The earliest of early mock drafts: Rounds 7-10

We completed the 25 round draft in the #earlymock14 fantasy baseball draft, but today I offer my thoughts on rounds 7 - 10. You can find my thoughts on the earlier rounds here:

Round One

Round Two

Round Three

Round Four

Round Five

Round Six

Tommy L from Fantasy Assembly wrote his thoughts for rounds 1-5 and 6-15 in the links below:

Mock Draft Analysis: Rounds 1-5

Mock Draft Analysis: Rounds 6-15

I hope the round by round analysis of our early mock draft helps you in your preparation for your 2014 fantasy baseball drafts. We will have several more mock drafts this offseason, so this mock is just the beginning for us at Fake Teams

Here is a quick look at how the picks for rounds 7 - 10 of the #earlymock14 fantasy baseball draft went:

Seventh Round

I took another outfielder in round seven, grabbing Royals outfielder Alex Gordon. Gordon had a solid 2013 season, but we saw his batting average dip from the .290 range to .265. Despite the drop in batting average, we saw a bump in the power categories, as Gordon hit 20 HRs, up from 14 in 2012, drove in 81 runs (up from 72 in 2012) and scored 90 runs for the third season in a row.

The biggest surprise pick in round seven goes to Paul at Fantasy Assembly as he chose Red Sox SS/3B Xander Bogaerts. I like the choice here, as I think Bogaerts can step into the Red Sox lineup and produce at a high level in 2014. I ranked Bogaerts as my 5th ranked fantasy shortstop in 2014, which might be aggressive, but I am comfortable with the ranking.

Another pick that might have been too early for my blood was Daniel Schwartz's picking Padres second baseman Jedd Gyorko. Gyorko had a fine rookie season, which saw him hit 22 home runs and hit .249 on the season with a 23% strikeout rate. Gyorko was the 8th second baseman off the board, taken before Brandon Phillips and Chase Utley.

A couple picks I liked in the seventh round was Tommy's pick of Jayson Werth, as Werth quietly had a very good 2013 season. I haven't published my early 2014 outfielder rankings, but he is in my top 25. I also liked Rotowords's decision to select Domonic Brown here. If he had fallen to me, I may have taken him over Gordon.

Eighth Round

I may have reached a little bit, or a lot, with my eighth round selection of Astros outfield prospect George Springer here. I am pretty high on him, and think he is ready for the big leagues in 2014. He has 30 home run, 30 stolen base potential, and is the Astros best outfielder right now. Whether he wins the center field job in spring training may not matter though, as the Astros may decide to hold him back for at least a month or so for service time reasons. He, along with Xander Bogaerts, could be the two prospects with the biggest impact on the fantasy landscape for 2014.

Jim Finch from Fantasy Assembly also reached on Matt Adams a bit too early for my liking, but with the first base options thinning out, Jim grabbed the potential 30 home runs bat. Adams should be the Cardinals every day first baseman in 2014.

Paul Hartman from Fantasy Assembly followed his Bogaerts pick in the seventh round with Pirates ace Gerrit Cole here in the eighth round. I actually like this pick as well, as Cole was pretty dominant over the last few months of the season and into the playoffs.

Ninth Round

I grabbed Rays ace starter Matt Moore here in the ninth round to team him up with my sixth round pick, Zack Greinke, at the top of my rotation. As you can see, you can wait on pitching and Matt Moore falling to the ninth round, along with a few other excellent starters, solidifies that strategy.

The fact that you can get Hisashi Iwakuma, James Shields and Mike Minor in the ninth round tells fantasy owners that pitching is deep and waiting on pitching is a viable strategy.

Closers started dropping off the board in the eighth and ninth rounds, as Reds closer (?) Aroldis Chapman was taken in the eighth round and Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen taken here in the ninth round. Chapman and Jansen join Braves closer Craig Kimbrel as the only closers taken through the first nine rounds.

Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton offers fantasy owners one to the top stolen base threats in the game, if not THE best stolen base threat, and Peter from Fantasy Assembly grabbed him here in the ninth round. I am lower on Hamilton than others, but he should be the Reds starting center fielder in 2014. The question for fantasy owners is not his stolen base potential, it is how often he will get on base, and if he is ready to play center field at the major league level in 2014.

Tenth Round

After filling up my outfield in the first eight rounds, I moved to fill up my middle infield spots, and chose Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro in the tenth round. Castro is coming off his worst season as a major leaguer, but I feel he will have a bounce back season in 2014.

There was a closer run in the tenth round, as Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal, Royals closer Greg Holland and Red Sox closer Koji Uehara all came off the board. I was wondering when the closer run would start, and we finally got it. As stated earlier, I prefer to wait on closers in my drafts, as an injury or ineffectiveness in spring training could move manager to make a change in the closer role before the season begins.

How the mighty have fallen. Once considered a first round pick, Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton fell to the tenth round in this mock draft. I have a feeling he won't last as long come March, but he will have to make some changes in his approach at the plate to get back to being one of the more feared hitters in the game.

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