It's not every year you start a Dynasty league, but that first year is oh so critical in laying a foundation. Do you build a stable of prospects and just wait for them to develop? Do you scoop up aging players at a discount, hoping for a quick championship? Or do you try to strike a balance, aiming to compete both now and into the future?
Normally, I opt for the third approach, but there's so little structure to a Dynasty draft that it's probably best just to go with the flow. That lack of structure also makes analyzing the draft incredibly tricky since every team is looking to do something different. So rather than reducing this particular draft -- a mock Dynasty startup with Rotisserie rosters and scoring -- to a few broad takeaways, I've decided to examine each team individually and encapsulate what makes it different.
The teams are listed by draft order. Given that prospects are a central part of the Dynasty experience, each was required to select at least five. I've made a point to list off which prospects each team took and with what pick.
1) Devin Milligan, Tablesetters: A Baseball Podcast
@tablesetters
Prospects: Kristian Campbell (73), Sebastian Walcott (169), Dalton Rushing (216), Christian Moore (312), Jacob Misiorowski (313), Rhett Lowder (337), Jonah Tong (360)
The Dynasty aspect of this league was almost an afterthought for Devin, who opted for Shohei Ohtani over Bobby Witt in Round 1, followed up with Zack Wheeler and Francisco Lindor in Rounds 2 and 3, and then took advantage of old-guy discounts like Freddie Freeman in Round 4, Jose Altuve in Round 8, Salvador Perez in Round 14 and J.T. Realmuto in Round 20. You'd expect a better pitching staff, though, for someone who didn't direct much of his capital toward youth.
2) Steve Giangaspro, Tablesetters: A Baseball Podcast
@SGroundballTS
Prospects: Roki Sasaki (50), Leo De Vries (71), Chase DeLauter (119), Jordan Lawlar (146), Zac Veen (218), Luis Mey (311), Ethan Bagwell (314)
Steve approached this draft with more of a gambler's mentality, targeting James Wood in Round 2 and accepting more risk in his starting lineup with post-hype picks like Grayson Rodriguez, Anthony Volpe, Ceddanne Rafaela, Josh Jung and Noelvi Marte. He was the first to select a prospect, taking Roki Sasaki in Round 5, and paid a premium for Leo De Vries as well, but some of his prospect choices were less than conventional, with Luis Mey and Ethan Bagwell standing out in particular.
3) Drew Klein, The Dynasty Guru
@dynastyguru
Prospects: Jackson Jobe (75), Emmanuel Rodriguez (142), Josue Briceno (238), Drake Baldwin (291), Colby Thomas (310), Jack Leiter (315), Emiliano Teodo (339), Brady House (358)
Drew drafted fairly conventionally for the first 11 rounds, with the notable exception of Jackson Jobe in Round 7, so his team should be competitive early on. He may have also had the short-term in mind with prospect selections like Colby Thomas, Jack Leiter, Emiliano Teodo and Brady House. He seemed to lean into risk with Sean Murphy, Byron Buxton and Jesus Luzardo in Rounds 15-17, in a way that I'm not sure was justified by the caliber of major-league talent still available.
4) Zac Morain, Driveline Baseball
@makeitmorain
Prospects: Travis Bazzana (69), Jasson Dominguez (76), Kumar Rocker (189), Termarr Johnson (309), Ryan Sloan (333)
Zac achieved a nice balance with the hitting categories and didn't take a player in his 30s until Round 8 (Teoscar Hernandez), giving him a sturdy foundation that will become even sturdier if Travis Bazzana and Jasson Dominguez click. He followed the Hernandez pick with other old guys like Randy Arozarena, Christian Walker and Marcus Semien, suggesting that he's looking to win now, but his pitching staff may prevent him from doing so.
5) Scott White, CBS Sports
@CBSScottWhite
Prospects: Roman Anthony (68), Matt Shaw (77), Nick Kurtz (125), Noah Schultz (140), JJ Wetherholt (149), Quinn Mathews (173), Charlie Condon (245), Kevin McGonigle (317)
The role of stockpiling prospects ultimately fell to me, which isn't normally how these drafts go, but the prices were so reasonable (you might even say insane with regard to Charlie Condon and Kevin McGonigle) that I couldn't resist. Still, I feel like the lineup filled out pretty well, with the depth mostly concentrated in the infield (right down to having the Contreras brothers at catcher). The pitching staff is thin after Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, but this looks like a team that could compete both now and certainly over the long haul.
6) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports
@Roto_Frank
Prospects: Dylan Crews (54), Coby Mayo (139), Samuel Basallo (150), Chase Burns (235), Zyhir Hope (259), Agustin Ramirez (283), Josue De Paula (318), Alejandro Rosario (342)
Frank built his team much like I did, assembling a young core that gives him a fighting chance now and should keep him competitive for years to come. He wasn't quite as prospect-focused, but he took advantage of some nice prospect values and also landed Junior Caminero and Shane Baz, who just barely stopped being prospects. Frank might fall short in home runs in the short term, but his pitching should make up for it.
7) Doc Eisenhauer, Scout the Statline
@DocHollidayDyna
Prospects: Andrew Painter (79), Caleb Durbin (223), Colt Emerson (271), Thomas White (306), Cade Horton (354)
I expected Doc to go harder after prospects, but he seemed more focused on grabbing up post-hype players, beginning with Ronald Acuna in Round 1 and continuing with Jackson Holliday in Round 6, Evan Carter in Round 9 and Jordan Walker in Round 10. The idea was sensible, but he may have been too eager to follow through on it, undercutting the value he was hoping to attain. If enough goes right, though, he'll be competitive.
8) Brian Labude, The Dynasty Guru
@Polar_Bear_Ball
Prospects: Lazaro Montes (185), Ronny Mauricio (200), Hagen Smith (209), Konnor Griffin (272), Emil Morales (281), Spencer Jones (344)
Brian's team skews old, particularly the pitching staff with picks like Chris Sale (Round 4), Jacob deGrom (Round 5), Kodai Senga (Round 10), Carlos Rodon (Round 15) and Kevin Gausman (Round 19). In all honesty, you'd expect Sale and deGrom to come at a bigger discount in a league like this. Still, the outfield is stacked and the offense well-balanced. Brian is likely looking at a short window of contention, followed by a long rebuild.
9) Jeremy Olenek, The Upside Prospect
@UpsideProspect
Prospects: Bryce Eldridge (177), Luke Keaschall (208), Aidan Smith (297), Logan Evans (304), Cole Carrigg (345)
It was clear from his first two picks, Jackson Chourio and Wyatt Langford, that Jeremy understood the assignment, but apart from those two, he mostly built around pitching, which is always a risky move in Dynasty. Still, you have to like the upside of Garrett Crochet (Round 3), Spencer Schwellenbach (Round 6) and Jared Jones (Round 7), if they can hold together. For how few resources were diverted to prospects, the lineup has a surprising number of trouble spots.
10) Chris Mitchell, FantasyData
@CJMitch73
Prospects: Walker Jenkins (106), Max Clark (154), Colson Montgomery (202), Chase Dollander (226), Jett Williams (322)
If you were wondering where all the pitching went, now we know. Chris built a nice stockpile of it, using four of his first eight picks on Paul Skenes, Dylan Cease, Blake Snell and Luis Castillo. I might have played it safer at hitter after investing so much in pitching, but he's shooting for the moon with picks like Oneil Cruz, Brenton Doyle and Zack Gelof. The prospects should reinforce the lineup eventually, provided the pitching holds together that long.
11) Anthony Kates, SportsEthos
@akfantasybb
Prospects: Bubba Chandler (83), Carson Williams (179), Kyle Teel (254), Marcelo Mayer (206), Aidan Miller (275)
It looks like Anthony just went for value wherever he could find it, giving him an eclectic mix of old and young. Because his first two picks (Jose Ramirez and Mookie Betts) are on the older side, there's pressure on him to win right away, and while the pitching staff (led by George Kirby, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanga Justin Steele and Hunter Brown) is built for it, the offense is kind of weak overall.
12) Daniel Labude, The Dynasty Guru
@OrcaBaseball
Prospects: Jac Caglianone (156), Brandon Sproat (204), Jesus Made (205), Orelvis Martinez (229), Travis Sykora (252), Ricky TIedemann (253), Thayron Liranzo (348), Xavier Isaac (349)
Daniel came on strong with Yordan Alvarez, Vladimir Guerrero, Spencer Strider and Jarren Duran in Rounds 1-4 but then took a big risk with back-to-back closers in Rounds 5 and 6, anticipating a run that never materialized. His team still appears well-balanced because he mostly just capitalized on discounts thereafter, opting for a quantity-over-quality approach to prospects late in the draft. But I can't help but wonder if he'd like those Round 5 and 6 picks back.
There's the team-by-team breakdown. Now, for the full results.
