Here are the usual suspects (in draft order): Jacob Bogardus, Brad Johnson, Alex Brock, Harris Yudin, Max Petrie, Josh Leonard, Ross Williamson, Andrew Miller (from The Fantasy Fix), Nick Mariano (myself), Tom Bellucco, Brian Dunshee (also from The Fantasy Fix), and Edward Suletan.

Reminder: This is a traditional 5x5 redraft 23 round mock with 2 catchers, a corner and middle infielder, and 5 outfield slots. The draft board is posted at the conclusion of the article.

Notable Picks from Rounds 5-7

Let’s start digging deeper here and get into the meat of the draft. Everyone now has their floors set with the first several rounds out of the way, setting the stage for preferences to really come out. I’ll utilize some quotes that I received from participants along with my own thoughts.

In the fifth round we saw continued fallout from the pitching bubble that burst in the fourth round. A name that stands out being Hanley Ramirez, who was Ed’s pick for “reach of the draft”. His rationale:

“Though it is possible that he bounces back after a dreadful 2015, he will be 32 years old coming off a down season and has failed to play in over 130 games since 2012. According to Fangraphs, he made the least amount of hard contact in a season (31.1%) that he has made since 2012 and this has been a downward trend for him over the past few seasons (not to mention that this soft hit% was a career-high 24.3% in 2015).”

Well said, Ed. For what it’s worth, Tom did say that this was the pick of his that left the worst taste in his mouth. I don’t hate Hanley, I actually hope he falls due to all of this being true, but that he can settle down and have a better year while playing first base.

Round Six really displayed the drop in OF talent, as we already discussed how Hanley might have gone too early and this left Yasiel Puig (which I believe Brad cited during the draft as he selected him), as Puig was the only OF to be selected in the round, and in a 21 pick span, despite the 5-OF format.

This paved the way for a couple of solid 2B picks. Jason Kipnis and Robinson Cano are both solid takes in the sixth, especially considering Brian Dozier went in the third. Kipnis had a red hot first half and then cooled off, dealing with a shoulder injury that landed him on the DL. Alex deemed Kipnis his “steal of the draft”, saying: “Kipnis is a guy who was a legitimate MVP candidate in the first half of 2015 and is poised for another big year, now two years removed from his injury-plagued 2014 campaign”.

Cano was the opposite, as he popped off for 15 second half bombs along with a .331 average despite playing through a Grade 1 abdominal strain from late July that plagued him through the rest of the year. Do those make you play better? Science may never know. I will also say that I’m not a fan of Freddie Freeman here just because that wrist really frightens me and that lineup resembles a Times Square garbage can.

The seventh round houses a few “reach” candidates that deserve discussion. The first is Jhonny Peralta, who Andrew said “not enough reward for such a high pick”. Now Alex says he knew it was a reach, but cites tiers are the rationale behind doing so:

“After Peralta there was a huge drop-off in talent to the next tier of guys, signified by the fact that the next shortstop taken in the draft was Starlin Castro in round 14. Finding a consistent shortstop during the season is next to impossible. In 2015, Peralta ranked in the top-3 in BA and RBI and was fourth in HR. It was an anomaly season for him, but still, he's no chump.” Sounds solid to me, always good to bring up the notion of tiers.

Let’s hop along to Ian Desmond. I asked Max to sell me on pick, raising the point of how Desmond currently holds an ADP of 111 on NFBC, but here he was selected with pick 77. Here is his response:

“This pick was based on the board. I would've preferred to grab Corey Seager or Xander Bogaerts, but that would've required me passing on Starling Marte. Desmond was the only shortstop left with 20/20 potential, even if it comes with a subpar average. He's gotten zero bites in free agency, but should he find the right home his ADP should rise (my bet is the White Sox). In hindsight I would have snagged another pitcher to pair with Gerrit Cole and hoped to snag Desmond in Round 8 or settle for a Starlin Castro or Addison Russell later.”

Let’s dance along now to the end of Round 7, where another flashy pick went down. Ed finished the round with a selection of Cardinals’ outfielder Randal Grichuk at #84 overall. His current ADP on NFBC is 190, so naturally I had to ask. Brad cited him as his “reach of the draft”, and also pointed to how I was able to get Stephen Piscotty nine rounds later and they are definitely not that far apart. Ed’s response elicits an all too familiar feeling for seasoned drafters:

“My reasoning was in surveying the draft board, what OFs were left, and my draft position, I’d be waiting a whopping 22 picks before getting another chance…though he is certainly a risk for regression, he is still one of the better power bats in the outfield and should be counted on for 20+ home runs. He should get a sizeable amount of runs scored and RBIs based on his expected position near the middle of that lineup, and a batting average that should still be reasonable enough to make owning him worthwhile (though it will likely see some regression after requiring a .365 BABIP for his .276 average).”

This becomes less about Grichuk (though you should still take in the commentary) and more about what drafting at the elbow can do. Truly a draft day double edged sword, you can start an avalanche by grabbing two closers, a catcher and SP, two OFs, and so on. However, you can also be pressed by having so many picks change the draft board since your last selection, and then you’ve got two picks before having an entirely different board comes back to you. Embrace the vulnerability and snag who you want.

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