Jackalope outfielder Yasiel Puig
Baseball is supposed to be fun. The first few players taken in the DTBL Draft all seem to understand that. Besides their prodigious talent, what these guys have in common is a youthful exuberance that occasionally rubs their opponents, and sometimes even their teammates, the wrong way. But only a curmudgeon who insists that the unwritten rules of the game be followed to a T wouldn’t enjoy watching these guys play. And when it comes to fantasy baseball, you definitely want them on your team.
The 22nd Annual DTBL Draft kicked off Wednesday morning. Almost exactly 24 hours later, the first round was complete. The round featured as strong of a set of young talent as we’ve seen in quite some time. Perhaps there have been stronger drafts at the very top spot or two, but the number of young superstars taken in this draft so far has been quite impressive, and should keep the draft entertaining for several more rounds.
The Jackalope kicked things off by selecting the Cuban phenom, outfielder Yasiel Puig. Yes, Puig Mania has made its way to the DTBL. It took Puig all of about a week after making his MLB debut last summer before he became the talk of the league. From the monster home runs, mind-boggling throws and blazing sprints around the bases, Puig proved himself to be the definition of a five tool player. Sure, some of those tools are easier to harness than others. But there is nothing he can’t do on a baseball field. Really, the only thing that kept him from being a complete no-brainer with the first overall pick was the Jackalope’s already full outfield and perhaps a small worry about a second year flame-out. But the decision to take Puig couldn’t have been too difficult. In just four months in the big leagues, he hit .319 with 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases. Most years, he would have been an absolute lock for Rookie of the Year with those numbers, but we’ll get to why that was not the case in a bit. The sky is the limit for this guy.
With the second pick, the Gators took another young phenom outfielder in Wil Myers. Prior to last season, he was traded from Kansas City to Tampa Bay before making his big league debut, a very rare occurrence for such a highly touted prospect. Once he got the call to Tampa, he did not disappoint. He slugged 13 home runs in 335 MLB at bats on his way to winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. Myers is probably the biggest power prospect in this draft. He doesn’t have Puig’s speed or flare, but he already looks the part as a middle of the order power hitter. He will join a Gators offense which has gone through a remarkable makeover the past two years. He joins Yoenis Cespedes, Starling Marte and Leonys Martin in a very exciting and young Gators outfield.
Trivia question: which team finished second to the Kings in batting points last year. Unless your name is Dom, you probably didn’t know the answer is the Demigods. Only a truly dreadful pitching staff relegated them to an eighth place finish rather than being a title contender. But was their pitching staff really that bad, or just a bit unlucky? Well, Johnny Cueto missed a majority of the season with an injury. Cole Hamels only won eight games despite excellent peripheral numbers. Doug Fister was his usual solid, underrated self. And Yu Darvish was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Enter the third pick in the draft, Jose Fernandez. For the second straight year, the Demigods acquired the best strikeout pitcher in the draft with their first pick (Darvish last year). Fernandez had an absolutely phenomenal rookie campaign for the Marlins. 12 wins, a sub 1.0 WHIP, 2.19 ERA and 187 strike outs. He beat out Puig to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. The addition of Fernandez could turn the Demigods league worst pitching staff into one of the best. I know there is a long way to go in this draft, but if you are looking for a sleeper team this year, the Demigods would be a solid bet.
Here are three awesome GIFs of the top three draft choices enjoying their home runs… yes, including the pitcher Fernandez. Wait, Puig’s was actually a triple, which makes it even better. Which one is your favorite?
The fun didn’t end with the first three picks though. With the fourth pick, the Moonshiners elected to go with the best available player, third baseman Josh Donaldson. Last year, Donaldson pretty much came out of nowhere to become a MVP candidate, or at least he would have been if we lived in a world where Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout didn’t exist. He hit .301 with 24 home runs and 93 RBI. Although he figured to be an early draft pick, the Moonshiners are a bit of a surprise suitor since they already have David Wright and Kyle Seager at the hot corner. But all of them figure to be on their Opening Day roster. Donaldson should provide a solid boost to a strong core of Moonshiners hitters.
With the fifth pick, the Darkhorses went even younger, taking 21 year old third baseman Xander Bogaerts (he’s a couple months younger than Fernandez). 2013 was quite a year for Bogaerts. He progressed from highly touted AA prospect, to MLB utility player, to World Series starting third baseman. Bogaerts is considered an elite prospect because of his bat and his glove. The former makes him an attractive fantasy prospect as well, especially since he will likely shift over to shortstop next year. This is the kind of pick that is becoming the norm in the first round of DTBL drafts. Highly ranked prospects don’t stay on the board very long, no matter how little experience the player has.
The Cougars were the only team to pick a non-DTBL rookie in the first round. They selected outfielder Domonic Brown with the sixth pick. Despite only being 26 himself, Brown is actually three years removed from his one year of DTBL experience. He was a disappointment in that year with the Demigods and was starting to look like a bust of a former big time prospect until his breakout 2013 season. He slugged 27 home runs with 83 RBI for the Phillies. In the previous three seasons, he hit just 12 homers while bouncing up and down between MLB and AAA. But now he appears to be here to stay and should give the Cougars a solid power boost in their outfield.
There was no first round pick with a wider boom-to-bust potential than the Naturals selection of speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton with the seventh pick. Either Hamilton is going to win stolen bases for the Naturals by himself by being an every day top of the order hitter, or he is going to be too much of a liability with the bat that the Reds will use him almost exclusively as a pinch runner or send him back to the minors. There’s almost no in between for him. But if there is a team that can afford to take this gamble, it is the Naturals. They have guys like Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen and Troy Tulowitzki who will pretty much assure them of finishing high in the power categories, allowing them to play a one dimensional player. But that one dimension could be unlike anything this league has ever seen. Hamilton has stolen over 85 bases in each of his three full professional seasons and stole 13 bases in his first 13 major league games (with just 22 plate appearances!) This is going to be fun to watch.
With the eighth pick, the Choppers selected second baseman Matt Carpenter. He was sort of the NL version of Donaldson, suddenly breaking out of nowhere to become a MVP candidate. He hit .318 and led all of baseball in hits (199), runs scored (124) and doubles (55). He doesn’t have great power or speed, but his high extra base totals led to plenty of RBI as well (78), making him an elite three category player. If some of those doubles start going over the wall, his value could soar even more. The Choppers were the surprise team of ’13 and appear primed to make a serious run at the title this year. Carpenter should help them in that endeavor.
The first round ended with two more young pitchers going off the board. The Mavericks grabbed Gerrit Cole with the ninth pick. The first overall pick of the 2011 amateur draft, Cole reached the big leagues for the Pirates last summer and pitched extremely well. In fact, he only got better as the season progressed. Some were a little concerned by his mediocre strike out rate in AAA, but he was actually more effective in that regard in the majors. And throwing his fastball in the high 90′s, it is hard to imagine him not continuing that trend this season. This year, he will try to replace Matt Harvey as best he can for the Mavericks. But in 2015, a rotation of Harvey, Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg and Mat Latos almost sounds unfair to the rest of the league.
Finally, the Kings concluded the first round by taking pitcher Shelby Miller. For the first few months of the year, Miller was one of the best pitchers in baseball and appeared well on his way to the NL Rookie of the Year award until Fernandez and Puig burst onto the scene and stole his thunder. Miller faded a bit in the second half and then was almost unheard from in October for the Cardinals. But that was probably the result of going well past his previous career high in innings and maybe the Cardinals being a little cautious as well. If he can put together a full season that resembles the first half of 2013, he will quickly become one of the league’s elite pitchers.
For the first time in six years, no first round picks were traded. On a related note, it was the first year in quite some time that the Mavericks didn’t make multiple first round selections. But there was one trade completed during the round. The Kings dealt second baseman Ben Zobrist to the Gators for outfielder Michael Cuddyer. This was a trade of excess pieces for both teams. After drafting Myers, the Gators had six outfielders on their roster while the Kings had four middle infield keepers. So this trade made sense for both sides to fill other needs. Zobrist has bounced between several positions in recent years, but has returned to the infield this year where he is much more valuable. He will provide the Gators with solid power and speed at a very thin position. Meanwhile, Cuddyer returns to the Kings squad that drafted and then cut him just a couple years ago. Cuddyer is coming off the best year of his career, hitting .331 with 20 home runs in 2013.
The first round was certainly a lot of fun. Let’s see what the rest of the draft brings us.
