Rough Draft, Part Two

Last night was home to my second preliminary draft, a straight draft featuring 12 teams. Once again, players from both leagues were fair game. The categories we play with are standard 5x5 rotisserie, and I was saddled with the 10th overall pick, a position I never care for. After all, I don't get (in theory) that great of a first pick and I don't get the benefit of two rapid-fire picks in a row like the first and last drafters do. Next I will list my team along with the round and overall pick I selected each player.

C Geovany Soto (12/135)
1B Joey Votto (1/10)
2B Rickie Weeks (5/58)
3B Pedro Alvarez (7/82)
SS Stephen Drew (8/87)
OF Matt Holliday (2/15)
OF Andrew McCutchen (3/34)
OF Jason Heyward (4/39)
UT Jay Bruce (6/63)
UT Jose Tabata (18/207)
SP Brett Anderson (9/106)
SP Shaun Marcum (10/111)
RP Brandon Lyon (15/178)
RP Fernando Rodney (16/183)
P Ricky Nolasco (13/154)
P Jeremy Hellickson (14/159)
P Brett Myers (17/202)
P Ted Lilly (11/130)
BN Jordan Zimmerman (19/226)
BN Ian Kennedy (20/231)
BN Brandon League (22/255)
BN Ryan Raburn (21/250)
BN Gaby Sanchez (23/274)

I'm always reluctant to draft pitchers early due to the seemingly high injury risk and the even more prevalent risk of unpredictability, but this is probably the first season where I've ever drafted nine position players before even looking at a hurler. The result was an extremely balanced offense and a pitching staff which should still be strong provided I can scrape together some saves and get lucky with wins. I made the decision to stockpile starters with breakout potential so that even if a couple of guys bust, I'll hopefully be covered.

Perhaps the most surprising pick I got to make was Votto 10th overall. I mean, wow! He out Pujols-ed Pujols last year and I expect similar production in 2011. So how did I get Votto so low in the first round? Well, Adrian Gonzalez went second overall, Carlos Gonzalez went eighth, and Carl Crawford went ninth. All great players to be sure, but I'm in the camp that prefers Votto at this point.

Taking Holliday 15th was something I might not normally do, but I love the reliable four category contribution with a few steals thrown in. With McCutchen and Heyward I gave myself two more outfielders who could provide value across the board, especially if they slip into their primes early. At this point I needed to fill my scarce positions as best I could, as all of the top options were off the board long ago and the mid-range options were starting to get taken as well.

Obviously my closing corps are terrible, but I like my peripheral-heavy starting staff. Even without wins, I expect my team to do well in ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts. The only one of my starting pitchers I hadn't even banked on getting was Marcum, though I like him and I'm far from disappointed.