2022 Draft Recap

It seems like every year I draft a few guys who aren't selected. Last year it wasn't just Peyton Stovall, but also Seth Stevenson (who did get drafted this year). In 2020, it was Tanner Witt, Colby Halter, Tyler McDonough and Braiden Ward (4 of my 6 picks that year!). This year was no different, and it makes the shadow draft so hard.

My full haul is:

• Justin Crawford (signed- $3,894,800)
• Peyton Graham (signed- $1,800,000)
• Tucker Toman (signed- $2,000,000)
• Luke Gold (signed, $386-900)
• Bryce Hubbart (signed- $522,500)
• Luis Ramirez (signed- $250,000)
• Nathan Church- (signed- $125,000)
• Devereax Harrison (signed, $122,500)
• Drew Compton (undrafted/unsigned)
• Ivan Arias (undrafted/unsigned)
• Sebastian Keane (signed- $125,000)
• Adrian Siravo (undrafted/unsigned)
• Sam Horn (undrafted/unsigned)
• Colby Halter (undrafted/unsigned)
• Gordon Ingebretson (undrafted/unsigned)
• Connor Charpring (Signed UDFA)
• Jake Gustin (undrafted/unsigned)
• Carter Young (signed- $1,325,000)

After the top 6, there are a lot of players who seem likely to head (back) to school. I'm hopeful a few sign free agenct deals to add depth to my system. Horn in the 11th round always seemed like a gamble, but that's the exact type of gamble teams should make at that spot in the draft.

I'm lighter on pitching that I would have liked to be (I really had hoped for Sims or Reggie Crawford to make it to me), but I got 4 of my top 6 realistic targets, along with two potential workhorse pitchers (Ramirez and Hubbart), and a reliever in Harrison.

I'll take it.

2022 Draft Diary Day 3

It's good news and bad news for me so far in this draft. I got most of the players on my board, but in real life, many haven't been drafted yet. I'm going to revamp the board slightly here heading into day 3, assuming some of the guys I did draft (Nathan Church, Adrian Siravo, etc) are willing to take under slot deals to put a super high upside pick in the pole position.

Here's my day 3 board:

• Sam Horn- He's there at pick 330.
• Colby Halter He's there at 360
• Gordon Ingebritson- He's there at 390
• Connor Charpring- He's there at 420 (signed as a UDFA with Seattle)
• Jake Gustin- He's there at 450
• Carter Young- He's there at 480 (was picked at 497 in real life)
• Jared Lyons- Went to the Reds at 423 (I love their draft haul)

2022 Draft Diary Day 2

Coming into the day, we've added four hitters, with Crawford, Graham, Toman and Gold.

I'm going to go off my big board with my first pick(s) here, aiming to add a pitcher ot two to the mix.

I'm adding Bryce Hubbart from Floria State and Luis Ramirez from Long Beach State to the top of Day 2. I'm also addin Sam Horn as my potential 11th round pick.

Here's what we're looking at today.

• Bryce Hubbart- The decision pays off, and Hubbart is there at 91. Now if we can double dip and add Ramirez in the 4th round, I'll feel better about the balance of this draft. (he goes 94 in real life to the Reds)
• Luis Ramirez- He's there aat 120 nd suddenly I feel good about the pitching I'll add in this draft. (goes 199 in real life)
• Nathan Church- Yes, this is probably early, but a bunch of smart teams have gone off the BA or other consensus top 500s. I'm taking him at 150. (he went 337 to the Cardinals)
• Dev Harrison- He's there at 180, and I'm excited to add him. (goes 278 in real life)
• Drew Compton- He's there at 210.
• Ivan Arias- He's there at 240
• Mack Anglin- Gets picked by KC at 205
• Sebastian Keane- He's there at 270, and I'm adding him. (went 500 to NYY in real life)
• Adrian Siravo- He's there at 300.
• Colby Halter
• Carter Young
• Sam Horn- Ideally in the 11th round
• Gordon Ingebritson- Senior Sign
• Connor Charpring- Senior Sign
• Jake Gustin- Senior Sign
• Levi Usher- Senior Sign- Went 295 to KC
• Jared Lyons - Senior Sign

2022 Draft Diary Day 1

Coming into the draft, my big board was

• Termarr Johnson
• Brooks Lee
• Justin Crawford
• Peyton Graham
• Landom Sims
• Tucker Toman
• Reggie Crawford
• Luke Gold
• Mikey Romero
• Drew Thorpe
• Chandler Simpson
• Sterlin Thompson
• Nathan Church
• Dev Harrison
• Drew Compton
• Ivan Arias
• Mack Anglin
• Sebastian Keane
• Adrian Siravo
• Colby Halter
• Carter Young
• Gordon Ingebritson
• Connor Charpring
• Jake Gustin
• Levi Usher
• Jared Lyons

The draft kicks off, and we're under way

• Termarr Johnson- Went 4th to the Pirates
• Brooks Lee- Went 8th to the Twins
• Justin Crawford- Crawford is there at 15, so I'm taking him (in real life, he goes 17 to the Phillies)
• Peyton Graham- Graham is there at 28, so I'm grabbing him too (in real life, he gores 51st to Detroit)
• Landom Sims- Went 34th to the Diamondbacks
• Tucker Toman- With the 40th pick, I'm taking Toman (IN real life, he goes 77th to the Blue Jays
• Reggie Crawford- Went 30th to the Giants
• Luke Gold- I'm taking Luke Gold at 54 (goes 147 in real life to the Tigers)
• Mikey Romero- Went 24th to the Redsox
• Drew Thorpe- Goes 61st to the Yankees
• Chandler Simpson- Goes 70th to the Rays
• Sterlin Thompson- Went 31st to the Rockies

Early, on, I've added Crawford, Graham, Toman and Gold (Gold is feeling a bit like a reach, and cost me the chance at Thorpe and Simpson, but that's OK. Based on the way my board is shaping up, this is going to be a draft that's super heavy on hitting.

2022 MLB Draft Big Board (for fake Padres)

After yesterday's review, which to be fair, was a lot more bleak than I would have expected, I wanted to get my big board for this draft up.

I'm adding the 28th pick in the draft because Peyton Stovall didn't sign coming out of high school, giving me picks 15, 28, 40 (really 39), 54 (really 53) and the rest of the Padres picks. It's a good thing too, because based on yesterday's post, I could use some serious help in the system.

My top tier has two players:

• Termarr Johnson
• Brooks Lee

Despite whatever shenanigans I can think of, neither of those guys is making it to 15.

My second tier of players is actually about 6 players deep, and includes:

• Justin Crawford
• Peyton Graham
• Landon Sims
• Tucker Toman
• Reggie Crawford
• Luke Gold

It's a weird list, but there's some serious upside there, along with a bunch of line drive hitters, and a pair of pitchers that could, if they get healthy, end up being among the best in this draft.

From there, I go to:

• Mikey Romero
• Drew Thorpe
• Chandler Simpson
• Sterlin Thompson (there's no way he falls far enough)
• Nathan Church
• Dev Harrison
• Drew Compton
• Ivan Arias
• Mack Anglin
• Sebastian Keane
• Adrian Siravo
• Colby Halter
• Carter Young

Because there's the potential for a bunch of HS players to end up on my roster early, I want to have a few senior signs ready to go (alteratively, if these guys are still on the board when the rest of my draft is done, that's cool too).

• Gordon Ingebritson
• Connor Charpring
• Jake Gustin
• Levi Usher
• Jared Lyons (he pitched for George Mason this year)

An update on my fake minor league system

Starting with a review of my last few drafts, my system is OK.

In the majors, I've got some good players:

Hitting wise, we're looking at

• Keston Hiura at 1b
• Chris Okey as a catcher, Jarren Duran in the OF and CJ Abrams at 2b doing the shuttle thing right now (Abrams obviously looks to stick at some point)

My pitching includes 5 starters who've been in the majors (yes, that's slightly damning with faint praise, but 3 of them are pitching really well) and a reliever who had set the world on fire in his first year, but seems to have developed control issues:

• Dakota Hudson
• Tarik Skubel
• Keegan Thompson
• Anthony Kay
• Andre Pallante
• James Karinchak

As for what's left, it's sort of a mix bag (numbers in parenthesis are Fangraphs future value).

Catcher
• Patrick Bailey (40+)
• Logan Driscoll (NA)

1b
• Kyle McCann (NA)
• Justin Yurchak (NA)

2b
• Michael Massey (40)
• Anthony Prato (NA)

3b
• Nick Northcut (NA- but he's among the minor league leaders for HR)

SS
• Nick Allen (45)

RF
• Kobie Taylor (NA)

CF
• Tyler Mcdonough (40+)
• Quinton Holmes (NA)
• Braden Ward (NA)

LF
• Ryan Ward (35+)
• Connor Kokx (NA)
• Ronnie Dawson (NA)

SP
• Andrew Abbott(40)
• Colton Eastman (40)
• Matt Mercer (35+)
• Kevin Abel (35+)
• Seth Lonsway (NA)

RP
• Sam Weatherly (40+)
• Connor Kopps (35+)
• Griffin Roberts (NA)
• Jeff Belge

It seems like Logan Gray is the guy who's washed out.

This is a bad, bad system right now. It seems like a few promotions (yay), coupled with a ton of unsigned picks, have really hindered this roster. In fact, as I look at the draft picks that didn't sign, yes, Tanner Witt would probably be my best prospect, though most of the other guys that didn't sign actually don't seem to hurt so much. Otherwise, the biggest impact players that could be here are (if I follow the boards ever year and don't draft unsignable players) Joshua Baez, David Calabrese and Adam Seminaris.

Turns out, drafting is hella hard.

Ironically I'm still pretty smitten with a lot of the names on this list.