LABR Draft Recap

The LABR draft went down on Tuesday night. For those unfamiliar, this is a 15-team, standard 5×5 rotisserie league featuring the brightest minds in fantasy baseball. Here is the link to the draft results: https://www.rtsports.com/labr-mixed-draft

Here are the Top 15 at every position (in order drafted):

Starting Pitcher

Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg, Carlos Carrasco, Luis Severino, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Yu Darvish, Carlos Martinez

Relief Pitcher

Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Roberto Osuna, Corey Knebel, Edwin Diaz, Felipe Rivero, Cody Allen, Brad Hand, Raisel Iglesias, Ken Giles, Sean Doolittle, Wade Davis, Alex Colome, Jeurys Familia

Catcher

Gary Sanchez, Willson Contreras, Buster Posey, J.T. Realmuto, Salvador Perez, Mike Zunino, Yadier Molina, Evan Gattis, Wilson Ramos, Welington Castillo, Brian McCann, Austin Barnes, Jonathan Lucroy, Yasmani Grandal, Austin Hedges

First Base

Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo, Cody Bellinger, Jose Abreu, Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer, Matt Carpenter, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Olson, Justin Smoak, Greg Bird, Josh Bell, Carlos Santana

Second Base

Jose Altuve, Dee Gordon, Brian Dozier, Jonathan Schoop, Daniel Murphy, Robinson Cano, Whit Merrifield, Rougned Odor, Ozzie Albies, Yoan Moncada, Javier Baez, D.J. LeMahieu, Ian Kinsler, Jonathan Villar, Scooter Gennett

Shortstop

Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Elvis Andrus, Jean Segura, Xander Bogaerts, Trevor Story, Didi Gregorius, Paul DeJong, Zack Cozart, Orlando Arcia, Marcus Semien, Jose Peraza, Tim Anderson

Third Base

Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, Kris Bryant, Jose Ramirez, Josh Donaldson, Anthony Rendon, Alex Bregman, Justin Turner, Miguel Sano, Travis Shaw, Joey Gallo, Nicholas Castellanos, Jake Lamb, Kyle Seager, Rafael Devers

Outfield

Mike Trout, Charlie Blackmon, Giancarlo Stanton, Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, George Springer, Andrew Benintendi, Christian Yelich, Rhys Hoskins, Marcell Ozuna, Starling Marte, Byron Buxton, Billy Hamilton

Quick Thoughts

Gary Sanchez at 16th overall is steep, and a harbinger of days to come. You will not draft this slugging catcher cheaply in 2018. He is going to cost you.

Scott Pianowski was the OG, choosing not to select a pitcher until Round 12—and a non-closing reliever, at that. That offense is loaded, but will his relief-heavy rotation be enough? Major props to Anthony Rizzo in Round 2. Rizzo in Round 2 is a flipping steal this year.

Nicholas Castellanos was a surprise pick in Round 7, but when you look underneath the proverbial hood it makes sense. Still only 26 years old, Castellanos smacked 26 home runs last year and made hard contact a whopping 43.4% of the time. His line drive rates have always been very good (career 25.2%) and he trimmed his strikeout rate by over three percent last year (down to 21.4%). I have been ignoring this upside, so shouts to Ray Murphy for that pick.

My favorite guy at the keystone, Ozzie Albies, went 90th overall (last pick of Round 6). Second base really isn’t a deep spot this year. I completely agree with taking a chance on Albies in the middle rounds. This is the perfect intersection of my fandom (Atlanta) and my geekdom (fake sports). “Amen” to all the Albies in 2018.

Rougned Odor is another second baseman I can get behind in the middle rounds. With no significant changes in his batted ball profile a year ago, it seems clear that Odor suffered from a case of bad luck (.224 BABIP). Steamer projects a rebound in the luck department (.278 BABIP) and a return to a .256 batting average. When you consider a .250 BA alongside Odor’s counting statistics from the last two years, I hope you get as giddy as I do over his 2018 discount. Odor has a 30/10 floor if he stays healthy. He is only 24 years of age. SIGN ME UP.

There’s plenty more that stood out, but those were some of my favorite things. Besides, you guys and gals are smart enough to draw your own conclusions. I just wanted to bring you the basic facts—who the top guys at each position were.

Shouts to Mike Podhorzer of Fangraphs for drafting the goat, Mitch Moreland. That all but guarantees his victory.

Remember to check out our positional weeks here at Fake Teams if you have not done so! So far we have tackled catcher week and first base week. This week is second base, so stay tuned!