2022 Dynasty Baseball First-Year Player Drafts: Breakdown of My Drafts

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Welcome to my recap of how my 2022 Dynasty Baseball First-Year Player Drafts went!

I took part in six drafts over the past month, so I figured I would talk about my approach when drafting.

Hopefully, this will help you in your upcoming drafts this season or the future to see what type of players to target.

In case you missed it, I posted a First-Year Player Draft ranking last month, which also included some general strategy notes.

2022 Dynasty Baseball First-Year Player Drafts

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15 Team League ($180m salary cap)

Scoring: HR, OBP, TB, SB, R, RBI, K, WHIP, ERA, QS, HLD, SV

Roster Size: 40 MLB players, 100 MiLB player

Note: This league has a round called the "Parent Franchise Protection Round." In short, each of the 15 teams in the league has an AL and NL franchise associated with them. For instance, my team name in this league is the "Minnesota Mets" because when the league was founded, my team was built from Twins and Mets players. The PFP round allows you to select two players from your parent franchises who were not taken in the first two rounds of the draft.

Second note: This is a twelve-round draft that included all unrostered prospects. Also, draft picks are tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	Pos	Team
1.13/13	Jay Allen	OF	CIN
2.03/18	James Wood	OF	SD
2.12/27	Joshua Baez	OF	STL
PFP	Ricardo Cabrera	SS	CIN
PFP	Jose Torres	SS	CIN
PFP	Chase Petty	RHP	MIN
3.01/61	Tommy Romero	RHP	TB
3.02/68	Michael McGreevy	RHP	STL
3.08/62	Ian Lewis	SS	MIA
3.13/73	Jordan Viars	OF	PHI
3.15/75	Reiver Sanmartin	P	CIN
5.13/103	Willy Vasquez	SS	TB
6.03/108	Lars Nootbaar	OF	STL
7.11/131	Yasser Mercedes	OF	MIN
7.13/133	Bryce Miller	RHP	SEA
8.03/138	Tsung-Che Cheng	2B	PIT
8.06/141	Jonathan Mejia	SS	STL
9.02/152	Andrew Abbott	LHP	CIN
9.14/164	Tony Blanco Jr.	OF	PIT
11.08/188	Ricky Tiedemann	LHP	TOR
11.13/193	Carlos Pacheco	OF	OAK
11.15/195	Diego Infante	OF	TB
12.01/196	Dauri Moreta	P	CIN
12.02/197	Janson Junk	P	LAA

My general approach is to take the top player on my board, while also trying to find a good balance of floor and ceiling. I ended up drafting three high school outfielders in the first two rounds, which is admittedly risky, but I felt like I got good value on each pick. Going into the draft, I was hoping Trey Sweeney would fall to Pick 1.13, but if he did not, I wanted Jay Allen, and that is who I got.

Then, having the first two picks following the PFP rounds left me with tons of options. The top remaining players on my board were Tommy Romero, Michael McGreevy, Junior Caminero, Ian Lewis, and Carson Williams. Since I had Pick 3.08, I wanted to take the two players I felt were least likely to fall six spots, so I took Romero and McGreevy. Caminero and Williams did not fall, but I happily took Lewis at 3.08.

As you will see in half of my drafts, Jordan Viars fell very far, and I was excited to draft him.

In a salary league, Reiver Sanmartin felt like solid value since he will have a cheap contract as a prospect. I believe there is a realistic chance he makes the Reds' Opening Day rotation. This is the same reason why I drafted Nootbaar: he will be a cheap bench bat who should get solid playing time.

Bryce Miller is a pitcher I am enamored with, and in hindsight am surprised I got him so late in most of my drafts. And much like Miller at #133 overall, Ricky Tiedemann at #188 overall feels like it will bring a nice return on investment.

I closed out the draft with two MLB-ready pitchers who can help me win now.

15 Team League ($185m salary cap)

Scoring: HR, OBP, TB, SB, R, RBI, K, WHIP, ERA, QS, HLD, SV

Roster Size: 40 MLB players, 100 MiLB players

Note: This league also has PFP rounds.

Second note: This is a twelve-round draft that included all unrostered prospects. Also, draft picks are tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	POS	Team
1.08/8	Colton Cowser	OF	BAL
2.02/17	Trey Sweeney	SS	NYY
2.08/23	Juan Yepez	1B	STL
PFP	Ricardo Cabrera	SS	CIN
PFP	Jose Torres	SS	CIN
PFP	Aaron Zavala	OF	TEX
3.08/68	DJ Herz	RHP	CHC
3.11/71	Deyvison De Los Santos	SS	ARI
4.07/82	Junior Caminero	CI	TB
4.08/83	Robert Suarez	P	SD
4.14/89	Art Warren	P	CIN
6.05/110	Gavin Stone	P	LAD
6.12/117	Wilkelman Gonzalez	P	BOS
7.07/127	Joel Diaz	RHP	NYM
7.09/129	Cooper Bowman	2B	NYY
7.14/134	T.J. White	OF	WSH
8.02/137	Junior Marin	OF	KC
8.05/140	Tsung-Che Cheng	2B	PIT
8.08/143	Hoy Park	OF	PIT
9.09/159	Javier Osorio	SS	DET
9.14/164	Tony Blanco Jr.	OF	PIT
10.02/167	Ryan Spikes	SS	TB
10.05/170	Yendry Rojas	OF	SD
10.07/172	Dauri Moreta	P	CIN
10.13/179	Yerlin Confidan	OF	CIN
12.02/197	Sherten Apostel	3B	TEX
12.05/200	Ricky Tiedemann	LHP	TOR

Going into this draft, I was planning on taking Trey Sweeney at Pick 1.08. Then, Colton Cowser fell to me and I simply could not pass him up. As picks continued to be made, Sweeney kept falling. I hopelessly watched, knowing he would not fall to my next selection, Pick 2.08. Luckily, I ended up trading Pedro Leon and Benyamin Bailey to get Pick 2.02, and I got my guy, Sweeney, in the end.

Pick 2.08 is interesting in hindsight because I traded Rece Hinds, who I love, to acquire the pick a few weeks prior to the draft. I ended up with Juan Yepez, which seems like a win.

In addition to my 2 PFP picks, I traded for the TEX PFP, and happily selected Aaron Zavala, who I feel is underrated.

This league had by far the best pool of non-FYPD prospects of the six drafts I was in. After the PFP rounds, more than half of my selections were prospects who were not first-year players. DJ Herz and Deyvison De Los Santos felt like especially good value.

Joel Diaz and Junior Marin looked superb in the DSL, so it was nice to get a share of each of them, especially as late as I picked them.

The fact that I finished this draft with Yerlin Confidan and Ricky Tiedemann is interesting to me because, in hindsight, I probably would take each of them 50 spots higher than where I drafted them. I am glad they fell as far as they did.

15 Team League ($195m salary cap)

Scoring: HR, OBP, TB, SB, R, RBI, K, WHIP, ERA, QS, HLD, SV

Roster Size: 40 MLB players, 100 MiLB players

Note: This league also has PFP rounds.

Second note: This is a twelve-round draft that included all unrostered prospects. Also, draft picks are tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	POS	Team
1.15/15	Sal Frelick	OF	MIL
2.01/16	Jackson Jobe	RHP	DET
2.09/24	Connor Norby	2B	BAL
2.14/29	Gunnar Hoglund	RHP	TOR
PFP	Cooper Kinney	2B	TB
PFP	Kyle Manzardo	1B	TB
PFP	Jordan Wicks	LHP	CHC
PFP	Christian Franklin	OF	CHC
3.03/63	Carson Williams	SS	TB
3.07/67	Michael McGreevy	RHP	STL
3.10/70	Frank Mozzicato	LHP	KC
3.13/73	William Bergolla Jr.	SS	PHI
4.01/76	Junior Caminero	CI	TB
4.07/82	Jose Torres	SS	CIN
4.14/89	Robert Suarez	P	SD
5.09/99	Art Warren	P	CIN
5.11/101	Yasser Mercedes	OF	MIN
5.15/105	Cody Morissette	2B/3B	MIA
6.01/106	Denzel Clarke	OF	OAK
7.07/127	Bryce Miller	RHP	SEA
9.04/154	Tsung-Che Cheng	2B	PIT
9.15/165	Jean Pinto	RHP	BAL
10.01/166	Dauri Moreta	P	CIN
11.09/189	Noah Miller	SS	MIN

I was targeting Trey Sweeney and Jay Allen at the turn of the first round, but I had to pivot to Sal Frelick and Jackson Jobe, which is a nice consolation. The early reports about Jobe from the Tigers camp in Lakeland are positive and intriguing.

This was the only league I landed Connor Norby in but not for a lack of trying.

Tsung-Che Cheng is an exciting prospect whom I targeted late everywhere this draft season -  I am excited to see what he does in the Low-A Southeast League.

I took Robert Suarez, Art Warren, and Dauri Moreta for cheap bullpen help. Plus, there is a decent chance at least one of them gets saves. If not, I definitely expect them all to be good sources of holds.

Again, felt like I got really good value on Bryce Miller here.

Jean Pinto put up impressive stats in 2021 and was a no-brainer target for me at the end of the draft.

30 Team League ($160m salary cap)

Scoring: HR, AVG, OPS, K, SB, R, RBI, K/9, K-BB, WHIP, ERA, QA7, SVH, IRS

Roster Size: 40 MLB players, 20 MiLB players

Note: This is a three-round draft that only included FYPD prospects. Also, draft picks are tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	POS	Team
3.03/71	Jordan Viars	OF	PHI
3.14/82	Jose Torres	SS	CIN

I traded all of my picks prior to the draft since I am firmly in win-now in this league. Moving these picks to help strengthen my MLB roster.

A week before the draft, I got back into the draft by trading Anthony Rodriguez straight up for Pick 3.03. Then when Pick 3.14 was on the clock, I traded away Jean Pinto straight up for the pick. The two players I ended up with are both players I have been targeting everywhere this draft season.

Following the draft, we were able to sign any undrafted prospects, so I signed Bryce Miller and T.J. White.

24 Team League ($160m salary cap)

Scoring: HR, AVG, OPS, K, SB, R, RBI, K/9, K-BB, WHIP, ERA, QA7, SVH, IRS

Roster Size: 40 MLB players, 20 MiLB players

Note: This is a three-round draft that only included FYPD prospects. Also, draft picks are tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	POS	Team
1.10/10	Colton Cowser	OF	BAL
1.11/11	Trey Sweeney	SS	NYY
2.11/35	Joshua Baez	OF	STL
3.11/61	Jordan Viars	OF	PHI
3.23/73	Cooper Bowman	2B	NYY

I had Picks 1.10 and 1.11 going into the draft and was targeting Trey Sweeney and Jay Allen, as per usual. I was pleasantly surprised on Draft Day when I was able to take Colton Cowser at 10th overall. That was quite possibly my favorite pick in all of my 2022 Dynasty Baseball First-Year Player Drafts.

Joshua Baez is ranked 22nd overall in this FYPD class in my rankings, so watching him fall was surprising. I ended up trading a 2023 third-round pick to move up from Pick 2.22 to Pick 2.11 to pick him.

Following the draft, we were able to sign any undrafted prospects. I placed a bid on Junior Marin that would allow me to roster him on my Minor League roster. However, someone upped the bid. I let the other manager win the bid since he had to keep him on the major league roster.

I considered signing Diego Benitez, but ultimately did not due to roster space.

16 Team League (No salary cap)

Scoring: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OPS, QS, IP, K, SV+HLD, ERA, WHIP

Roster Size: Unlimited MLB, 50 player MiLB

Note: This is a prospects-only league. It is basically a challenge in which we see which manager is the best at prospecting over time. Once players make their MLB Debut, they are permanently on your fantasy roster. A spreadsheet keeps the all-time stats. Players are added after the FYPD - including during the regular season - via waivers.

Second note: This is a five-rounda draft that included all unrostered prospects. Also, draft picks are not tradeable.

Round/Pick	Player	POS	Team
1.05/5	Kahlil Watson	SS	MIA
2.12/28	James Wood	OF	SD
3.05/37	Lonnie White	OF	PIT
4.12/60	Nelson Velazquez	OF	CHC
5.05/69	Junior Caminero	3B	TB

Considering I have Kahlil Watson ranked 2nd overall in my FYPD ranking, I was thrilled to snag him 5th overall in the draft.

I had James Wood ranked 15th overall, and Lonnie White ranked 26th overall, so selecting both of them over ten picks later than where I think they *should have* gone was nice.

My target was Aaron Zavala at Pick 4.12, but he went at Pick 4.07. My pick at 4.11 was Lazaro Montes as a pivot. So I ended up taking Nelson Velazquez since a player like him who should almost definitely make the Majors is valuable in this format.

I then drafted Junior Caminero to make sure I snagged him before he would be available to waivers.

Since the draft was kind of shallow, there were plenty of solid players available post-draft. I ended up acquiring the following players via waiver claims: Willy Vasquez, Jose Torres, Brendon Davis, Brendan Donovan, Eguy Rosario, Tsung-Che Cheng, Ryan Spikes, T.J. White, Yasser Mercedes, Kyle Bradish, Bryce Miller, and Ricky Tiedemann. I had to drop 12 prospects to make room for these players. It felt like I made upgrades across the board.

Thanks for checking out my 2022 Dynasty Baseball First-Year Player Drafts recap. Be sure to keep up with all of our Fantasy Baseball coverage.