The earliest of early mock drafts: First round results

Baseball season is not officially over yet, but several of the Fake Teams writers can't for the offseason to begin, so we joined a mock draft with the guys over at Fantasy Assembly. I got an invite from Paul Hartman from Fantasy Assembly over the weekend, and he was looking for 5-6 more fantasy writers to fill up the slow mock draft he set up over at Couch Managers.

With that said, it was quite easy to fill up the remaining spots, and fellow Fake Teams writers Alex Kantecki, Brian Creagh, Daniel Kelley, Dan Schwartz, Nabae Asfar, and myself are participating in this 12 team, 25 round mixed league draft.

The other participants in this draft are all from Fantasy Assembly except for one:

Paul Hartman

Rotowords

Kevin Jebers

Tommy L

Peter W

Jim Finch

By the time you read this, we will have completed five rounds of this 25 round draft. Let's take a quick look at the first round results:

1. Mike Trout (Nabae Asfar)

2. Miguel Cabrera (Brian Creagh)

3. Paul Goldschmidt (Rotowords)

4. Andrew McCutchen (Ray)

5. Robinson Cano (Paul Hartman at Fantasy Assembly)

6. Adam Jones ( Kevin at Fantasy Assembly)

7. Carlos Gonzalez (Alex Kantecki)

8. Troy Tulowitzki (Daniel Kelley)

9. Chris Davis (Tommy at Fantasy Assembly)

10. Hanley Ramirez (Peter at Fantasy Assembly)

11. Clayton Kershaw (Jim at Fantasy Assembly)

12. Freddie Freeman (Dan Sschwartz)

Nothing real surprising, right?

Wait! What the???

Freddie Freeman in the first round? Dan has some splaining to do. I knew he liked Freeman, but not this much. Apparently his 2014 projections are telling him that Freeman is a first rounder in 2014. And he is keeping his projections from us!! Damn him!! Not really.

I really can't argue any of these picks, with the exception of Freeman, as he is the third first baseman taken in the first round, and I have about six or seven other first baseman ranked ahead of him for 2014, but that means nothing in a draft. Every owner uses their own rankings when drafting and I recommend every reader do the same. Well, you can certainly use our rankings, but you are free to adjust them however you'd like.

One pick I REALLY like is Clayton Kershaw at #11. I am not one to take a pitcher in the first round, but Kershaw, right now, is one of THE safest picks in the game. He has led the National League in ERA for three straight seasons, and will win his second Cy Young award in the last three seasons. I might even take him in the first round in one of my NL only league drafts in 2014.

Like I said, no real qualms with the first round except for Freeman, as I would have picked Edwin Encarnacion, Adrian Beltre or Ryan Braun over him, but I was not the guy picking.

Speaking of Braun, I guess by the looks of of it, this draft tells you he isn't a first round pick for the first time in several years. I have a feeling that will change by March.

What do Fake Teams readers think of the first round? Would you have picked McCutchen at #4? Let's hear what you have to say in the comments below.