Building a Team After Pick 100
I give my favorite middle and late-round picks at each position and build a team from only players with ADPs above pick 100.
I did this last year as well, and I think it’s a good exercise. It’s fun to see what we can come up with and to see what a team without any top 100 picks actually looks like.
Basically, this is a “late round picks” article, I suppose. I’ve talked plenty already about late-round targets, but it can’t hurt to do it again!
Catcher
If I were really trying to fill out a full team after 100 players are gone, I certainly would not prioritize a catcher. There are plenty of league types and situations where you just want to punt the catcher position. My favorite way to do that is Logan O’Hoppe. He’s the #12 catcher by ADP, which in a 12-team league would make him a punt option. You won’t find many teams drafting multiple catchers in a one-catcher league, so you should be able to pretty much wait until the end of the draft and grab him.
To go further down, I also like Shea Langeliers and Ryan Jeffers as last-pick or waiver wire catchers that can at least hit you around 20 homers.
But to fill out this post-100 ADP team, I’ll go to Jeffers as someone I could get very late while I hustle to fill out the rest of my lineup.
Catcher Pick: Ryan Jeffers (ADP 251)
First Base
Rhys Hoskins is getting a bit more expensive as we go along, but even in the last two weeks he’s still the 19th first baseman off the board with an ADP of 190.
That works for me. I’m happy to start the guy at first base this year. He should be a 30-homer guy with a decent supply of RBI. But there won’t be many steals and the best we can hope for in batting average is probably .255 or so.
First base has some late-round values, and we could certainly do worse than an Brandon Drury (ADP 225), Anthony Rizzo (ADP 276), or Ty France (ADP 321) as a late-round emergency pick.
1B Pick: Rhys Hoskins (ADP 196)
Second Base
By the triple-digits in ADP, most of the steals are pretty dried up. So we’ll want to prioritize steals in the middle infield and outfield.
The guy I’d pull the trigger on here pretty early on (after pick 100, remember) is Zack Gelof. I think there’s a 15-15 floor here with 25-25 upside. He’s the #12 2B off the board on average with an ADP of 136.
If that didn’t work out, I’d be looking to fill in with Luis Rengifo (ADP 250), Jorge Polanco (ADP 267), or Brandon Lowe (ADP 275).
2B Pick: Zack Gelof (ADP 136)
Third Base
We could grab some steals and a small chance at 15-20 homers with Maikel Garcia here. He should lead-off for the Royals, so there’s a good chance he’s a very solid contributor in three categories (runs, steals, batting average). He also has the bat speed to put out a much more competitive HR total this year, so he’s a pretty nice pickup for this team build at ADP 225.
Other options would be a fingers-crossed pick of a rookie like Junior Caminero (ADP 230) or Jordan Westburg (ADP 312).
3B Pick: Maikel Garcia (ADP 225)
Shortstop
It’s not easy to find 20-20 guys later on in the draft, but one of the most obvious value picks for that kind of player this year is Trevor Story (ADP 178). He’s healthy and will be in the heart of a Red Sox lineup that features some really good hitters around him. It’s not a good batting average situation and it could be a total bust if he continues with the 30% K%, but the upside is pretty enormous and the price is right.
My fallback option would be Ezequiel Tovar (ADP 196), who has some issues (the Rockies stink and he has basically no plate discipline), but I can’t get away from the fact that he gets to call Coors Field home while being a steals guy with a league average barrel rate already at age 23.
SS Pick: Trevor Story (ADP 178)
Outfield
I’ll just pick three outfielders here. If we’re really building a team with nobody in the top 100, we would be looking for upside. Jordan Walker (minor league career .301/.383/.509 hitter) certainly gives us that upside. At ADP 115, he would have to be my second pick in this hypothetical.
In this weird world, I could probably get behind Esteury Ruiz just to be my lone steals guy to stay competitive there. That would take quite a bit of burden off and allow empty power picks to work better. But I’m not making that my second pick.
Second, I’ll go with my guy Jarren Duran (ADP 166). Top of the order, great steals guy, and some untapped power there.
And thirdly, we’ll go really late with Parker Meadows (ADP 289). He’s the same kind of profile as Duran really. He should lead-off for the Tigers, and can steal bags with non-zero power. Between AAA and MLB last year he hit 22 homers and stole 27 bags with a .790 OPS, a really nice year for him.
If I were in need of power, the outfield is a good place to get it. We have late-round power bats like MJ Melendez (ADP 291), Brent Rooker (ADP 302), Giancarlo Stanton (ADP 294), and Matt Wallner (ADP 313). It’s not very hard at all to find some home run hitters at any part of the draft, you just have to give up a lot more steals and batting average the later you get.
OF Picks: Jordan Walker, Jarren Duran, Parker Meadows, Brent Rooker
Starting Pitcher
It would be pretty impossible to build a competitive pitching staff without any of the top 40 SPs, which is what we’d be doing in this hypothetical world, but to do our best while focusing on a mixture of upside & safety arms:
Cole Ragans (ADP 104)
Hunter Greene (ADP 138)
Bailey Ober (ADP 152)
Bryce Miller (ADP 183)
Brayan Bello (ADP 225)
Cristopher Sanchez (ADP 243)
Griffin Canning (ADP 282)
MacKenzie Gore (ADP 290)
Jameson Taillon (ADP 318)
Frankie Montas (ADP 325)
Tyler Wells (ADP 330)
We would only be looking for 5-8 SPs to make a full fantasy squad, but I wouldn’t be able to get all the guys I wanted, so there’s a little narrow pool of pitchers I’d be looking to build from. Maybe they’d give me an extra pick or two between 100 and 200 if I’m really giving up my first eight or so picks!
I’ve written all about all of these names and why I like them, so just click around the blog and you’ll find more info!
SP Picks: Cole Ragans, Hunter Greene, Bailey Ober, Griffin Canning, MacKenzie Gore, Tyler Wells
Relief Pitcher
This would absolutely be a punt situation since I’d have so many other problems with no top-100 picks. I’d be looking to go to a couple of the committees and hope for the best. Some options:
Kyle Finnegan (ADP 236)
Hunter Harvey (ADP 283)
Robert Stephenson (ADP 215)
Carlos Estevez (ADP 246)
Or I would just take a couple of setup men and hope for injuries or waiver wire adds.
Jason Adam (ADP 311)
Aroldis Chapman (ADP 364)
Brusdar Graterol (ADP 388)
Griffin Jax (ADP 521)
The Team
So it might look something like this:
Catcher: Ryan Jeffers
First Base: Rhys Hoskins
Second Base: Zack Gelof
Shortstop: Trevor Story
Third Base: Maikel Garcia
Outfield: Jordan Walker
Outfield: Jarren Duran
Outfield: Parker Meadows
UTIL: Jorge Polanco / Ezequiel Tovar
UTIL: Brent Rooker / Giancarlo Stanton
SP1: Cole Ragans
SP2: Hunter Greene
SP3: Bailey Ober
SP4: Griffin Canning
SP5: MacKenzie Gore
SP6: Tyler Wells
RP: Hunter Harvey
RP: Brusdar Graterol
It would not be a winning team, but hey maybe with some in-season maneuvering we could get it out of the basement.