John’s 2024 Drafts

ATBL Feb 2024 Strat Rookie Draft for my Goldenrod team. This is an 18 team league with a 32 man roster and you can only draft carded players. This was a playoff team before the draft started.

1st round pick - I was picking last in this 18 team league and took Cole Ragans. Not only do I like him for the future but he could also relieve and I needed relievers.

2nd round pick - I really lucked out here taking Bryan Woo. The reason I went for him was again for a bullpen issue. This would be the first time in this league where we’d be able to use a ‘starter only’ as a reliever in the playoffs.

3rd round pick - I took Tanner Scott since my closers (Pressly & Romano) didn’t have the sort of cards that would get me to the playoffs.

4th round pick - I took Cristopher Sanchez and just like Woo, I took him to relieve in the playoffs and lucked out with him having such a good year. He’s lights out vs LHBs and can hang in there vs RHBs.

5th round pick - Dairon Blanco wasn’t the best player there but he was the best player for me to pick.

6th round pick - Jared Triolo had too good of a card to pass up.

7th round pick - Nelson Velazquez had too good of a card to pass up.

8th round pick - Will Vest fills out my bullpen nicely.

9th round pick - With Taylor Walls as my only ss, I needed to pick Jorge Mateo for his defense. It has worked out nicely for me to platoon these two players.

10th round pick - Andrew McCutchen was a card I was looking at as the draft progressed and finally I had to take him as a table setter in front of Betts, Soto, and Yandy Diaz.

11th round pick - I took Willi Castro for his speed and my main utility player on the bench. I never dreamed that I’d use all of his at-bats!

12th round pick - I took DJ Stewart as a lefty power bat.

13th round pick - I took Trevor May to close when Scott wasn’t available.

We also got 3 non-keeper picks to help with useage. I took James McCann to back up Realmuto, I took Clement to be a pinch hitter on the bench and I took Buck Farmer for his innings.

MMDA Feb 2024 Strat Rookie Draft for my second Goldenrod team. This is a 20 team league with a 40 man keeper roster, and you can only draft carded players. This was also a playoff team before the draft started.

1st round pick - I had a huge hole at the catcher position. I had the 17th pick. I took Logan O’Hoppe over Yainer Diaz, Bo Naylor and Patrick Bailey. I didn’t follow my own draft guide with this pick. Don’t hate me for that like my Tampa buddies do. My home park is SI 18-18 and HR 18-18 so I was looking for the best power hitter.

2nd round pick - Johan Rojas just fit perfectly into my playoff bound team and I couldn’t pass him up. He’ll get 15 AB in the playoffs for me and he’s been an awesome platoon with Kiermaier.

3rd round pick - I took Kevin Ginkel to shore up the bullpen and be the stopper. I had Lorenzen and Ragans in the pen to do the heavy lifting and was looking for someone who could shut down a rally. The fact that he had zero ball park chances in my park is huge!

4th round pick - When I picked Brent Rooker, I said as long as he’s still good vs LHPing next year, I’ll be happy. He’s far exceeded that. I got lucky here.

5th round pick - Dairon Blanco again.

6th round pick was traded for a 7th - I took DJ Stewart, who I might have taken with my real 6th round pick. He’s been awesome for me.

7th round pick - Joc Pederson. I haven’t used him yet so I guess he was a future pick. So far, he may be having his best season with the D’Backs.

8th round pick - I got caught up in his late season pitching results and took Josh Sborz. He’s done ok for me in the bullpen.

Not many future players left after this point but there were still some good cards to pick from.

9th round pick - If you put a guy like Mike Ford in my ballpark, he’s got to hit a ton of home runs, and he has. With a second 9th round pick, I took Andrew Velazquez for the same reason that I took Blanco. Both he and Blanco have been active for the first 138 games in this league.

With my last 5 picks I took Matt Batten for his card, Zerpa as another lefty option out of the pen and Goodman because he’s a young power hitter in Colorado. I also took George Soriano and Andrew Saalfrank.

SOMNADA Feb rookie draft was a face to face event held in Orlando. It is a 16 team league with a 40 man roster. Again, carded players only. This is my second draft in the league and this is not a playoff bound team. I play in Cincy ballpark.

1st round pick - I was picking 10th in the league and I took Grayson Rodriguez over Eury Perez. Again, not following my draft guide but instead going with a good feeling about the Orioles and where they are headed.

2nd round pick - Gavin Williams. Too bad he’s had injury problems but he’s looked good since he’s been back.

Bonus round pick - In an effect to build a strong pitching staff, I took Kyle Harrison and I’m not disappointed at all.

3rd round pick - Bryan Woo. In both leagues, he’s pitched much better than I would have expected based on his lopsided card.

4th round pick - Dairon Blanco who is closing in on 100 steals as this league is winding down.

5th round pick - I took AJ Smith-Shawver and he’s had a tough season.

6th round pick - I took Abner Uribe who’s also had a tough season with injuries.

7th round pick - I got Will Smith to be my closer for one year.

8th round pick - I took a chance on Ryan Mountcastle and he’s been good but didn’t have the breakout season that we’ve all been waiting for.

After that, I took some cards to have fun with in Trevor May, Tom Murphy, Ernie Clement and Edmundo Sosa. You can only protect 26 after the season so taking these guys made sesnse to fill holes.

The starting pitching for this team before the draft was: Logan Webb, Lugo, Flaherty, E. Rodriguez, Brown, Baz, Ortiz and Pepiot. Adding Grod, Williams, Harrison and Woo has given me the deepest collection of starting pitchers that I have ever had.