Mock Draft Rounds 11-15

Sep 19, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) throws a runner out at first against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Round 10 of the early fantasy baseball mock draft can be found here.  As the mock draft reaches the second half of the picks, I have decided to only list the remaining ten rounds broken up into two posts.

I am making note of all of my selections, and I will comment on a few selected players that I feel warrant something or provide a link to a relevant past article on the player.  If you would like me to make a remark on a player that I just listed their name, then please comment and I would be happy to answer.

Over the course of the next five rounds, I noticed that there seemed to be decent value on both starters and closers (outside of the elite closers) and infielders were abundant because there was only one utility roster spot and five OF spots.

In fact, Lucas Duda went undrafted because I had already filled my 1B and Utility spots with Freddie Freeman and Chris Carter, respectively.  Duda will be drafted in basically every league (and I want Lucas Duda in 2015), but the slightly unusual roster specifications resulted in this oddity.  Nonetheless, this early mock draft still gives a solid idea of what people will see come draft day.

The numbers listed to the left of each name represent the round and the overall pick they were drafted.

11.121 SP Carlos Carrasco of the Cleveland Indians

Carlos Carrasco is arguably the sleeper of 2015.  By that, I mean he is everyone’s sleeper and a highly desired player based on his peripherals.  You will find rave reviews of him going into next year in almost every place that is discussing 2015 sleepers.  At this point, it is even hard to call Carrasco a “sleeper.”

11.122 OF Denard Span of the Washington Nationals

11.123 SP Tyson Ross of the San Diego Padres

Tyson Ross shows the value of waiting for pitchers.  His 2.81 ERA and 195 K in 195.2 innings make him a great fantasy asset.  He will probably be undervalued yet again, but his career B% of 9.4% is a slight red flag for me.

11.124 OF Alex Rios of the Kansas City Royals

11.125 SP Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros

Keuchel is a groundball king.  He induced grounders on an outrageous 63.5% of batted balls in 2014. That rate obviously led the league.  His 3.11 SIERA was 14^th best in the league.  The question now is if Dallas Keuchel could be the next Brandon Webb?  I know that I am a member of the Dallas Buyers Club next season.

11.126 3B Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs

I am not positive of his value in a re-draft in 2015 and this pick is probably a pretty big reach, but I will just leave this here.

11.127 SP Zack Wheeler of the New York Mets

11.128 SP Jeff Samardzija of the Chicago White Sox

11.129 SP Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers

11.131 OF Rusney Castillo of the Boston Red Sox

11.132 3B Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles

12.133 SS Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox

I am selling on Alexei Ramirez in 2015.  I believe a good bit of his 2014 performance was unsustainable, and I bet on the under with Ramirez in this article.

12.134 SP Marcus Stroman of the Toronto Blue Jays

12.136 OF Gregory Polanco of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Gregory Polanco was a really sneaky pick here.  He may have disappointed in his 89 game stint with the Pirates in 2014, but let’s not forget he was a 22 year-old rookie at the time.  Polanco is still the same prospect with All-Star potential and he is expected to be the starting right fielder on Opening Day.  While there is no guarantee for Gregory Polanco to produce, he could put up 15-30.

12.137 SP Alex Wood of the Atlanta Braves

Even if I did not land Alex Wood in this mock draft, I will get him in a real draft in two months.  His 18% K-BB% is good for 16^th best in the Majors and his 3.16 SIERA was 17^th best in MLB.  The southpaw will be 24 years old in the upcoming season, and I can all but guarantee that he will be on the roster of many top fantasy baseball teams.  Alex Wood is the best pitcher on the Braves, not Julio Teheran.

12.138 OF Avisail Garcia of the Chicago White Sox

12.139 RP David Robertson of the Chicago White Sox

12.140 SS Alcides Escobar of the Kansas City Royals

12.141 SP Doug Fister of the Washington Nationals

12.142 SP Tanner Roark of the Washington Nationals

12.143 SP Andrew Cashner of the San Diego Padres

This is a very high upside pick because Cashner has great stuff, but he is also injury prone.  However, he only posted a 6.79 K/9 in 2014 and has a disappointing career K/9 of 7.27 in an age of unprecedented strikeouts.  Also, Andrew Cashner has seen his fastball velocity drop in the past two years because he was converted to a starter.  Here is his average fastball velocity from 2010 to 2014: 96.2, 95.4, 98.0, 94.6, and 94.9.

12.144 RP Sean Doolittle of the Oakland A’s

Doolittle will be one of the best closers in 2015.  His ERA of 2.91 may scare off a couple people looking for an elite closer, but they should realize that he posted a dirty 1.71 FIP and 1.53 SIERA.  Sean Doolittle also had a phenomenal 37.7% strikeout rate and only walked 3.3% of the batters he faced.  With some simple subtraction, you can see his K-BB% of 34.3% is world class and it was only surpassed by Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller.

Sean Doolittle has a penchant to strikeout everyone and walk no one, which resulted in an unheard of 11.13 K/BB that led the league.  This is your frontline closer without the premium cost and he should get more saves as you can read here.  Plus, if you are into team names based off of your players, then you have plenty of room to work in a Dr. Doolittle joke.

13.145 RP Huston Street of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

With a full season of being able to close for one of baseball’s best team and excellent career numbers, Huston Street is one of the favorites to lead the league in saves in 2015 as you can see here.  I just hope he can stay healthy.

13.146 OF Marlon Byrd of the Cincinnati Reds

13.147 3B/OF Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates

13.148 OF Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins

I am really confused why Torii Hunter was drafted this high.  He was not even on my draft board and should have been nothing than a very late pick.

13.149 SP Matt Shoemaker of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

13.150 3B/SS Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox

13.151 C Brian McCann of the New York Yankees

McCann was one of my catching targets in this mock draft because he was very, very unlucky in 2014 and still possesses a lot of fantasy value.  His .231 BABIP was almost impossibly low considering the fact that his line drive rate of 22.2% was 2% above his well-established career rate.  His slash line will almost undoubtedly improve and he is still a virtual lock for 20-25 HR in Yankee Stadium as a lefty.

13.152 SP Danny Salazar of the Cleveland Indians

13.153 OF Leonys Martin of the Texas Rangers

13.155 RP Cody Allen of the Cleveland Indians

Cody Allen took over as the Indians’ closer during the 2014 season for Chris Perez and ran away with the job. His excellence in the ninth inning gives me the impression that he is probably a top 10 closer and should get more saves according to my article here.

13.156 1B Adam LaRoche of the Chicago White Sox

14.157 SP Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays

14.158 SP Anibal Sanchez of the Detroit Tigers

Anibal Sanchez was one of the players highlighted in the recent 2015 Rebound Series for good reason.  In the 14^th round, the 2013 AL ERA Champion is a terrific bargain.

14.160 SS Jean Segura of the Milwaukee Brewers

14.161 RP Mark Melancon of the Pittsburgh Pirates

14.162 SS Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers

I am glad the participants agree with me that Elvis Andrus is nowhere near a top 100 fantasy baseball player.  I was still never going to draft Andrus, but at least he was not drafted in a single digit round.  My fantasy distaste of Andrus is explained here.

14.163 SP Collin McHugh of the Houston Astros

14.164 SP Chris Tillman of the Baltimore Orioles

14.165 2B/SS/OF Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays

14.166 SP Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers

Someone had to do it.  It is really a shame that Justin Verlander is no longer the best pitcher in the game.  I really hope he rebounds, but it seems pretty unlikely.

14.167 SS/OF Danny Santana of the Minnesota Twins

14.168 SP Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies

15.169 C Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals

15.170 RP Zach Britton of the Baltimore Orioles

15.171 C Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals

15.172 OF Josh Hamilton of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The fantasy star on Josh Hamilton has dimmed, but I think that he should at least be better than he was in 2014 according to my article here.  Even as an injury-prone 33 year-old, Hamilton still has 20 home run power.

15.173 RP Jake McGee of the Tampa Bay Rays

15.174 RP Jonathan Papelbon of the Philadelphia Phillies

15.175 SP Drew Hutchison of the Toronto Blue Jays

15.176 SP Scott Kazmir of the Oakland A’s

15.177 RP Drew Storen of the Washington Nationals

15.179 C Wilin Rosario of the Colorado Rockies

15.180 3B Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals