If you can find a legitimate fantasy baseball mock draft, there is no better way to prep for you own home league. 

 

 

 

All too often, we see people join mock drafts and leave after the first few picks as they are only interested in who they should take in the early rounds. But as anyone who has ever won a fantasy baseball championship can attest, leagues are won in the middle-to-late rounds. Proper roster construction and aiming at the right category targets should be your focus as your draft progresses, but in mock drafts where people flip on auto-pick and leave, you’re not learning as much as you should.

This is why the Fantasy Alarm Mock Drafts are so important. Your purchase of our 2024 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide is your ticket into drafting alongside our analysts. Yes, it also opens up access to us through our Discord, but when you’re in the trenches and deciding on who to take in the 16th round, taking part in our mock draft allows you to ask the question in the chat and get an immediate response.

The first mock draft we ran had 10 analysts and just two subscribers, so we decided to open up this second one to even more of you and will continue to do so between now and Opening Day. If you are looking to sharpen your game, hit me up in Discord and we’ll get you into a mock draft ASAP.

So, let’s get to the results from this mock. In the first one, I focused on some broader strokes and general things to look for throughout a draft. This time around, we’re going to focus on more individual strategies and ideas. I’ll lead it off with a breakdown of my draft and from there, a number of participants shared their thoughts as well.

 

 

2024 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Results: 12-Team League

Mock Draft Participants (in order of the draft):

  1. Matt Selz
  2. Mark Hogan (All-Pro Subscriber)
  3. Joe Gallina
  4. Ray Kuhn
  5. Alfonso “Panch” Ferreira (All-Pro Subscriber)
  6. Colby Conway
  7. Josh Kohls (All-Pro Subscriber)
  8. Howard Bender
  9. Daniel Cavenaugh (All-Pro Subscriber)
  10. Stuart Clarin (All-Pro Subscriber)
  11. Jon Impemba
  12. Ivar Anderson

Click Here to View the Full Board & Mock Draft Results

 

 

Howard Bender’s Mock Draft Results & Analysis (Pick 8)

Working out of the eighth pick is always an interesting spot. The top seven picks are seemingly locked into the hitters who provide both power and speed. When you get to eight, you can go in a few different directions. You can try for some power/speed with Shohei Ohtani or Fernando Tatis, you can go power only with the likes of Aaron Judge or Juan Soto or you can always go the starting pitcher route and grab either Spencer Strider or Gerrit Cole. For this draft, I took Ohtani. Yes, there’s power and speed, but he’s utility only which means roster management and flexibility should be monitored as you progress through your draft.

Another thing I wanted to try was the ol’ “wait on starting pitching” philosophy. I’ve said it for years and I will say it again – you can build a winning fantasy rotation without drafting a top-10 ace. That was routinely the case and my strategy 10-15 years ago, but over the last five years, the aces were going early and everyone was jumping onboard. The reason I expect it to stop is just the rash of injuries we’ve seen to the top-tier starts and how managers are now coddling their pitchers.

Overall, I think the results were fantastic. I have tremendous power without destroying my batting average, rock solid speed and with guys like Gunnar Henderson, Matt McLain and Isaac Paredes, I have outstanding position flexibility. Should an injury occur, I will be able to rotate guys into different spots and stay focused on the guys I drafted as opposed to chasing bats on waivers. As for my pitching, this staff is pretty sweet. Grayson Rodriguez is a budding ace, Cole Ragans is one of the hottest up-and-comers, Sonny Gray is an innings-eater with low ratios and the back end with guys like Charlie Morton, Michael King and Cristian Javier, I am well-stocked for strikeouts and innings pitched. Not to mention the upside of my late-round picks of Cristopher Sanchez, Michael Wacha and Nestor Cortes. I’m even covered with saves thanks to Jhoan Duran and Alex Lange.

This is a team I would happily go to war with this season. And best of all – I drafted it using our Fantasy Baseball Cheat Sheet. Oh baby!  

 

 

Pick 2 – From Mark Hogan

My goal was just to go all offense hoping to find some value relief pitchers and catchers. 

Too many years I get burned with investing high capital in pitchers who blow out their arms so would rather stack points offensively and pray i hit value on pitchers.

My plan somehow shifted though and i ended up not completely punting pitchers but my infield.

I think it can still workout as I’d rather invest high capital in OF' and my power corner IF's vs the middle INF when there is frequently less power and more volatility year to year.

I could not believe Paul Goldschmidt dropped so far, he’s looking good in spring training too.

Took a gamble on Mike Trout expecting him to get hurt, but hopefully no injuries that keep him out beyond a month.

Pick 6 – Colby Conway

I wanted to test out a strategy of waiting on starting pitching and taking two relievers early on in the draft. Things spiraled quickly, and in this mock, closers hung out for awhile, and starters flew off the board. I have a ton of Hunter Greene and Bryce Miller this season, but feel more comfortable with them as my SP4 and SP5, compared to my SP3 and SP4. Despite the questions with my starting pitching, my team's offense is rock solid, and values like James Outman (Rd. 14), Tyler O'Neill (Rd. 19), and Matt Chapman (Rd. 21) rounded out the offense in exquisite fashion. Oh, J-Rod at pick six was a nice surprise!

Favorite Picks Overall: Zack Gelof (Rd. 12), Outman (Rd. 14), Sal Frelick (Rd. 22), Yuki Matsui (Rd. 24)

Least Favorite Picks Overall: Taking two closers early

Pick 9 – Daniel Cavenaugh

Pitchers: Not enough pitching depth, i thought there was another round. Would have passed on James Wood. Otherwise, staters are a good mix of youth and veterans. 2 very strong closers and neither were a reach

Batters: Plenty of speed/w power. With Trea Turner in the first and Elly De La Cruz in the third. Yordan Alvarez in the second was a perfect player to put between them. J.D. Martinez in the 23rd round was a steal even though he is still a free agent. There is a lot of risk on this roster, however could also be outstanding

Pick 12 – Ivar Anderson

Picking at the end-turn position makes for a recurring sense of needing to jump on those picks you do not want to miss out on, and thus my draft choices included some players that would be considered “reaches”. For example, a couple of Jacksons in the 7th and 8th rounds, the rookies Jackson Chourio (OF MIL) and Jackson Holliday (SS BAL). I also felt fortunate to snap up a pair of untested starting pitchers Shota imanaga (SP CHC) in the middle of the draft (14th round) and Paul Skenes (SP PIT) in the 19th round. 

Drafting untested imports and rookies was likely the cause of my projected low finish when the draft evaluators were run after the draft completed-11th place out of 12 teams in both systems. I will likely be seeking out some of the untested talent I selected tonight when the actual drafts take place (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Colt Keith and Parker Meadows being other potential risks/reward choices). 

You’ve Read Up On Our Staff’s First Mock Draft. Now What?

Your purchase of the 2024 MLB Draft Guide (or your All-Pro subscription) gets you everything you need to dominate your drafts.

We mentioned the draft cheat sheets above. You also have access to 2024 fantasy baseball player rankings, player profiles for every fantasy-relevant athlete, and a series of draft strategy articles for a variety of different league formats. All of these give you a direct pipeline into some fantastic fantasy baseball mock draft results - which will lead you to a successful 2024 fantasy season.