MLB Draft Preview- big board in progress

Forgive me for paraphrasing here, but Jimmy Johnson, the guy who built all those winning teams in Dallas, used to say something to the effect of "your draft board should be a list of all the available players you'd want to have on your team." As such, my draft boards, in Strat, Shadow Drafting and even my own head tend to be fairly short. I look for, and find, a couple dozen or so guys that I want t root for. This year, I found that to be the case again.

More so than ever, my involvement in a Strat league requires me to be aware of a HUGE number of players. Our rules of who is eligible for the minor league draft is "anyone who isn't a major leaguer." This means there are 14 years old who might be a high pick in 2020 already off the board.

For me, I tend to end up with a college heavy draft picks, ideally with a high upside HSer or 3 thrown onto the board.

You can find my actually take on drafting as part of a previous series... it ends here)

This year, I've realized that I had been overvaluing particular HS players in drafts. For example, I had Michael Chavis higher than Luke Weaver and Brandon Finnegan. It kills me to think of what those pitchers would fetch in a deal in Strat, fantasy leagues, or anything else.

So, without further ado, here is the start of my big board as of May 24...

• Corey Ray- He's a potential 30/30 guy with the potential to put up a .300/.400/.500 slash line. What's not to love?
• Nick Senzel- Doubles power galore (which is critical since the team I'm drafting for is in San Diego), athletecism to play SS, 2b and 3b, and yeah, numbers that are absurdly good against SEC Pitching? Sign me up!
• Dakota Hudson- My love of the Cape league is already established. Add in that this guy followed my ideal path, spending time in the bullpen figuring it out before making his debut in the rotation and then domination plus-plus competition? Listen, there should be bullets left in the gun and an ace-like possibility here.
• Chris Okey- I've talked and written at length about trying to find up-the-middle HS talent to compliment college pitching and corners. Sometimes, the up-the-middle HS talent I am smitten with goes to college and ends up available... Chris Okey is that guy. Coming out of HS, he was known as a defense first catcher with a ton of athletecism. Not he's a guy who still has that reputation, and is putting up an OPS between .950 and 1.000 against terrific pitching. Look, the guy has been comp'd to the best of Jason Kendall, who I love more than anyone as a catcher. I know I'm higher on Okey than most folks will be. I don't care.
• Justin Dunn- Up until a week ago, Daulton Jeffries held this spot... but I can't help but move up a reliever turned starter from the north east who's been dominant against top tier competition. If "Arms from the Northeast + HS pitchers with athleticism + college relievers with a chance to become great starters" are my 3 pitching notes.... then this guy belongs in my top 5.

That's my top 5. I am positive it isn't like most people's top 5, but I'm ok with that. Moving on, I come to:

• Anthony Kay- Northeast arms and guys who have pitched for team USA fall into my weaknesses, so Kay fits the bill. He's a lefty with the potential for 3 plus pitches, and every time I think of a comp, I come up with Adam Conley (a major leaguer) on the low end and Jon Lester (a Boston God) on the high side. Sign me up.
• Logan Gray- No one has Logan Gray in the their top 20 (never mind top 10), but I have a comp in my head that I can't get out: Ryan Braun. He's a 3b with questionable defense, amazing athleticism (20/20 in college), more walks than Ks... I can't help it. I want him in my system.
• Daulton Jeffries- He's a terrific pitcher who's been snake bitten by injuries. Recently, a report circulated that he should be OK, and won't need surgery. That's good news. The bad news, of course, is that he's missed a lot of development time.
• Ronnie Dawson- I love midwest bats that are under-appreciated.
• Nick Solak- The safest middle IF in the entire draft, as far as I am concerned.

Now we're getting on through it, and there are 2 more college pitchers I want to make sure I get into my roster.

Ryan Moseley- Coming into the season, Moseley was expected to be the Friday starter for a Texas Tech team that is currently in the top 10 in College Baseball. He hasn't. Instead, he's been effective in the bullpen, while also (reportedly) serving as a stabling factor for the very, VERY young pitching staff in Texas Tech. I get it.. this isn't how he drew it up, but I'm going to assume he's learned from it. Oh yeah, one more thing. His Sinker has been compared to that of Derek Lowe... wait... what? Yeah... a guy who managed to save some bullets, learned to be a leader AND throws a sinker comparable to D-Lowe. D-Lowr with a make up? HELL yeah!

Cooper Hammond- He's a Miami reliever with a funky delivery who might bring back shades of Dave Berg had Dave berg not left college one year ago. At his best, Chad Bradford was a terrific pitcher who got a ton of big outs for the Oakland A's. I'm not saying Hammond can be that guy... but I'm also not, not saying it.

The list above brings up a problem. It's 12 college players. The next post will add some HS players to the discussion, showing where the might rank on the board.

After that, I'll do a list of players I'd be happy to add, assuming my guys are off the board.