A Guide Through the First Five* Rounds

My name is Anthony Calanni and I will be your tour guide today. I am going to rank my top 60 players and place them in the position that I believe they should be drafted at. I broke the rankings up into five rounds of 12. These rankings apply to both rotisserie and head to head formats.

Mock Round 1
1. Mike Trout
2. Ryan Braun
3. Miguel Cabrera
4. Matt Kemp
5. Robinson Cano
6. Albert Pujols
7. Joey Votto
8. Prince Fielder
9. Andrew McCutchen
10. Giancarlo Stanton
11. Josh Hamilton
12. Carlos Gonzalez

Yeah, I like Trout at number 1. I know that Braun will drive in more runs, but I think that Trout has no ceiling and could easily put up 30 homers and 50 steals in 2013. I also have Pujols pretty high compared to other rankings. He may be declining, but he will bat in front of Ham-Bone and could have a season very similar to Cabrera's triple crown year.

Mock Round 2
13. Clayton Kershaw
14. Justin Verlander
15. Yoenis Cespedes
16. Adrian Beltre
17. Troy Tulowitzki
18. Jose Bautista
19. Justin Upton
20. Buster Posey
21. Stephen Strasburg
22. Ian Kinsler
23. Jason Heyward
24. Evan Longoria

The beginning of round 2 is where I believe elite pitchers should first be taken. I really like Cespedes. He has massive power and can steal 20 bases. I threw Heyward in the late second round because he is just too explosive to slip any further. You will find Longoria in my second round, but I placed him there with reluctance.

Mock Round 3
25. David Price
26. Bryce Harper
27. David Wright
28. Cliff Lee
29. Dustin Pedroia
30. Jose Reyes
31. Felix Hernandez
32. Paul Goldschmidt
33. Cole Hamels
34. Edwin Encarnacion
35. Ian Desmond
36. Allen Craig

In round 3, you can find Bryce Harper. Like Trout, Harper has no limits. I am not crazy about Wright and Encarnacion, but they deserve to be here. I have trust issues with them. In the case of Jose Reyes, I hate drafting a stolen base guy early, but he plays shortstop, a shallow position. I decided to place Desmond in round 3 over Hanley Ramirez because I think he will have a 25-25 season in 2013. I am also a fan of Goldschmidt. A first baseman that can steal 15 bags is a rare find.

Mock Round 4
37. Jay Bruce
38. Hanley Ramirez
39. Matt Holliday
40. Adam Jones
41. Adrian Gonzalez
42. Jacoby Ellsbury
43. Carlos Santana
44. Ryan Zimmerman
45. CC Sabathia
46. Billy Butler
47. Matt Cain
48. Zack Greinke

Hey look everybody! In round 4, I finally ranked Hanley. There is also a nice group of outfielders in this round. I decided to place more value on the production of Bruce and Holliday and rank them ahead of Jones and Ellsbury. I prefer 30 homer and 100 RBI guys over players who will give you more speed, but less run production. I placed Greinke at the end of round four, but I don't think I would draft him at that position if he was still on the board. There is something about that guy that rubs me the wrong way.

Mock Round 5
49. Starlin Castro
50. Joe Mauer
51. Jason Kipnis
52. Jered Weaver
53. Matt Wieters
54. B.J. Upton
55. Ben Zobrist
56. Chase Headley
57. Brandon Phillips
58. Gio Gonzalez
59. Yadier Molina
60. Chris Sale

The flexible Ben Zobrist makes it into round 5, as does the daydreamer, Starlin Castro. I am pretty high on Wieters this year and believe that B.J Upton will have a solid season playing alongside his baby brother. Michael Bourn barely missed the cut on my list, so did Yu Darvish and R.A. Dickey.

Let me know what you guys think and feel free to post your own rankings in the comments section.