I’ve said it in articles, I’ve said it on the air and I’ve said it in the soon-to-be released 2015 Fantasy Alarm MLB Draft Guide – there’s nothing like a good mock draft to help you prep for your upcoming fantasy baseball draft. You can look at dozens of different player rankings but the best way to gauge public opinion of a particular player is to see where he goes in mock drafts and where his ADP lands between now and then end of March. Monitoring which way a player’s perceived value is trending is going to be a valuable tool for you when it comes to your actual draft as you’ll leave the over-reaching to your competitors while you make sensible picks and score bigger values in the later rounds.
In addition to that, doing a series of mock drafts also affords you the ability to test out different strategies to see how the field responds to certain picks you are making. You want to try a pitching-heavy strategy to see what kind of an offense you can build in the later rounds? A good mock can help you. You want to see how and where you can start positional runs on players such as closers or catchers? What better way than to test the waters in a mock draft? Your options are limitless and the more mocks you take part in, the greater your chances are of being successful when your big day actually arrives.
But we’re not just talking about any old mock draft. If you’ve been a fantasy baller for a while, you’ve likely seen your fair share of mocks that just don’t quite cut it. On far too many occasions, mocks get filled with people who are only interested in seeing how the first few rounds and then flip the switch to auto-pick for the majority of the draft. What good does that do you? A collection of auto-drafters does nothing but show you how a particular web site’s default rankings play out in a snake draft and that, for all intents and purposes, defeats the actual purpose of a mock draft.
That’s where the Mock Draft Army comes in.
For those who have followed me on Twitter (@rotobuzzguy) over the last few years or have been listening to recent episodes of both the Fantasy Alarm podcast and Fantasy Sports Tonight on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sundays 7-10pm ET), you’ve heard me talk about the Mock Draft Army. If you enjoy a good mock draft and know how to use them properly in your prep work, then this is where you need to be. I have assembled a group of 50-plus fantasy writers and broadcasters, some of the finest minds in the industry, and put them at your disposal. For each mock that we do, I fill the room with half industry folk and half readers and listeners. We try to run a variety of different drafts from 12-team mixed leagues to 15-team NL-only. I compile the data from each draft and track the ADP so that you have a more accurate list than most.
Why is it more accurate? Simple. These drafts run in full. Everyone stays for the entire draft. There is no auto-picking here. Every pick from Round 1 to Round 25…or however deep we decide to go….is equally important. When we assemble our ADP, there are no site default rankings affecting the numbers. This ADP is put together by you and by the collective us, those who eat, sleep and breathe the fantasy game.
In addition to that, let’s not forget about the in-draft chat room. How would you like to personally ask Ray Flowers why he chose to take Alex Rios in the second round again? How would you like to question Jeff Mans about his late-round sleepers? How would you like to talk baseball with the likes of Todd Zola, Steve Gardner, Jeff Erickson and Ron Shandler. We’ve got them all!
If you’re interested in participating in the Mock Draft Army, hit me up here in the comments section below, on Twitter -- @rotobuzzguy – or email me at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com and I will happily add you to the email list. The larger the Army, the more mocks we’ll do. Look for us to start up next week as this week, many of the usual participants are whooping it up in Vegas at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association convention.
**Mock Draft Army logo and artwork courtesy of Michael Nissen
Quick Side Note: Fantasy Alarm will be launching a new look and feel effective Wednesday, January 14. The site will go down for maintenance at midnight on Tuesday, January 13 and should be back up with the results of our makeover on full display Wednesday morning. It’s a fresher look with the same phenomenal content.
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.
Endy Rodriguez (finger) had his splint removed this week.
Rodriguez suffered a lacerated right index finger on April 14th. Now that he is out of his splint, he “is playing catch and doing a slightly modified swing.” Once he can progress to taking full swings, we’ll have a better sense of the timeline for his return.