S2 Mock Draft

The actual first official season of the SBL is soon coming to an end, which means that the most important event for team building is around the corner: the SBL Draft. S2 doesn't have a big pool of players like S1 had, but it still has some future stars and possibly some diamonds in the rough, and we'll try to see if we can guess on which team each of them end up. So, let's not waste more time and let's take a look at these prospects, order by TPE as of last week's update.

1. Chien-Ming Wang - P, 455 TPE
2. Ezekiel Bridges - P, 448 TPE
3. Gustav IsRealDaddy - 1B, 432 TPE
4. Jermaine Cole - P, 396 TPE
5. Wade Landry - RF, 395 TPE
6. Captain Hook - P, 391 TPE
7. Ryoma Fukushima - C, 376 TPE
8. Golden Goliath - 2B/3B, 299 TPE
9. Trade Asset - CF, 245 TPE
10. Michael Lane - P, 234 TPE
11. Zheng Xiaojian - P, 231 TPE
12. Home Run Kid - CF, 215 TPE
13. T.J. Maddux - P, 213 TPE




Only 13 prospects, including 7 pitchers, 3 outfielders, 2 infielders and 1 catcher. Again, it's not the S1 draft, but some of these players are definitely going to be impactful starting with their first major league game, so it'll be interesting to guess where they end up. To do that, we first have to set our draft order. I had confirmation from Andrew that the draft was ordered in reverse order of playoffs elimination. Since we are only 2 rounds in, that means we can only set the order officially for 2 teams:

1. Dallas Drillers
2. Charlotte Cardinals

For the other 2, let's just assume that the best regular season team wins the finals, which would give us this order for teams 3 and 4.

3. Toronto Bighorns
4. Indianapolis Invaders

So, without further ado, let's get into this short and sweet mock draft.



1st ROUND



PICK 1.1 - DALLAS DRILLERS
Wade Landry - RF, 395 TPE, @Doomsday

The Drillers here are direct victims from their selections in the S1 SBL Draft. The two best players in this draft class, Chien-Ming Wang and Ezekiel Bridges, are pitchers, but with a rotation headlined by Mario McRlwain, Magnus Coretti and James Boxman, they really don't need to add another one with the first overall pick. Then, they could opt to go with Gustav IsRealDaddy, but he's a first baseman, same as Dan's GM player, so unless one of them is fine with changing position, I doubt that's the way they go to. A little farther down the list, we see Wade Landry, a contact hitting right fielder who just finished his 2nd SBLM season with an impressive slashline of .339 / .404 / .492. He'd fill a hole, as he'd be their first human outfielder, but it still feels weird to select the 5th best prospect out of a 13-player pool with the first overall pick. If I was Dan, I might look into trading down from this pick, or swapping one of my current pitcher to select Chien-Ming Wang instead.



PICK 1.2 - CHARLOTTE CARDINALS
Chien-Ming Wang - P, 455 TPE, @Goliathus

And if the Drillers don't deal the first overall pick, I don't think Chien-Ming Wang will fall much farther than this. Goliathus is one of the users that showed he knew the most about the engine, which should help any team that picks him on an additional level. Plus, Wang was literally only one decision away from winning the Triple Crown, as he finished 2nd in the SBLM in wins with 17, and 1st with and ERA of 1.73 and a total of 217 strikeouts, making him the first player in league history to record over 200 strikeouts in a season. Wang joins Domingo Rodriguez and Austin Schwartz in what already looks like a great rotation for years to come.


PICK 1.3 - TORONTO BIGHORNS
Gustav IsRealDaddy - 1B, 432 TPE, @Daddy

I know, I know, but hear me out. On the surface, it might look like picking Bridges is a no-brainer here. Toronto needs pitchers bad. Their only human pitcher, Cid Ramirez, has been really good last season and was helped by a surprising cast of bots and fillers, but it won't last forever. As humans get more TPE, the bots and fillers are not going to be good much longer. That being said, Toronto has committed hard to make small ball a thing, thanks to the trio of Flynn Fungo, Pingu Flipperson and Sora Mekajiki, and adding the rookie speedster is only going to make it better. It's only a matter of time before another team snags him and change either him or their GM player's position to fill an additional hole in their lineup (because yes, every team besides Toronto has GM player playing 1B).


PICK 1.4 - INDIANAPOLIS INVADERS
Ezekiel Bridges - P, 448 TPE, @zekethatbeast25


I'm going to hear about this for a while, but yes, I have Zeke going 4th, dropping 2 spots from his TPE ranking, but it's a great pick for the Invaders here. Their rotation had two human players, Nate Nitro and Beatrix Ajax, but the latter's development seems to have stalled. 2 pitchers is not enough on the longterm, but they might be forced to replace Ajax at some point in the future too, so picking a second pitcher right off the bat makes sense for them. Bridges was among the SBLM's best pitchers last seasons, with a 13-9 record, an ERA of 2.97 and 170 strikeouts. If he continues to develop well, he could be a team's ace in the near future.



2nd ROUND


PICK 2.5 - DALLAS DRILLERS
Ryoma Fukushima - C, 376 TPE, @Snussu

With their second rounder, the Dallas Drillers become the second-to-last team in the league to add a starting catcher to their lineup, as only them and the Indianapolis Invaders don't have one at the moment. Having a great catcher is important and by picking Ryoma Fukushima, who had a slashline of .305 / .409 / .391 in his 2nd year with Sherbrooke, the Drillers push themselves a step ahead of the Invaders in that aspect. They'll have to hope that another catcher uncaps in the near future if they want to own a human one.



PICK 2.6 - CHARLOTTE CARDINALS
Golden Goliath - 2B, 299 TPE, @StackTheRacks12

After selecting the best pitcher in the draft with their first round selection, the Cardinals continue to bolster their batting lineup by adding power hitting infielder Golden Goliath. He is one of the only fielders in this draft class (and the previous one as well) with experience at more than one position, giving his team some flexibility with future picks as well. Though, even if his primary position was 2B, his defensive skillset would suggest he'd be better as an offensive 3B. Either way, he'll have to get his defensive game up to speed if he doesn't want to be liability.


PICK 2.7 - TORONTO BIGHORNS
Zheng Xiaojian - P, 231 TPE, @AW13

Zheng Xiaojian, the Chinese power pitcher, makes a big jump in the draft, going from his projected 11th rank to the 7th pick, up 4 spots, all thanks to the user behind the man. In fact, I still think it's a travesty that I've made the very owner of this league slip as far as the 7th pick, but at the same time, teams need their players to perform and players need TPE to perform, which Xiaojian does not have a whole lot have. That being said, you know you are getting a great player if you select an Andrew player, and you know he'll update regularly, given how he runs this league. Can't go wrong here.



PICK 2.8 - INDIANAPOLIS INVADERS
Jermaine Cole - P, 396 TPE, @DollarAndADream

And right after that reach, we get a big steal, with Jermaine Cole slipping all the way from his 4th rank in TPE to the 8th pick in this mock(ery of a) draft. Cole was one of the better pitchers this season, sporting a 14-6 record with 190 strikeouts, an ERA of 1.82 and a league-lowest 0.88 WHIP. Really the only reasons he falls so low in my opinion is the sheer abundance of quality pitchers in this draft, which might make teams feel safe about waiting a couple rounds before selecting. That and that big Zheng reach.



3rd ROUND


PICK 3.9 - DALLAS DRILLERS
Trade Asset - CF, 245 TPE, @Goliathus

Given how the draft board now only features two center fielders on the lower-side of TPE and 3 pitchers which Dallas already has a healthy dose of, I see them selecting one of the center fielders early, giving them a total of 2 outfielders in this draft. Trade Asset is much better than his name suggests and, knowing Goliathus, he'll probably be even better in the next couple of seasons than his S1 slashline of .291 / .350 / .409 suggests. That selections also virtually guarantees the Drillers end up with a pitcher with the last selection of this draft.



PICK 3.10 - CHARLOTTE CARDINALS
Captain Hook - P, 391 TPE, @CaptainHook

Somehow, the Cardinals add one of the players with the most TPE of this draft class with the 4th last pick of the evening. There are a couple reasons for this: first, like I said earlier, I see pitchers dropping hard because there are so many of them and, second, CaptainHook doesn't have the name recognition that most others have in the sim league community. If I'm not mistaken, this is his first and only sim league, making him possibly a riskier option in the eyes of GMs building teams from scratch and already thinking about the future, probably. Then again, I hope he proves everyone wrong and stick around long enough to see his player shine.



PICK 3.11 - TORONTO BIGHORNS
Michael Lane - P, 234 TPE, @Uphillmoss

Michael Lane is the second-to-last pitcher selected in this draft, joining Uphillmoss' other player, Flynn Fungo, in Toronto. The kid had an MVP-caliber S1 and has shown he was interested in staying in Toronto longterm, so bringing his pitching counterpart along makes sense for GM Pengu. Lane was limited to relief pitching duties and, while time will tell if he ever transitions to a full starting pitching job, he was actually terrible at it all season long, finishing with a negative WAR. Hopefully he plays somewhat better in Toronto.



PICK 3.12 - INDIANAPOLIS INVADERS
Home Run Kid - CF, 215 TPE, @Cornholio

And we got another case of a second player from a member joining his first, as Cornholio's Home Run Kid is drafted with the 12th pick by the Indianapolis Invaders, whose ace is none other than Nate Nitro. For a lower TPE player, Home Run Kid was pretty good at what he does; going deep. He posted an impressive slashline of .280 / .348 / .392, hitting a 3rd-best on Sherbrooke 13 home runs along the way. He'll now join a team that already features two long ball hitters in Kurtis McKenzie and GM player Tracy Prezzy Jr. That'll be a dangerous lineup in the future.



4th ROUND


PICK 4.13 - DALLAS DRILLERS
T.J. Maddux - P, 213 TPE, @Doomsday

Our last pick is our player with the least TPE at the time of writing this mock draft, T.J. Maddux, but it fits well overall as he directly joins his batting counterpart who's also in this draft class, Wade Landry, in Dallas. He's also the first and only pitcher I predicted the Drillers adding to their rotation (and/or bullpen) this offseason, as they were easily the team with the most impressive pitching staff this season. Well, on paper. Maddux didn't post impressive numbers this season, but it's bound to get better once he hits the big leagues.