Second base is the weakest infield position, as I've explained here. But what's become increasingly clear to me is that no one treats it that way in drafts. Maybe that's too broad of a characterization, but what I mean is that there's no shared urgency to fill the position early, thus preventing that weakness from becoming a true scarcity.
I put the theory to the test in our latest mock draft, this one being for a conventional 12-team Rotisserie league. Normally when I have an early pick (I was picking fourth in this one), I'll default to taking Ketel Marte at the Round 2-3 turn, happy to get a true difference-maker at a position with so few. But I've been frustrated in the past when, after selecting Marte, one of Jose Altuve and Ozzie Albies would make it back to me late in Round 4, and so, in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to forgo Marte this time to see if it would happen again. Sure enough, Albies made it back to me, and well ... I passed him up, too, choosing to push the theory to its limit by waiting on the best bang-for-the-buck pick at the position, Jordan Westburg.
Westburg indeed made it back to me at the end of Round 6, Pick 69 overall, so naturally, I took him, right? Well ... it was still ahead of ADP, so I thought I might be able to grab him on the way back, at Pick 76. Not so much. He went at Pick 74.
So what did I learn? I kept pushing the envelope and missing out, which you could say undermines my theory of no shared urgency. But does it? Over the course of six rounds, I had three chances to grab one of my top five second basemen -- two boats and a helicopter, you might even say -- and stubbornly refused. That hardly qualifies as an emergency.
Of course, you might say I made it an emergency by passing up those three chances -- I sure thought so at the time -- but what if I told you I grabbed my sixth-ranked second baseman, Luis Garcia, nearly 70 picks later, all the way in Round 13? It's true. Rather than a collective urgency at second, there was a collective disregard, and because I consider Garcia to be a big step down from Westburg, I contributed to it. But for all the complications Garcia's poor platoon splits present, he still went nearly 20/20 last year while batting .282. At cost, he's a perfectly fine option at second base.
Ultimately, I think that's why the position gets drafted like it does, without any shared urgency. While the quality of talent is lacking, the distribution of talent is sensible, presenting no reason to reach if you can live with being merely fine there. Particularly in a Rotisserie league, where there are so many lineup spots to fill that you can be sure you'll be merely fine somewhere, many are happy to leave second base as sort of a free space for some cheap speed or whatever else is needed. The fact that Andres Gimenez and Bryson Stott, two surefire 30-steal guys with 15-homer upside, lasted to Round 19 should itself eliminate any feeling of urgency at second base. It's just a question of whether you want to devote your draft capital to getting a true difference-maker at the position.
And it's yet another example of how no intentional position strategy is required this year. The player pool just happens to break down that way, and how liberating it is to feel like you can simply take the best player at whatever position you haven't filled yet.
Exceeept when it comes to starting pitcher. Its incredible depth is particularly evident in a format such as this one, where there are only 12 teams as opposed to 15 and, unlike in a Head-to-Head points league, there's little incentive to carry extra pitchers. Every draft seems to reveal amazing bargains at the position, compelling me to wait all the more next time (though I did splurge on Cole Ragans this time). Some of the bargains in this draft include Shane McClanahan and Tanner Bibee in Round 13, Reynaldo Lopez and Seth Lugo in Round 16, and Yusei Kikuchi and Robbie Ray in Round 18.
Otherwise, the draft played out pretty conventionally (with the notable exception of Evan Carter going 113rd overall, but Doc Eisenhauer loves him some post-hype sleepers). Here's who all took part:
1) Nick Francis, Nick's Picks (@nicksMLBpicks)
2) Sean Martin, Fantasy Baseball Now (@Sean_Martin77)
3) Doug Roe, former Podcast League champ
4) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
5) Matt Morris, Scout the Statline (@Matt_E_Morris)
6) B_Don, Razzball (@RazzBDon)
7) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)
8) Doc Eisenhauer, Scout the Statline (@DocHollidayDyna)
9) Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star (@NateAtkins_)
10) Derek Blake, lucky reader who got to join in
11) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)
12) Nick Fox, NBC Sports (@CT_FOX)
