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The postseason might be in full swing, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2022 MLB season. With the fantasy baseball season still fresh in our minds, we thought this was a good time to take stock of what we learned and begin to forecast what drafts might look like next spring.
Of course, with a deep and talented free agent class, opinions will evolve over time. But we wanted to give it a whirl anyway.
What you’ll see here are the results of a slow mock draft with staff members from NBC Sports EDGE. We’re recapping the final rounds here, but you can easily find coverage of the other rounds we’ve broken down over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully this functioned as a helpful way to start your prep going into the offseason. We had a lot of fun doing it.
1) Jorge Montanez (@Roto_Nino)
2) Seth Trachtman (@sethroto)
3) Colin Henderson (@ColDontLie)
4) Ryan Boyer (@RyanPBoyer)
5) Matt Williams (@MattWi77iams)
6) Drew Silva (@drewsilv)
7) Dave Shovein (@DaveShovein)
8) George Bissell (@GeorgeBissell)
9) Chris Crawford (@Crawford_MILB)
10) D.J. Short (@djshort)
11) Micah Henry (@FantasyCentral1)
12) Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot)
We’re drafting based on 5x5 roto scoring. The mock draft consists of 23 rounds, with 14 position players and nine pitcher spots. The position player breakdown is: 2 C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, MI, CI, 5 OF, UTIL. There’s 20-game eligibility for a player to qualify at a particular position.
ROUNDS 19-23
19.217 - Hunter Renfroe, OF
19.218 - Jarren Duran, OF
19.219 - Trey Mancini, OF
19.220 - John Means, SP
19.221 - Eric Haase, C
19.222 - Luke Voit, 1B
19.223 - Eduardo Escobar, 3B/2B
19.224 - Drew Rasmussen, SP/RP
19.225 - James Karinchak, RP
19.226 - Nicky Lopez, SS
19.227 - Ian Happ, OF
19.228 - Travis d’Arnaud, C
20.229 - Carson Kelly, C
20.230 - Chris Paddack, SP
20.231 - A.J. Pollock, OF
20.232 - Andrew Vaughn, OF
20.233 - Jonathan Loaisiga, RP
20.234 - Robbie Grossman, OF
20.235 - Adam Duvall, OF
20.236 - Mark Canha, OF
20.237 - Mitch Garver, C
20.238 - Devin Williams, RP
20.239 - Eric Lauer, SP
20.240 - Harrison Bader, OF
21.241 - Tarik Skubal, SP
21.242 - Tony Gonsolin, SP
21.243 - Triston McKenzie, SP
21.244 - Jesus Sanchez, OF
21.245 - Huascar Ynoa, SP
21.246 - Blake Treinen, RP
21.247 - Jean Segura, 2B
21.248 - Christian Javier, SP/RP
21.249 - Mike Soroka, SP
21.250 - Oneil Cruz, SS
21.251 - Garrett Hampson, 2B/OF
21.252 - Anthony Rizzo, 1B
22.253 - Charlie Blackmon, OF
22.254 - Alejandro Kirk, C
22.255 - Jonathan Schoop, 1B/2B
22.256 - Mike Zunino, C
22.257 - Spencer Torkelson, 1B/3B
22.258 - Elias Diaz, C
22.259 - Sean Murphy, C
22.260 - Tylor Megill, SP
22.261 - Josh Lowe, OF
22.262 - Wil Myers, OF
22.263 - Alex Wood, SP
22.264 - MJ Melendez, C
23.265 - Anthony DeSclafani, SP
23.266 - Nick Madrigal, 2B
23.267 - Omar Narvaez, C
23.268 - Aaron Civale, SP
23.269 - Riley Greene, OF
23.270 - Andrew Kittredge, RP
23.271 - Zach Plesac, SP
23.272 - Reid Detmers, SP
23.273 - Casey Mize, SP
23.274 - Joe Barlow, RP
23.275 - Grayson Rodriguez, SP
23.276 - Jeff McNeil, 2B
Ah, the home stretch. As noted above, this draft consists of nine pitcher spots and 14 position player spots, so these final rounds largely consisted of filling out rosters to meet the appropriate specifications. And so, we saw a bunch of second catchers drafted, but fortunately there were plenty of interesting picks beyond that.
I really liked Seth Trachtman taking a chance on Duran at the start of Round 19, though the 25-year-old struggled miserably in his first stint in the majors this year. There’s obviously still some work to do, but the speed is interesting. Speaking of speed, I went with Lopez toward the end of the 19th round as I was hurting for a reliable stolen base option. While the 26-year-old has no power, he went 22-for-23 in stolen base attempts this season and the speed and plus-contact ability bodes well for his batting average. He’s not quite a one-trick pony.
Lots of power/speed outfielders came of the board in the 20th round. I was tempted to go with Bader in that spot, but opted for Pollock after taking Lopez in the previous round. I’m just more confident in Pollock’s ability to help across-the-board and make up for what Lopez lacks as far as power production. Building your roster is a delicate balance. Chris Crawford’s pick of Andrew Vaughn was an interesting one, as it’s easy to imagine another level coming offensively. He hit the ball plenty hard as a rookie and cut down on his strikeouts in the second half even though it didn’t reflect in his batting average.
Intriguing starting pitchers populated the 21st round with Skubal, Gonsolin, McKenzie, Ynoa, Javier, and Soroka all being selected. Ynoa might have gone a few rounds earlier if he was able to maintain his strong start to the season. Unfortunately, he broke his hand punching the dugout bench in mid-May and posted a 5.05 ERA over nine starts upon his return. His quiet finish could work to the advantage of fantasy managers. His Braves teammate, Soroka, could be a bargain depending on how he looks in the spring. Here’s hoping for better luck on the injury front. He’s a big-time talent.
George Bissell was seemingly taking every interesting young player during this draft, so I was thrilled to get Cruz at pick No. 250. We only got a brief look at him as the Pirates finished out the season, but it would be no surprise if he broke camp with the big club next year. He’s a big, big boy. We don’t see 6-foot-7 shortstops very often, or, well, ever. Cruz hits the ball very hard and should also contribute on the speed front. Matthew Pouliot’s selection of Rizzo here at pick No. 252 could look really, really good if he ends up returning to the Yankees. He stuck with his “boring veteran” approach by snagging Blackmon with his very next pick to begin Round 22. Sometimes boring is good.
Quite a few second catchers were drafted in the 22nd round, but the one who raised the most eyebrows was Jorge Montanez’s pick of Melendez. The 22-year-old had a shocking progression in the minors this season and his production in Triple-A showed that it won’t be long before he’s knocking on the door. Melendez isn’t pushing Salvador Perez aside just yet, but he’s played some third base and could split some time between catcher and the DH spot. He’s a player to watch, for sure. The same goes with Torkelson, though he doesn’t need an introduction to fantasy managers.
Six out of the 12 picks in the final round were starting pitchers. It’s easy to see DeSclafani, Plesac, and Civale outdoing these ADPs and it never hurts to take a chance on young arms like Mize, Detmers, or Rodriguez. It’s hard to count on them either, though. McNeil was the final pick of the draft as Pouliot continued to target rebound candidates. It was a savvy choice, as McNeil is capable of much better than what we saw this season and he could realize that potential in the right situation. There’s a chance he could be traded this offseason, so keep an eye on him.
