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Trivia time! What do Fernando Tatis, Vladimir Guerrero, Dante Bichette and Craig Biggio all have in common? If you guessed that they all hit at least .290 with 15+ home runs for their respective DTBL teams in 1999, you are correct! Oh, and they also all have sons who were selected in the first 15 picks of the 2020 DTBL Draft. This league has been around long enough that we had already seen a few sons of former DTBL players become second generation league members. But in the previous instances, the fathers only had a cup of coffee in this league at the tail end of their careers. This four-some is different. All four compiled multiple strong seasons in the league and all but Tatis were among the league’s best players in its first 10-15 years.
Interestingly, it is the least accomplished father of those four whose son enters the league with the highest acclaim. The Demigods selected the do-it-all shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. with the first pick in the draft. Tatis hit .317 with 22 homers and 16 stolen bases in a MLB rookie campaign that was cut short by injury. Provided he has a full year of solid health in 2020, it isn’t unreasonable to think he could be the second straight #1 draft pick to post a 30/30 season in his DTBL rookie year. The Demigods will turn to Tatis to help put their miserable 2019 behind them. Keep in mind that prior to last year, this is a team that finished in the top half of the standings in five straight seasons. Tatis has the talent to lift them back up to their recent historic norms.
While Tatis was spectacular last year, he probably wouldn’t have won the NL Rookie of the Year award even if he had stayed healthy. Not with Pete Alonso breaking the MLB all-time rookie record for home runs. Alonso slugged 53 homers, which would have led the DTBL by four had he been in the league a year ago. His 120 RBIs would have been fourth best in the league. He was worthy of the second overall pick in the draft on his own merit, but he also happens to be an ideal fit for the Choppers who finished next to last in home runs and RBIs and dead last in total batting points a year ago. This is the third straight year the Choppers have used their first pick on an infielder. Alonso figures to have the biggest impact of them all.
The Komodos made it consecutive 2019 MLB Rookie of the Year winners when they selected Astros outfielder/DH Yordan Alvarez with the third pick. Alvarez crashed the AL rookie party that was supposed to be all about a couple guys that will be covered below. He hit .317 with 27 home runs and 78 RBIs despite not making his debut until June. Had he been in the majors from the jump like Alonso, perhaps he too could have challenged the rookie home run record. Alvarez is currently sidelined with a knee issue. But assuming that doesn’t keep him out of action too long, he figures to be one of the league’s top sluggers. He will join Cody Bellinger, Joey Gallo, Nelson Cruz and Jose Ramirez to form what could be a sneaky great Komodos offense.
Sneaky great is also an appropriate way of describing Keston Hiura’s young MLB career. The Jackalope tabbed the Brewers second baseman with the fourth pick. In 84 games, Hiura managed to hit .303 with 19 homers and nine stolen bases. Extrapolate those numbers out to a full season and you could have the makings of a stud at a very weak offensive position. The Jackalope have had one of the league’s best infields for a while now, but Hiura injects it with a needed shot of youth. The spring is not off to a great start from a health perspective for the Jackalope. Hiura could help cure much of what ails them, however.
Only one player selected in the first round won’t be making his DTBL debut this season. Lucas Giolito was signed as a free agent by the Mavericks late in the 2017 season and was subsequently released prior to 2018, when the Mavericks picked him up again in the seventh round of the draft. But he was released again by the Mavericks that May and had such a poor season that he got dropped from the league last year. 2019 Giolito was basically a brand new pitcher, making the All-Star team and compiling a Cy Young campaign resume. The pitcher the Cougars drafted with the fifth pick this year really doesn’t resemble the one who pitched for the Mavericks. In ’19, Giolito posted a 3.41 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, won 14 games and struck out an impressive 228 batters in 177 innings. The Cougars pitching staff prevented them from being serious contenders a year ago. Giolito could help change that.
A year ago, it seemed like a near certainty that I would be writing about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. being the first player taken in the 2020 draft. Not that some of these other guys weren’t highly touted prospects, but Guerrero was at a different level. His MLB debut became a must-see event, unlike any player I can recall since Bryce Harper. That incredible, and probably unfair, level of hype made his 2019 season seem a little underwhelming. He hit .272 with “only” 15 homers. Here’s another number that is equally relevant though: 21. That’s the age Guerrero will turn next week. What Ronald Acuna and Juan Soto have done in their teens/very early 20s just isn’t normal. Struggling to get your footing in the big leagues like Guerrero did *is* normal. I have it on good authority that the Moonshiners were shocked and thrilled to grab him with the sixth pick in this draft. If Vladito does in fact reach his potential, we’ll all look back on this pick and wonder how it came to be.
The Mavericks were also probably quite surprised about the availability of their first round pick. They selected slugging outfielder Eloy Jimenez with the seventh pick. Much of what I wrote about Guerrero applies to Jimenez as well, although he is a little older and did wind up posting pretty solid numbers thanks to a strong finish to the 2019 season. 31 home runs and 79 RBIs are impressive totals for a rookie and could be viewed as the floor of what to expect from here on out. He seems a good bet to improve on the .267 average too. Assuming good health, the Mavericks outfield is absolutely ridiculous. Mike Trout, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Nick Castellanos and now Jimenez. The rest of the roster ain’t too shabby either.
The Beanballers first official selection as a member of the DTBL was another flashy young shortstop who is the son of a former DTBL player, Bo Bichette. Bichette has the fewest big league games under his belt of this first round group, but he made his short stint in the big leagues count. In just 46 games, he hit .311 with 11 homers. While not directly fantasy relevant, he also had 18 doubles. So the extra base power appears to be legit. With a new league member, it is hard to predict what the draft strategy might be. In this case, it looks like the Beanballers went with the best young talent available, because shortstop was not a position of need with Trea Turner and Amed Rosario already on the roster. You can’t go wrong with a middle infielder with huge upside though. Bichette joins a roster with plenty of talent, so it will be interesting to see how the Beanballers do on their maiden voyage.
Seven of the first eight selections were hitters. We finally saw a rookie pitcher go off the board when the Darkhorses selected Chris Paddack at #9. While still at the very beginning of his career, Paddack already has an advanced repertoire, which he used to compile some gaudy numbers in 2019. His sub 1.00 WHIP and 3.33 ERA were pretty incredible for a first season in the majors. This selection made all the sense in the world for the Darkhorses, who have fallen a little short of the champion Kings the past two seasons because they didn’t have quite enough pitching. Paddack will join Jacob deGrom, Patrick Corbin and Jose Berrios in a rotation that seems quite capable of closing that gap and claiming their first DTBL title in 10 years.
The Kings probably would have drafted any of the nine players selected ahead of them if they had fallen to the last slot in the first round. Instead, they settled for a pitcher with very intriguing stuff, but also one who missed half of the 2019 campaign with a PED suspension. Athletics hurler Frankie Montas was the final pick of the first round of the 2020 DTBL Draft. Before the suspension, Montas was electric. He struck out more than a batter per inning with a 2.63 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. While starting pitching has been the Kings strength in their recent championship runs, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer aren’t getting any younger. So they will turn to Montas as a potential ace in waiting. In the meantime, he will join those guys in a rather formidable rotation.
A quick note on one second round selection referenced up top: the Cougars selected second baseman Cavan Biggio with the 15th overall pick. This connection is intriguing since Cavan’s father Craig was also a second baseman on the first two Cougars championship squads and was an all-time great for both the Cougars and Choppers.
After a bit of a slow start, we’ve hit our stride the past few days and are now on a great pace. We should have plenty of time between the conclusion of the draft and Opening Day. Keep up the good work!
A bit of DTBL draft irony: 1999, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. fell to me at No. 8 I believe — somewhere around there, and I too was very surprised to land him. The thought of picking his kid over Alonso certainly crossed my mind this year
Interesting! My pre-2005 draft records are far from complete, so I had not noticed that fact. But after seeing your comment, I did a little more research and discovered that Guerrero, Tatis and Biggo SRs were all teammates on the 2001 Choppers. Sadly, Dante Bichette was never a Chopper.