2025 Draft Post Mortem

"Have I missed the mark, or, like a true archer, do I strike my quarry? Or am I a prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door?"

-Cassandra

After a clink of shot glasses and the slushing of daiquiris, the 2025 draft has come and gone and now we are just hours away from the Opening Day for baseball. In the time since the draft, we’ve nitpicked each of our teams into the ground and then beaten them a few times for good measure.

As it stands, we have two rankings that were present at the end of the draft: one from FantasyPros and one from Mark:

Some very large differences in the two so it’s important to remember that both of these rankings are heavily flawed in different ways. Mark’s is biased toward him and rarely takes into account benched players or players who are coming back in like May opting to instead list them out for the season. FantasyPros bias is toward an even spread of stats that favor a more roto approach to baseball, opting to weigh steals and closers higher than they really are in our OPS and SV/HD league. It also has a problem with organizing teams’ active rosters correctly, often mixing up players on benches with ones drafted for active rosters. Teams that rely on a more static approach to their team with the bench being pure speculative adds or teams that are more in line with speed and traditional closers do better in these rankings.

To grab some insight into the draft results, I sent a series of questions out to the owners:

1. Did you have a plan for the draft (general or specific) and how well were you able to execute it?
2. Who were your targets in the draft that you had to have? Were you able to get them?
3. Any steals or reaches that you’re particularly proud of?
4. How do you feel about your team before the season begins?
5. Who had the best draft?
6. Which team are you most worried to face?
7. Which team do you relish facing the most?

Considering the short notice, I had a good amount of response from owners (including myself). Below are their answers, in draft order.

Mark

I had a rough sketch of a big board for the whole draft, but I did have a very specific group of 15 players I wanted at 2.12 (which was 17 overall). That part went well
I didn’t have players that were "must draft.” I tend to follow my rankings/projections pretty well and since they are a little different, I tend to get who I want more than not however, I was sniped a few times. I did have a list of like 30 high upside pitchers I wanted to get at least 2
Despite keeping 4 pitchers (only team to do it) I was very happy with how I filled in my rotation since I didn’t draft my first until R10 and 2nd in R15 especially given how poorly Gray is pitching now. Lopez, Manaea, Williams, Holmes in the 15-19 range felt like good value where I could easily drop them but if they perform, they could be keeper-worthy when guys like Gray and Gilbert won’t be in 2026.
I'm not proud of reaching on Diaz but I did. Was more of a backup plan when Greene went. I really like my pitching, which I should, given I kept 4, but pitching can be streamable... my hitting will decide my season. I have a slightly above average hitting group by my rankings which probably means closer to average.
I'm not sure it was the best draft, but no one sniped me more than Mike.
Worried to face and relish facing has to be Vinson (if I had to pick just 1). Whatever the numbers say he finds a way to win which makes him dangerous and he kept me from winning my 2nd title just last year, although I was clearly the inferior team.

Vinson

I didn’t have a specific plan going into the draft. I had some guys I liked and fallback options at each position but that was about it.
My biggest targets in the draft were Joe Ryan, Christian Yelich, Christopher Sanchez, Matt Wallner, Michael Toglia, and Griffin Jax (obviously). I got everyone except Yelich and reached a bit for some.
I ended up reaching for my guys plus finding a bit of value from players who fell quite a long time. I wasn’t expecting Max Fried to be available at the end of the 4th round so I was happy to get him there. Brandon Nimmo and Jurickson Profar fell very far likely because of their preseason injuries, so I felt they were great values as my 4th and 5th outfielders, especially now since they’re both healthy and hitting well. I reached hard for Sanchez, Toglia, and Jax but was happy to get them and felt the reaches didn’t hurt me too much.
I feel my team is strong and well rounded going into the season. I have a good mix of proven talent and upside plays. I am a bit worried Kristian Campbell could get off to a slow start and hurt my team since he’s had a bad spring and is relatively unproven, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
I think Mike and Ian had the best drafts and have the strongest teams. Both are stacked with stud pitchers and hitters, and I expect them to be near the top this year.
I always relish facing Ian the most. We always have fun bets on our matchups and trash talk at work. Makes the week a lot of fun.

Richard

My strategy was to get the best OF or 1B off the board. I wanted to make sure I shored up OF by the 10th round because it gets so terrible after that. I think I was able to execute on it pretty well with Trout, Castellanos, and Soler to add to Butler and Santander. While there are a couple OF better than mine, I still think that’s a pretty sexy group to go into the year with.
My targets were Trout or Walker in the third round. I had to get one of them or else my team would be very far behind. While you can argue for other players, Trout is the only one at that point that has first round upside still.
I reached a lot. I’m proud of the Castellanos reach because it took the last reliable 20+ homer OF off the board. I loved that I got Keith and Pepiot back. I think Kikuchi is the pitcher I was most excited to grab because I thought he’d be gone by the 9th round, and I was starting to feel nervous about my pitching. I do want to call out Jon and Ian for stealing the Rays I was targeting. I thought for sure Josh Lowe would be in the 10th still. And I was convinced I was the only one aware of Uceta. I was wrong on both.
I kind of love my team. I’m sure everyone says that, but I feel like my team was the best I could pull off with the position I put myself in. This is probably the first draft in forever that I’ve felt totally satisfied.
I think either James or Dan had the best draft. I find it funny that a lot of James’s plans went straight into the trash right off the bat, and yet he probably had one of the strongest drafts he’s ever done. Not sure if we need to read any more into that…
I’m most worried to face Vinson, I think. Not because I think his team is particularly strong this year, but I think he’ll treat our matchup like he did in the playoffs and just counter me.
I always enjoy facing Ian. He’s the Blue to my Red. Always feels like our teams just start slugging it out. I’m also very interested in facing Mark and Jon this year and rub their stupid teams in the dirt where they belong.

Ian

My plan was to take three hitters and one pitcher with my first four picks. I had an idea of the players I liked and felt like I could adjust accordingly based on how the draft was going. When I saw that there was still some decent pitching falling through the third round I picked up Semien and decided to wait until the fourth to grab Greene. Overall I felt I executed well, but because of all of the draft picks I dealt, my outfield is definitely a crapshoot.
I didn’t necessarily have any that I “had to have”. I tried not to get married to any one player so I didn’t get tilted if I didn’t get them. I was adamant that I get Either Freeman or Olson for 1B because I felt the position was terribly thin, and somehow I ended up with both. Go figure. I really wanted Cristopher Sanchez but Vin sniped him (rats), and I really wanted Sandy Alcantara and drafted him when I probably should have grabbed an outfielder instead.
I’m not a person who drafts closers high in this league but even I was shocked that Felix Bautista fell to the 14th.
I feel cautiously optimistic. Fantasy Pros always hates my teams, but I will concede that my outfield is a weakness that I hope to build up as the season goes along. My pitching is top notch and I’m hoping my infield carries the offense.
Vin always has the best drafts, and this year was no different. Smart upside picks the whole way down.
I want to beat Vin week 1 to validate my offseason. It would be a big confidence booster, especially since I’ve still never beaten him.

Brooke

No plan- draft a halfway decent team and hopefully be able to spend time early in the season to build it up.
Didn't have any targets.
Truth be told no - I am happy to have Contrares back as catcher though.
Truth be told I haven't looked at it since the draft. So I feel alright, I know my infield needs work.
I think Vinson always thinks he does well but doesn't make a big deal out of it.
None - all are a blank slate right now.
Same response - everyone is a blank slate right now.

Jon

I planned using a couple of different mocks putting in keepers and expected keepers. Overall however, I wanted to make sure that I had OF and 2B covered as best as I could. Also with infield trying to find players who would achieve positive versatility in Fantrax for multi-position eligibility.
I really wanted Jazz in the 2nd. I think his potential for 30HR/30SB is high and given his OF/3B/2B eligibility he'll be very useful when he's healthy. I missed that. I did target Clay Holmes, Josh Lowe in my draft. While I got them early, I wasn't leaving without them.
Matt McClain as a reach I feel pretty good about. His issue was injuries, not ability, and getting him as a SS early was helpful with the rest of the board.
I like my team. I have the belief that about 1/2 my team will not be around by the all-star break, so I went with people who could either play well above ADP, or be dropped by Memorial Day. With a league that has so many starters and such shallow benches, I wanted to be flexible while also knowing some more boring players are on waivers to grab if everything goes wrong.
I think best being did what they tend to draft/keep/free agent aquire in the past it probably is Dan, Vinson, and Ian. They got their guys. While I don't always agree with some of the strategies, they were true to themselves.
I think James has a well balanced team that in theory every week will have a high floor.
No comment because they will get upset.
Then what about: What team still needs some improvement to be a post season contender?
-Joey has a pretty good relief group for his pitchers, but when your potential SP3 is Rodon or Ranger Suarez you probably want to find ways to bolster that so you win that side of the categories easier. When you have Witt and Harper in your IF you have a leg up on most teams by default.

Andrew

1. Did my fantasy pros mocks and spent a few weeks looking at those to see where people were falling and different ways to draft at the top of the board.

2. Definitely targeted Cease and was happy with my 1-2 picks.

4.Totally panicked when I saw 1st basemen going off the board and that certainly threw my draft for a loop. I wish I would have gone OF earlier to get my 5th spot filled. I feel like my team is in an ok spot. I tend to stream pitching so it's always tough to read into the pitching rankings but I am looking for a few young guys to breakout.

Dan

I had a plan for the draft in the sense that I had zero plans for the draft. I didn’t want to get boxed into a corner by being too strict but I definitely had high priorities while drafting. Particularly with 1B, OF and SP. overall on my draft sheet I highlighted where I’d be picking and kinda pick out some positions i wanted to fill with value players.I’d say I executed it fairly well but I got boxed out of 1B pretty early when Ian took Olson and freeman. That kind of created a resource scarcity at the position which forced me to focus on other areas for awhile. I’d overall give myself a grade B in accomplishing my plan.
I didn’t go into the draft with specific player targets but more positional targets at each round. If I didn’t like the choice of players in for a position I needed I’d move to the next one and so on. It helped me keep myself honest.
My best reaches/steals were Paredes and Acuna in my opinion. BUT I love getting munoz where I did. I think he’s a 100 K upside pitcher with a clear job in a great park. I can’t believe he fell to me.
I feel okay. On paper my team will be great but lotta risk involved. I think my pitching staff is what I’m most worried about because it’s a lot of oatmeal floor but I’m hoping the relievers I have help balance that out.
Besides me? It’s probably either mike or Vinson.
I don’t want to see Vinson ever in the regular season or James.
I can’t wait to play Richard, Jon, Pat and Brooke

Pat

You gotta tell them about the pick swaps. Make sure that gets in your article.

I was pick ten or so and I had a generic plan about the types of guys I wanted to get up through round 10 or so. It was flexible even though I had targets, so resistant to snipes. Whether intentionally or accidentally a lot of teams did pick swaps in the first five rounds that led to them picking ahead of me. Every single one of these led to a snipe and changed my team composition.

I wanted the Olson/Seager coin flip, ruined by Ian.

I wanted Riley Greene, ruined by Mike and Mark.

If I took them more seriously, I probably would have done some swap deals myself to help posture better.

Offseason Awards

THE Mr. Fantastic AWARD

Using your 2nd round pick to spite James is certainly a bold strategy

Winner: Brooke Weaver with Luis Arraez as her second pick (ADP 196. League ADP translation: 124) with a 106 pick difference.

Honorable Mention: Jon with Josh Lowe as his fifth pick (ADP 179, League ADP translation: 107) with a 51 pick difference.

Technicality Winner: Vinson with Griffin Jax as his ninth pick (ADP 332, League ADP translation: 260) with a 162 pick difference
(however, Fantrax ADP is concerning standard 5x5 leagues and not SV/HD where Griffin Jax’s ADP and ranking would be much higher).

The “IT’s Just a loose body” Award

For the person who had the most injuries occur to players on the team.

Winner: Patrick Weaver with 6 IL players (this is including Gerrit Cole)

Honorable Mention: Richard with 3 (this is including minor leaguer, DJ Herz)

The Mark Rankings Award

Winner: Mark Johnson with finishing 1st for the 2025 Mark preseason rankings

Honorable Mention: Dan with the second place position