Fantasy Baseball 12-Team Categories Mock Draft with First Overall Pick

Morgan takes part in second first mock draft of the season, selecting from the first slot in a 12-team setup.

My fantasy baseball mock draft series continues with another 12-team snake draft. I conducted this one through FantasyPros. The site has a mock draft simulator that I used.

After selecting in the middle of rounds in my first mock draft, I decided to handle a draft from the first overall position. Fantasy owners love having the first choice, but the long wait until your second pick can be agonizing, which in turn causes some to panic, and then by the end of the draft, you have a team you’re not too confident in.

The league setup was the exact same as my first mock draft: one starter at catcher, first base, second base, shortstop, third base, corner infield, middle infield and utility, five outfielders and nine pitchers, with eight bench spots. 

The mock draft was set to 5x5 category scoring.

Let’s dive into the draft, with some pick analysis included throughout. 

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Round 1 - Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Atlanta Braves

Not much thought went into this pick for me. Acuna is a pretty clear cut No. 1 option in fantasy baseball this season. 

He was an absolute fantasy star last season, and while it was a breakout season for him, I see another big season coming. He might not match his .337 batting average or .416 on-base percentage again, but in a loaded Braves’ lineup, Acuna is going to star and be among the top fantasy players for a second straight season.

Round 2 - Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox

I went with Devers in the second round over guys like Pete Alonso, Ozzie Albies, Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr. and more. I just like Devers’ well-rounded numbers a touch more than a few of those other guys, and am not super high on nearly as many third basemen as I am some of those other positions.

Round 3 - Zack Wheeler, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

With the next pick, I got my first starting pitcher in Wheeler. He’s been one of the better fantasy pitchers in the game over the past few seasons and is usually on the mound a bunch during the course of the season. I didn’t want to wait until my next set of picks before getting my first pitcher, so while I took him a couple spots before I’d like to, I’m more than fine with this selection.

Round 4 - Nolan Jones, 1B and OF, Colorado Rockies

I intended on taking another pitcher with this pick or the next, but Jones caught my eye when I was going over the available players. The fact that he has first base or outfield eligibility right now is definitely a plus. I expect a big season in Colorado for the youngster.

Round 5 - Adley Rutschman, C, Baltimore Orioles

Again, I really wanted to take a starting pitcher here, but simply couldn’t pass on Rutschman. I said in my last mock that after the first handful of catchers, there’s a pretty big drop off - I’ll try not to reach on a catcher, and this was more a case of one falling into my lap, so I went with Rutschman.

Round 6 - Logan Webb, SP, San Francisco Giants

I made it a point to target a pitcher in round 6, and was thrilled to have Webb available. I think he’s a great value pick for this point of the draft. I decided on Webb over Logan Gilbert.

Round 7 - Josh Lowe, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

I considered Gilbert here, but decided to grab another outfielder with Lowe. He’s a pretty well-rounded player and I liked him a touch more than Christian Yelich.

Round 8 - Eury Perez, SP, Miami Marlins

I added Perez to my rotation in round 8. There’s some risk involved with this pick, especially with not a ton of other SP on my roster yet, but I liked what I saw from him last season and believe he’ll put together another fine season in 2024.

Round 9 - Ketel Marte, 2B, Arizona Cardinals

I wanted to land another starting pitcher here, but instead pivoted and got Marte to serve as my top second baseman. Some guys I considered but eventually passed on were Dansby Swanson, Josh Jung, Nick Castellanos and Nolan Arenado.

Round 10 - Justin Steele, SP, Chicago Cubs

Steele was a guy I noticed during my previous pick, and I took a gamble that he’d be there with this pick. Luckily, he was, and I gladly added him to my roster.

 

Other Highlights

After 10 rounds, I felt like I had assembled a nice combination of hitters and starting pitchers. I had pretty much punted the closer spot, so I at least gave myself a shot to get some saves by taking Paul Sewald in round 11.

For a good portion of the remaining rounds, I selected a hitter and pitcher with my back-to-back picks.

Sonny Gray (round 12), Merrill Kelly (round 14), Shane Bieber (round 15), Braxton Garrett (round 18), Kenta Maeda (round 22), Michael Wacha (round 24), Marcus Stroman (round 26), Logan Allen (round 29) and Miles Mikolas (round 30) were my remaining starting pitcher picks. I gave up on the closer spot, and instead decided to take a couple top-end relief pitchers, Yennier Cano in round 23 and Matt Brash in round 25, that had the chance for the occasional save.

By the time the draft wrapped up, I was feeling extremely strong about my pitchers, mostly my starters. I mostly targeted inning-eaters, but also was able to land several guys that can rack up strikeouts and post fairly strong earned run averages. 

The saves department is going to be something that held me back a bit all season, but I felt I had enough talent to make a move to bring in a closer or two as the season went along. If Cano or Brash ended up taking over as the primary closers, I felt like my pitching might have been able to be the best in the league.

Through 10 rounds, there were a decent amount of holes in my starting lineup of hitters. I prioritized guys who could rack up hits, runs and stolen bases, while knowing I might lack a touch in the home run department. I feel like I got enough RBIs along the way to be a pretty solid hitting team.

After round 10, I drafted Luis Arraez (round 13), Steven Kwan (round 16), Kerry Carpenter (round 17), Jeremy Pena (round 19), Logan O'Hoppe (round 20), Andrew Vaughn (round 21), Brendan Donovan (round 27) and Andrew Benintendi (round 28).

Between Rutschman and O'Hoppe, I felt great about my catchers. Jones, Arraez, Donovan and Vaughn all start the season with 1B eligibility, so I view that as a position of strength, and one I could use as trade bait for a closer or help at another spot in the field.

Marte, Arraez and Donovan all had 2B eligibility, so I felt good there as well. Donovan and Pena were my only SS, so that felt like a question mark by the end of the draft. Donovan was my only 3B option behind Devers, but I wasn’t too worried about that - it would only be a problem if Devers missed extended time.

I felt loaded in the outfield between Jones, Donovan, Acuna, Lowe, Kwan, Carpenter, Vaughn and Benintendi. My only hitter on my bench was Benintendi, so more than likely I was going to use the roster spots held by Mikolas and Allen to add hitters - if the two pitchers didn’t pan out.

 

Final Thoughts

I’m personally not a fan of selecting first in fantasy drafts, but I actually felt pretty solid about my end product here. 

FantasyPros gave me a draft grade of B+ and projected me as the fifth-best team in the league. I was neck-and-neck with the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 and 3 teams were only a point ahead of me.

A draft suggestion from FantasyPros was to take Albies at pick 3.1 and get a starting pitcher later on. With how my 2B position turned out, I’m happy I went the direction I did there.

FantasyPros said I got steals with where I drafted O’Hoppe, Donovan and Benintendi, while reaching on Cano and Stroman. 

I was projected to be a top-four team in runs, stolen bases, wins, strikeouts and ERA, while being the best in batting average. 

All in all, I’d probably agree with the B+ grade that FantasyPros handed out, but for slightly different reasons. 

The MLB season will be here before you know it, and I plan on continuing to partake in mock drafts as the season approaches. Be sure to check back for those in the weeks and months to come.

#mock-draft