Rotoworld Staff Mock Draft – Results and Analysis

Each year it seems as though the fantasy baseball season begins earlier and earlier. Most sharp players have already been drafting since the World Series wrapped up in October. We have seen the data on average draft position mold and take shape throughout the off-season as trades, free agent signings and injuries have shaped and reshaped the overall player pool.

Now that we have turned the corner into March, we are into the home stretch. Most fantasy managers have their biggest drafts on the horizon and are developing draft plans on how to build their championship winning rosters. Before those drafts kick into high gear though, we got the Rotoworld baseball crew (and several of our friends in the industry) together last to select players in standard snake-style fashion for a 12-team mock draft.

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Follow along with our round-by-round analysis and develop some ideas for your own drafts.

For this draft, we utilized the basic 5×5 scoring that most fantasy managers are accustomed to: AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB on the hitting side, and W, ERA, WHIP, SV, K on the pitching side. And with the following position setup: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, CI, MI, UTIL and 9 P.

The participants, in draft order …

1. Jorge Montanez (Rotoworld)
2. Nate Marcum (Reliever Recon)
3. Dave Shovein (Rotoworld)
4. Steve Gardner (USA Today)
5. Matthew Pouliot (Rotoworld)
6. Christopher Crawford (Rotoworld)
7. Frank Ammirante (Roto Baller)
8. Eric Samulski (Rotoworld)
9. James Schiano (Rotoworld)
10. D.J. Short (Rotoworld)
11. George Bissell (Rotoworld)
12. Lucas Biery (FTN Fantasy)

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I’m going to examine things round by round for the first five rounds before diving into each team individually and exploring their roster construction.

Round 1

1.01 Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees
1.02 Shohei Ohtani, UTIL/SP, Dodgers
1.03 Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals
1.04 Jose Ramírez, 3B, Guardians
1.05 Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Braves
1.06 Juan Soto, OF, Mets
1.07 Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds
1.08 Julio Rodríguez, OF, Mariners
1.09 Paul Skenes, SP, Pirates
1.10 Tarik Skubal, SP, Tigers
1.11 Garrett Crochet, SP, Red Sox
1.12 Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, Padres

Round Analysis: And they’re off! Early ADP data has shown us that there’s a very clear top three players atop every draft, and while the order was switched up a bit with Aaron Judge going ahead of Shohei Ohtani, our drafters stayed true to the market and made them the first three names off the board. The same thing happened with the next three players: Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr and Jose Ramirez, with each manager plucking a five-category stud off of the board. Frank Ammirante pulled Elly De La Cruz off the board at pick seven. He’s usually the next hitter off the board in early drafts, though he routinely goes behind Tarik Skubal. Eric Samulski followed with Julio Rodríguez before James Schiano shunned Skubal and made Paul Skenes the first pitcher selected in tis draft. Skubal and Garrett Crochet immediately followed, making the top 11 options by ADP the first 11 players selected in this draft. Lucas Biery wrapped the opening round by taking Padres’ multi-talented outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

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They say that you can’t win a draft in the first round, but you can lose it. In this case though, there are no glaring picks that stand out as anything other than the industry standard. Nine teams are starting with a strong five-category base on the offensive side of the ledger while the other three have locked in one of the clear top three starting pitchers on the board. It’s where our fantasy managers decide to go from here that will start to define their overall chances.

2.13 Kyle Tucker, OF, Dodgers
2.14 Cal Raleigh, C, Mariners
2.15 Corbin Carroll, OF, Diamondbacks
2.16 Gunnar Henderson, SS, Orioles
2.17 Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Blue Jays
2.18 Jackson Chourio, OF, Brewers
2.19 Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics
2.20 Pete Alonso, 1B, Orioles
2.21 Yoshinobu Yamamoto, SP, Dodgers
2.22 Cristopher Sanchez, SP, Phillies
2.23 Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays
2.24 Kyle Schwarber, UT, Phillies

Round Analysis: At a glance, the second round might look pretty straightforward, but there’s a whole lot going on here. Let’s try to unpack it. Lucas started things out with Kyle Tucker, starting his squad with two five-category studs in the outfield (Fernando Tatis Jr.). While it’s not the build that I typically choose to utilize, I can’t find any fault with it. George followed with Cal Raleigh. Some prognosticators are adamant that in a one-catcher league, that you don’t need to spend serious draft capital at the position. I’d argue conversely that Raleigh is such a huge edge at the position that he’s still likely to deliver a profit, even from that lofty draft cost. Our fearless leader D.J. Short went with Corbin Carroll at pick 15, showing no qualms about the surgery that he underwent to repair the hamate bone in his wrist. Historically, we have seen hitters’ power output be slow to come back following the procedure, and whether or not Carroll ends up delivering profit here may ultimately depend on how he responds.

Midway through the round we see three first baseman selected in the span of four picks with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Nick Kurtz and Pete Alsonso going at picks 17, 19 and 20 respectively. The recent ADP data actually has Kurtz as the top option at the position around pick 17, so it looks like Eric may not completely buy into the hype on the A’s young slugger – or he just trusts Guerrero a bit more. The only player that was selected in the first 24 picks that doesn’t reside in the top 24 by ADP, was Steve’s selection of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. This one agitated me, as I was going to be the one to take him with the very next pick. He’s far and away the fourth ranked starting pitcher on my board and I actually have him closer to the big three than I do to the next few names on the list. I see zero issue selecting him at pick 21 and actually would have taken him higher if I had been drafting elsewhere and wanted an SP there.

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3.25 Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B/3B, Yankees
3.26 Trea Turner, SS, Phillies
3.27 Zach Neto, SS, Angels
3.28 Yordan Alvarez, UT, Astros
3.29 Logan Gilbert, SP, Mariners
3.30 Ketel Marte, 2B, Diamondbacks
3.31 Cole Ragans, SP, Royals
3.32 Francisco Lindor, SS, Mets
3.33 Manny Machado, 3B, Padres
3.34 CJ Abrams, SS, Nationals
3.35 James Wood, OF, Nationals
3.36 Chris Sale, SP, Braves

Things start to deviate a bit from ADP as we get into the third round. Chisholm is a very strong pick at the top by Jorge, and was the lone player from the top-24 that wasn’t taken in the first two rounds. Then we get a couple of five-category studs at the shortstop position. Turner offers a much higher average ceiling while Neto nearly went 30/30 in 2025 despite missing several weeks due to injury. I don’t love the roster construction that I was forced into starting with two shortstops in my first three picks, but I couldn’t pass on him there. Yordan Alvarez was pulled up the board a bit, as he’s 34^th by ADP over the past couple of weeks. If he manages to stay healthy and avoid the injured list, he’ll crush from that spot. That’s a big if though. Logan Gilbert, Cole Ragans and Chris Sale are the three starting pitchers selected in the round. Of the three, Ragans gives me the most reason for concern as I don’t trust that he’s healthy now or that he’ll be able to make 30 starts during the season. The talent is obviously there, he’s just someone that I can’t personally trust as my ace.

Francisco Lindor is another fascinating pick as he has seen his draft stock tumble on the news that he underwent surgery to remove his hamate bone. Like Corbin Carroll, I have concerns about Lindor’s power output upon his return, he does so much else across the board though that I think fantasy managers might have pushed him too far down. I really like his overall upside from that draft cost.

4.37 Bryan Woo, SP, Mariners
4.38 Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs
4.39 Bryce Harper, 1B, Phillies
4.40 Brent Rooker, OF, Athletics
4.41 Brice Turang, 2B, Brewers
4.42 Wyatt Langford, OF, Rangers
4.43 Hunter Brown, SP, Astros
4.44 Mason Miller, RP, Padres
4.45 Hunter Greene, SP, Reds
4.46 Edwin Diaz, RP, Dodgers
4.47 Max Fried, SP, Yankees
4.48 Cade Smith, RP, Guardians

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We’re getting into the part of the draft where it’s much more acceptable to deviate a bit more from the established ADP in order to get your players. This round frustrated me specifically though and destroyed the draft plan that I was attempting to execute here. Brice Turang is my guy, he is someone that I’m actively targeting in all of my drafts this year and I believe he’ll end up being the class of the second base position. Coming into this draft, his ADP was 50^th and the highest that he had gone in any draft was pick 42. I had been hopeful that he would be there for me to take at pick 44, but Eric had the same idea and grabbed him at pick 41 instead. That one pick would have serious reverberations in my total draft plan.

I wound up pivoting there and went with Edwin Diaz, one of three closers taken in the round. I’m of the belief that I like to make it out of every draft one of the top-tier options at the position along with a second established guy – or a couple of guys I feel good about later. By locking in Diaz, it gave my flexibility on how I needed to attack the position in the rest of the draft.

I also want to go on record saying that I really like the Brent Rooker pick. I think fantasy drafters are overlooking the fact that he’s no longer only UTIL eligible and can now be played in the outfield from day one. He has slugged 30 homers in each of the past three seasons and should do so again in 2026 while hitting in the middle of an interesting young A’s lineup.

5.49 Jesus Luzardo, SP, Phillies
5.50 Andres Munoz, RP, Mariners
5.51 Matt Olson, 1B, Braves
5.52 Rafael Devers, 1B, Giants
5.53 Austin Riley, 3B, Braves
5.54 Logan Webb, SP, Giants
5.55 Maikel Garcia, 3B, Royals
5.56 Jacob deGrom, SP, Rangers
5.57 Jhoan Duran, RP, Phillies
5.58 Roman Anthony, OF, Red Sox
5.59 Mookie Betts, SS, Dodgers
5.60 Freddy Peralta, SP, Mets

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It’s more of the same in the fifth round with nothing to egregious jumping out from an ADP standpoint. The two closers specifically – Jhoan Duran and Andres Munoz – look like terrific values to me. We’re starting to run thin on the pure five-category hitters, which is why you’re seeing more of the power types like Matt Olson, Rafael Devers and Austin Riley start to come off the board. Both Maikel Garcia and Roman Anthony are extremely dynamic talents and if anyone is going to jump up into the first or second round from this group in terms of overall value this season, I’d wager it’s one of them.

Now that we have taken a look at the top 60 picks, let’s break it down team by team and see how each fantasy manager chose to attack this draft:

Team 1 – Jorge Montanez

Taking a look at Jorge’s team, it appears to me that he’s going to have a very strong offense. Putting all of the teams through my personal projections, he checks in with the second best offense in the league overall – behind only my team, and I’m at a huge advantage because they’re my projections. It’s just quality production up and down the lineup and maximizing at-bats across the board. The question with this squad will come down to whether or not he has enough pitching to back it up. Personally, I wouldn’t be thrilled heading into a season with Jesus Luzardo and Joe Ryan as my top two starters – especially in a 12-teamer. If Nick Lodolo and Emmet Sheehan take that next step forward though, perhaps there’s enough there to make it work. I like the Seranthony Dominguez pick as well and was looking there myself before Jorge Sniped him in the round that I was going to pull the trigger.

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Team 2 – Nate Marcum

Looking at Nate’s squad, you can see like many teams in this league he wasn’t afraid to shun ADP to go and get his guys. Whether or not that will end up working out for him remains to be seen, but I’m glad that he stuck to his convictions. Jeffrey Springs isn’t showing an ADP because he hadn’t been selected in an NFBC Online Championship draft over the past couple of weeks, but that’s not to say he won’t be a viable fantasy contributor this season. The pitching staff here is quite strong, it’s the offense that worries me. I have him with the fewest at-bats in the league, based somewhat on the uncertainty around Wetherholt, how much action Basallo will ultimately see and the healthy of Mike Trout. His counting stats get dinged because of that and I think he’s also a bit light overall on speed.

Team 3 – Dave Shovein

Clearly this is the best team in the league and doesn’t warrant any further discussion. In all seriousness though, there are a lot of things that I struggled with during this draft that hurt the overall roster construction. I missed out on top targets Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Brice Turang. I wasn’t able to land a solid second closer and had to bet against Josh Hader’s health. While I like all of the arms on my pitching staff, I feel like I’m one SP2 or SP3 short of where I need to be. That’s something that can be fixed in season, but I don’t completely love it on paper. That being said, I do dig the offense. I think the power and speed are there and spades and I was able to get both without sacrificing batting average or counting stats. I think this team would be a contender.

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Team 4 – Steve Gardner

Running my numbers on the offense for Steve’s squad, he finishes in the middle of the pack overall, being brought down by his home runs and batting average. Individually, I like a lot of his picks though. Brandon Nimmo is someone that I routinely target in drafts and wanted to grab here, but he was pulled before I could get there. I also think he got terrific value late on both Spencer Torkelson and Jose Caballero, which was set up by knowing which positions he could push until the end of the draft. I won’t forgive him from sniping me on Yamamoto, but overall I think that Steve did a nice job constructing this team.

Team 5 – Matthew Pouliot

The first thing that jumps off the page to me on this team is the overall talent on the pitching staff. I don’t know how healthy it’s all going to be, but if Josh Hader, Blake Snell and Bryce Miller spend more of the season off of the injured list than on – and if Gerrit Cole is his true self upon his return from elbow surgery – then this group has a chance to be special. I do have concerns on the hitting side, as I’m not sure there’s enough speed here to compete and Matthew checks in last in my projections in terms of runs scored. Part of that is getting dinged for the Jackson Holliday injury though and having to have a second catcher in the initial lineup until Ivan Herrera qualifies. The power base is strong and is certainly something that can be worked with. Given his managing capabilities, I would expect Matthew to field a competitive team throughout this season.

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Team 6 – Christopher Crawford

When running all of the offenses from this draft through my projections, Christopher’s squad grades out as the third best offense in the league behind only myself and Jorge. That’s saying something considering how bearish I am on the playing time of both Konnor Griffin and Isaac Paredes. The overall bones of this team are very solid. If I had to nitpick anywhere it would be trusting Spencer Strider as an SP3, but then again if he’s right he’s an ace and this team could jump to the top of the league. This was a job very well done.

Team 7 – Frank Ammirante

Another manager that wasn’t afraid to go and get his guys ahead of ADP if he had to, which hurt me in my pursuits of Maikel Garcia and Sal Stewart specifically. There’s an abundance of speed on the offense, in fact there might be too much. Frank grades out as the top team in the league in stolen bases while finishing near the bottom of the pack in home runs and RBI. That’s something that could be balanced out a bit in season, but he also has concerns in batting average that he’ll have to contend with. I’d have a hard time trusting Cole Ragans to be my SP1, but I like all of the arms that he assembled here. This team feels more boom or bust than some in the league, but if he hits on a couple of key picks, he would be in the mix at season’s end.

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Team 8 – Eric Samulski

This is another team that is particularly interesting to me. I like so much of what he did on the pitching side, as all six of his starting pitchers are in my draftable player pool and deGrom/Kirby makes for one of the best 1-2 punches in the league. I like a lot of the hitters as well, and the overall base that he compiled by starting with Julio Rodriguez, Vladimir Guarrero Jr. and Brice Turang is very impressive. I think he lost sight of the offense a bit after that though. I have him finishing near the top of the league in both power categories on offense, but coming in near the bottom in batting average and stolen bases. I think there are just a few too many all slug and no speed guys, where more balance would have made this team incredibly dangerous to compete against.

Team 9 – James Schiano

I really like what James did on the pitching side of the ledger here, starting with Paul Skenes, Dylan Crase, Zack Wheeler and Michael King. If Wheeler is ready at any point in April, this team should finish near the top of the heap in pitching, even if I don’t love most of the back-end starters. The offense looks more middle of the pack than a team that’s going to take the league by storm though. I really like the strong base in batting average, which gives him something to work with as he looks to attack other categories and I think he’s actually fine in terms of power. It’s stolen bases and runs scored that come up a bit light here. If he were to be able to add a viable base stealer during the season without sacrificing much in terms of power, he would be in the mix at season’s end.

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Team 10 – D.J. Short

I really like what’s going on with the pitching staff here. Tarik Skubal is a cheat code. The strong ratio and strikeout base that he provides just sets you up so well regardless of what you do next. D.J. didn’t rest on his laurels though, he surrounded Skubal with a ton of quality arms and built a strong bullpen to go with it. On offense, I like the strong batting average base and there’s more than enough speed to get the job done. My concern with this squad is power. While I have everyone on the team penciled in for 10 or more long balls, I don’t have anyone eclipsing 30, and just Bryce Harper and Kyle Stowers with more than 25. Of all the things to have to find on the waiver wire during the season, power may be the most plentiful though, so if you’re going to have a weakness somewhere, that’s a good place to have it. Nicely done.

Team 11 – George Bissell

In terms of roster construction, George did something unique here compared to the rest of the draft. He started by taking Garret Crochet in the first round, then took hitters with each of his next seven picks to build a stellar base on offense. He then went back to pitching in full force – taking pitchers with each of his next six selections. The pitching staff looks very impressive, though he’s going to have to find another closer someplace to pair with Emilio Pagan as everyone else in the league is already rolling with two or three relievers. The offense looks great in four categories but checks in dead last in the entire league in stolen bases. I don’t know if that was by design or wound up being a formality based on how the draft played out. If he can address the stolen base deficiency, there’s enough talent here to compete for league prizes at season’s end.

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Team 12 – Lucas Biery

Overall, I can get behind what’s happening with the offense on this team. He looks to be strong in four categories with his only deficiency coming in batting average. My concern are the health scares that you get from rostering Royce Lewis and Corey Seager. If this offense can stay intact and avoid the injured list, he’ll have a shot. The pitching is really the prize on this squad though, as Chris Sale, Bryan Woo and Freddy Peralta make up the most fearsome trio in the entire league and he has two quality bullpen arms to go with them. If Carlos Rodon returns to any semblance of his former self, this team could be incredibly dangerous.