surprisingly deep, but if things in your draft go the way it went here, you’ll know to act relatively quickly as the top seven were peeled off the board by the end of the fourth round. Sure, you can find some late hopefuls like Rougned Odor or Emilio Bonifacio, but even a guy like Asdrubal Cabrera who, granted, also qualifies at shortstop, comes off the board in the sixth.

Third Base – It’s a good, solid 10-deep with the top six coming off the board in the first three rounds. But after that, there are some interesting options coming off later. Brett Lawrie didn’t come off the board until the eights, Chase Headley in the 10th and even Trevor Plouffe, who always seems to be left for late, came off in the 11th. If you want to go deeper and riskier, then A-Rod in the 14th wasn't bad and Mike Moustakas did get taken until the latter half of the 18th round. You could be better off grabbing a third baseman as your corner infielder.

Shortstop – Remember your old analogies from the SAT tests? Well, we can make certain statements with regard to the corner and middle infield positions here. First base is to third base like second base is to shortstop. This position is a heck of a lot deeper than second base and is the perfect pool to dip into for your middle infield spot. Sure, you can use a first or second round pick on Hanley Ramirez or Jose Reyes, but the next tier doesn’t come off until the fourth and the tier after that doesn’t start to get drafted until the eighth or ninth round. Even in the 14th and 15th rounds, there are full-time bodies to be had.

Outfield – So walking in to the draft I wondered aloud about how the position would thin out and immediately, Lawr Michaels said that I would be surprised as to the depth. I think we were both right. The top 20 outfielders were off the board inside the first six rounds which was actually a bit lower of a percentage that it was in mixed drafts and because of that, there were still some solid options still available later. Whether it was Dalton Pompey in the 10th, Michael Bourn in the 13th or even Shane Victorino in the 16th, there were still a number of full-time outfielders available. It was pretty ugly in the final five rounds for outfield, but by then, most of us had our five slots already filled.

Starting Pitchers – No different than in a mixed-league draft. There’s plenty of quality starting pitching to be had throughout the draft and there’s no need to use too high a draft pick to lock down the ace. A good staff can be built without one.

Relief Pitchers – This was tough for me as you all know by now that I love drafting elite closers. But obviously the player pool thins out here what with half the teams and plenty of volatility at the position. I opted to wait longer than usual, but after Lawr double-tapped the closers at the turn of the fifth and sixth rounds, I got a little nervous. When it didn’t immediately spur a closer run, I continued to wait and happily found Huston Street in the eighth and then later, Zach Britton in the 10th. For me, you don’t want to wait much longer than that unless you want to fully commit to chasing saves all year. It’s obviously a strategy employed by many, but to me, still a wasted of valuable FAAB dollars.

12-Team NL-Only

Complete Draft Results (courtesy of Real Time Fantasy Sports)

We lose the DH here, but while the player pool is less than in an AL-only, managers know how to mix guys in throughout games and suddenly, some of the late-round platoon guys don’t seem so bad after all. It still gets ugly in the last few rounds though so don’t count on too many diamonds in the rough.

Catcher – The position looks much prettier here in the NL than it does in the Al and it’s not just because you’ve got the top two fantasy catchers here. There’s some real nice depth to be had here. Buster Posey and Jonathan Lucroy (hamstring notwithstanding) come off within the first two or three rounds while the next tier can be had around the fifth or sixth. Even in two-catcher leagues, you don’t need to jump as quickly as there were perfectly solid options in the ninth, 10th and 11th rounds as well.

First Base – Even if you consider Todd Frazier and Buster Posey  as better options at their primary positions, there’s still some real nice depth to be had here. Similarly to the AL, though, you have to act quickly if you want to grab an elite slugger at the position. While there’s a definite drop off from the like of Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Rizzo, the drop-off from Freddie Freeman and Adrian Gonzalez in the second and third rounds isn’t that steep going to Lucas Duda and Brandon Belt in the sixth. Corner-infield options such as Ryan Howard, Adam Lind and Yonder Alonso can be had somewhere between the 11th and 13th rounds, so unlike the AL, you can definitely find yourself some mid to late-round help.

Second Base – Love this position for both second base and middle infield plays. While Anthony Rendon is a first-round pick, the rest of the field can be had in the fourth round and beyond. In fact, you can still find solid options such as Brandon Phillips and Jedd Gyorko in the 10th or 11th. You don’t want to wait too long though as the final rounds are barren, but you can definitely take care of business inside the first 15 rounds.

Third Base – Jump on it quickly because it gets a little ugly pretty quickly. The top six are gone within the first three rounds and from there it thins out tremendously. So much so that people who don’t land a top guy start to get real nervous around the eighth round when those who did start looking for corner infielders. Suddenly more people believe in a Pedro Alvarez rebound or a last-gasp effort from Aramis Ramirez and the reaches begin. But they almost have to if they don’t want to get saddled with a Casey McGehee or a Will Middlebrooks.

Shortstop – It might not be as robust as the AL’s shortstop pool, but the options here in the NL are fairly solid and run about 12 players deep before you start to show some real concern for your middle infield safety. Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Desmond run off in the first two rounds with Starlin Castro coming off the board around the fourth, but the rest of the pool doesn’t really start to get claimed until roughly the seventh or eighth round. There are also solid options in Wilmer Flores, Alexi Amarista and Yunel Escobar after the 13th round, so don’t let panic get the best of you.

Outfield – It runs very similarly to the AL, except that the top two tiers run much deeper here. Because of that, more outfielders are coming off the board quicker. Twenty-two came off the board in the first five rounds and from there, they were fairly evenly scattered around the middle rounds. But again, don’t bypass those middle-round options as the last five rounds of this NL-only draft looked pretty darn ugly.

Starting Pitcher – Again, plenty deep with lots of tasty mid-to late-round round bargains to be had. No need to jump early again as you can build a rock solid staff from the fifth round and beyond.

Relief Pitchers – The top two tiers are a little deeper here than they are in the AL, but that also means people tend to jump a little quicker on the high-end relievers. The top five or six relievers came off the board between the third and sixth rounds and then in the following rounds, we had ourselves a nice, little closer run. No one double-tapped like they did in the AL, but that’s because they moved off the board that much quicker.

For a look at the two mixed league drafts that took place, the links are below and an updated ADP chart will be available during the week.

Mock Draft Army #15

Mock Draft Army #16

More mocks coming, folks!

There’s still plenty of time to join.