Welcome to Diamond Digest’s first ever Fantasy Mock Draft. We had a total of 15 Diamond Digest writers participate in this draft for a single-season 12-team H2H league (3 teams controlled by 2 writers). Here you will find every pick in a 24-round draft along with insights from some of the writers describing their strategies and tips to help you dominate your league this summer.
Roster Construction
- 9 starting hitters (one at each infield position, one catcher, three outfielders, and a DH/Utility)
- 3 starting pitchers
- 3 relief pitchers
- 3 starting or relief pitchers
- 6 bench players
League Stipulations
- Snake Draft
- Head-to-head points format
- Maximum of 10 starts per matchup
- Daily Lineups
Picks
Anthony Messineo: My strategy in this particular draft was to get a plethora of talent, while splitting picks relatively evenly between pitchers and hitters. In a points league, regardless of the scoring break down, the scoring is biased towards pitchers, so that explains why half of my first 10 picks are pitchers. With that being said, my 2nd round pick, Trea Turner, in my opinion is one of my best picks. To get someone who is going in the first round in every mock draft I have done this season at pick 2.6 is a steal. The relievers I have rostered I believe will keep runs allowed down, while getting me points in saves as well as strikeouts, and I believe my pitching staff as a whole is up there with the best in the league.
Ryan Ruhde and Alexis Atwater: Going into the draft, we knew that it would be the most beneficial to pick up strong pitchers, based on the scoring that is present in this league. That being said, we knew it was still imperative to get some position players on our team with consistent bats. With our first pick, we took Max Scherzer, with confidence that the Washington Nationals’ ace would provide a solid base for our pitching staff. We went onto our 3rd and 6th picks, taking Clayton Kershaw and Craig Kimbrel, respectively. Though we have high hopes for the performance of our pitchers, we expect no less from our position players, picking up players like Anthony Rizzo, Xander Bogaerts, and Juan Soto.
Tyler Green: The strategy I utilized for this draft was to gather a plethora of bullpen arms. The strength of my team is centered around the bullpen arms because saves can accumulate points quickly. I wanted to draft closers on contending teams in order to maximize upside. That is why I drafted Josh Hader with my 5th round pick and Sean Doolittle with my 10th round pick.
Mick Callahan: During the draft, I was very focussed on collecting elite bullpen arms (drafted Edwin Diaz, Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, and Ken Giles) to get a consistent stream of points throughout the season instead of waiting every five days for starters. When I did pick starters, I looked toward mostly younger pitchers without much injury history like Marco Gonzalez, Walker Buehler, and Matthew Boyd. The biggest flaw in my draft strategy is that I was left with a sub-par shortstop (Eduardo Escobar) in a league with 12 teams, however, I was content with the lineup I was able to compile led by Freddie Freeman and Matt Carpenter.
Writers
Alexis Atwater
Mick Callahan
Chris Classie
Jack Dorfsman
Tyler Green
Eddie Hardiman
Tyler Jennings
Peter Khayat
Adam Koplik
Jordan Lewin-Skversky
Griffin Meadors
Anthony Messineo
Ryan Ruhde
Brian Schlosser
Reed Zahradnik
Featured Photo: wikipedia.com
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