The following draft took place on February 17, 2017 at 7pm ET

12 teams, 5x5 standard roto scoring

23 starters – 2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P

2 reserves

Industry Participants:

Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm), Nathan Dokken (Nasty Cast Fantasy Podcast), Pat Wisniewski (Mastersball), Rick Boleto (@StatsR_Us)

Link to Draft Board

My Pick: 4

Strategy

I’ve been waiting on pitching in most of the 12-team mocks thus far, so I wanted to take an ace early and see what that did, not only to my pitching staff, but also to my offense. Going after power/speed guys early has been working well to date, so I wanted to continue with that trend before I start going to the extremes and testing the waters of a heavier pitching strategy.

Thoughts on My Team:

It’s hard not to like the squad through the first seven rounds of this draft. Corey Kluber was the ace I grabbed in the second round with great power/speed at the corners with Paul Goldschmidt and Wil Myers and at second base with Jason Kipnis. But the focus was more on the power side with Jonathan Lucroy (yep, a little position scarcity in there too), George Springer and Justin Upton. I could have reached for either Ian Desmond or Christian Yelich to add that bit of speed, but the value of 30 homers from Springer, who could swipe 8-to-10 bases potentially, was more alluring. Had either Desmond or Yelich been available in the fourth round, I would have taken one of them over Myers.

The internal debate from there was whether to attack speed or starting pitching. I grabbed Jose Quintana to give myself a decent No. 2 but then turned to speed with Adam Eaton and Jose Peraza. I added in Evan Longoria as well due to the crazy drop-off in talent at third base once you looked past him. I’m sure, if I wanted to really attack the speed, I could have gone with Billy Hamilton in the eighth, but Q was more enticing to me and I think the two guys I grabbed will be enough to supplement the stolen bases. If there’s more late, which there will be, I may grab another guy to mix in.

With only two starting pitchers on the roster and knowing what the middle tiers were offering, I ended up with two closers just to help stabilize the ratios. Obviously, the saves as well. I’m just not a fan of the Rick Porcello, Steven Matz, Kevin Gausman tier of starters and felt I could fish a little later and without too much concern over guys with some mediocre ERA or WHIP totals. A few of my “next tier” staples like Matt Moore and Lance McCullers were already taken as well, so that also pushed me to the closers even more. As you can see, the final nine rounds were much more focused on pitching and while this is far from my 2017 dream staff, it’s got some decent components in the likes of Marco Estrada, Robbie Ray and Anthony DeSclafani. I even tossed in a third closer in Brandon Kintzler just to be safe with the ratios.

Overall, I’ll give myself a B-minus on this draft. I like the offense but I don’t love it. The pitching is just okay. I would have preferred a better top-tier closer for this strategy or, perhaps another starter somewhere between rounds nine and 11.

Notes About the Rest of the Draft:

I felt this draft was a little more pitcher-heavy than usual. You still have the same 12 starters coming off the board inside the first 50 picks, but we saw pitchers make up nearly 50-percent of the next 50 picks. The deviation from what the Mock Draft Army ADP numbers isn’t huge, but even just four or five pitchers more in a 12-teamer thins out the middle tier.

There were some rookie reaches in this one as Alex Bregman was taken 67th overall (ADP: 84.0) and Andrew Benintendi went 91st (ADP: 116.5), but both players have seen their ADP climb over the last couple of weeks. Of course, they were also taken by the same drafter (Denny), so it’s not like we have to talk everyone off the rookie ledge, amirite?

For 12-team drafts, it looks like round six through nine are where you’re going to have to make your move for a closer if you want one from the first two tiers. They trickle in and out of the subsequent rounds, but that first push is where you want to make sure you get in on the action if you feel strongly about owning a high-end closer or two.

I love that run of outfielders in the 19th and 20th rounds. Talk about your upside potential. You’ve got the youth in Max Kepler and Manny Margot, but the upside from the veterans taken here just might be the steal(s) of the draft. Michael Brantley, Corey Dickerson, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson and even David Peralts offer some incredible value based on some of their offensive output.

The following draft took place on February 21, 2017 at 7pm ET

15 teams, 5x5 standard roto scoring

23 starters – 2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P

2 reserves

Industry Participants:

Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm), Adam Ronis (Scout Fantasy), Lawr Michaels (Mastersball), Greg Jewett (FanRag Sports), Nate Miller (Fantasy Alarm/Big Guy Fantasy Sports)

Link to Draft Board

My Pick: 13

Strategy

One last attempt at a similar strategy before I start to get crazy in some of these mocks. I went with the same idea as I did in the above draft as well as what I employed in the LABR Mixed draft from last week. One deviation I want to make, though, is to avoid focusing too heavily on the corner infield. I’ve been focused on grabbing top first and third basemen and am wondering if I’m missing out in other areas. I don’t think I am and believe this will haunt me later in the draft, but we’ll see what happens.

Thoughts on My Team:

Well, the beginning of this draft started just as expected. I’ve got my ace in Madison Bumgarner, power/speed from Bryce Harper, Christian Yelich and Jason Kipnis and for whatever reason, I just can’t shake this Springer character. But I stayed focused on the outfield to keep me from grabbing a corner guy and I didn’t reach for any middle infielders. Of course, I completely broke rank with the addition of Eric Hosmer in the sixth round, a move I probably shouldn’t have done, but yet felt compelled to do so with that drop-off at first base. So most of the strategy is still intact, but I deserve a slap on the wrist for not sticking to the plan.

After that, I fell back into the routine with adding Quintana, a pair of closers and some speed in Byron Buxton. I added Nick Castellanos in the 12th round as the position was quickly diminishing in talent and continued to sprinkle in some hurlers, some power and a little bit more speed. The upside in Luke Weaver and Jose Berrios, but overall, I hate this draft from the ninth round and lower. I need to change things up in a hurry as this strategy is getting a little stale and I am gravitating towards a lot of the same guys. Perhaps a draft where I don’t take anyone I’ve taken before will help cleanse that as well, but the strategy shifts are what’s most necessary right now.

Notes About the Rest of the Draft

As much as I love Army staple Makisupa, I still hate that Trea Turner first-round pick. Yes, even in a 15-teamer at the tail end. I’ve said it over and over and have even made the comparisons to Carlos Correa from last season. No, Correa didn’t have a bad year, but he also didn’t have a year worthy of a first-round draft pick. Maybe if it were a keeper league we could discuss further, but to me, this situation with Turner is exactly what we saw in 2016. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out what Ray Flowers said in his most-recent Ray’s Ramblings.

Seemed to be another heavy pitching draft, though perhaps that’s because Lawr Michaels grabbed three of the top 10 starters with his first three picks. People tend to panic when they see something like that and instantly grab at least one or two starters to keep pace. Kudos to Adam Ronis for holding out until the fifth, but major props to Boaz for not touching a pitcher until the ninth. I’m not enamored with either staff, but neither is as bad as it could have been given the number of starters taken in the top 100 picks.

Speaking of holding out, I thought it very interesting that it was the back-end of the draft order that went heavy on the outfielder while drafters like Rich, Nick and William had just one outfielder each by the end of nine rounds (108 picks). Rich took Mookie Betts second overall and then did touch the outfield again until the 12th. Nick held out for his first outfielder until the ninth round and while William grabbed Matt Kemp in the seventh, he didn’t re-visit the position until the 10th round. The position is extremely deep and rich with some nice late-round talent and upside, but there’s definitely a significant drop-off after the top 20 or 25. I’m more inclined to wait on the middle infield than the outfield at this point.

Click here for the full 2017 Mock Draft Army ADP.