The Young Ones

The Draft

The Rule 4 draft aka the amateur draft took place last week.  Unlike the NBA or the NFL the MLB draft doesn't get much attention. There are two connected reasons that explain that: College baseball isn't as popular as college football or even basketball and of course unlike the two other sports the players in the baseball draft don’t have immediate impact on the game. In both Basketball and football you can expect players fresh from the draft to take a role in the pro level. In baseball college players can wait two-three years in the minors and players drafted out of high school can wait even longer before they are ready to the show.

The relatively long time between the draft and the promotion to the majors bring a large measure of uncertainty to rookies’ level of performance in both real and fantasy baseball. For each Mike Trout or Bryce Harper there are many rookies who arrive with a lot of hype which turn out to be a disappointment. For this reason we have to be careful while dealing with rookies in fantasy baseball. We all want to find the next big bat or the next ace before they get pricey just like we all like to brag how smart we were to pick up someone when nobody else thought he was worth picking.

I picked up two highly touted rookies this season. One was Texas’ SS Jurickson Profar who was Baseball Prospectus no. 1 prospect in the pre season. The other, was Seattle’s middle infielder Nick Franklin (no. 72 on list). Baseball is a game of adjustments. New players may come up and have success for a while, but then the league adjusts to them and they have to adjust. 

The previous week

The Lilings gained 5 points last week. mainly thanks to improved pitching. Baltimore's Miguel Gonzalez got us 6 ip, 7 k's,  5 hits and one BB in a win at Houston. Colorado's Jorge De La Rosa was less successful at home against the Padres but he got 5 k's in 5 ip while allowing 4 runs.I needed the k's, but I'm not sure the price in era and whip was worth it.

I also picked couple of middle relievers: Pittsburgh’s Justin Wilson and Colorado’s Adam Ottavino. Wilson had a disaster appearance in which he gave 3 earned runs in 1.1 ip with only one k. Ottavino pitched 2 innings, allowed no runs on 3 hits and one k. I think I can do better on my middle relievers.

I had 2 position players going on the DL last week. Losing catcher Erik Kratz was a big blow in a two catchers league where my catchers aren’t top notch. I ended up picking the White Sox Tyler Flowers, but I’m ready to play the waiver wire and pick up the hot hand. Replacing Texas Mitch Moreland was easier as Corner Infield is deep position this season. This brings me to another 411 lesson: Maximize your playing time. Just like baseball is a game of inches, fantasy baseball is a game of numbers and sometimes a league can be won or lost on one hit, strikeout or RBI. Mondays and Thursdays usually have light schedule during the season which means not all of your positions are manned. That’s where the waiver wire comes through. You can drop a fifth outfielder or a middle reliever and pick a position player who can get you some production. If he’s on a hot streak you can keep him until he gets cold. Sometimes you don’t need Mr. Right, but Mr. right now!