GM Instructional League

After following the draft for years, I was searching for a way to prove to myself that I could do a good job of drafting for a major league franchise.  I needed to find other people that followed the draft to draft against.  But that was easier said than done.  After years of searching and posting on forums, I finally had to change my approach.  Instead of finding a fantasy league to join, I would have to start my own league.  Now while most leagues have 10-12 members, I needed a large league to try and replicate the FYPD.  So the league opened with 24 teams.

Instead of starting the league with an auction, or major league draft, I wanted to make sure that we had fantasy players with an in-depth knowledge of the draft.  So started the league in January of 2005 with our 2004 First year player Draft.  During my first draft, I wanted to draft players that would reach the majors quickly, so I focused on a Moneyball style of drafting experienced college players.  In this first draft, my team chose 14th overall.  My first high school pick didn’t come until Orioles Pitcher Brad Bergeson in my ninth round.  In total, I drafted 9 high school players, 5 juco players, 19 college players, and one player that deserves his own catagory, Matt Harrington.

To give all owners drafting in the FYPD extra research time, we start our draft during the All-Star break.  So each owner has one full month for research after the draft has occured.  We then draft one round per day getting through 35 rounds in 35 days.  So the team I list below was a draft one round at a time against other owners.  Therefore the list varies greatly with the picks I made in the blog in 2006 during the actual draft.

2004 First Year Player Draft

Going into the 2005 First Year Player Draft my biggest needs were Runs and RBI’s.  So I again drafted the best college player available.  We set the draft order for the 2005 FYPD to be based on our records as of the All-Star break, so I selected 23rd out of 24 teams.  My first five picks were college position players.  I balanced out the hitters by drafting 16 pitchers overall, including 7 HS P, 4 JC P, and 5 college pitchers.

2005 First Year Player Draft

My farm system now had the benefit of two college oriented drafts and it was time to bring in some younger talent.  Four of my top five selections were high school players.  My only college player in the first five rounds was Joe Smith P  Mets in the 4th round.  Smith made me look smart by becoming the first player from the 2006 draft class to make his major league debut.  I also traded down several times to add extra mid-round picks.  Those acquired picks have a T after the round the player was drafted in.

2006 First Year Player Draft