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Once again the PreMature League has started drafting for next year while this year of play continues.
It looks to be a wide open year of drafting. For sure, their is no dominating player that teams just have to have. I would say that no one player will be the consensus number one player on over 50% of NFBC drafted teams this year. That said as Aaron Judge is having a season for the ages.
Go figure!

Round 1

1. Ronald Acuna Jr.
2. Juan Soto
3. Aaron Judge
4. Trea Turner
5. Julio Rodriguez
6. Jose Ramirez
7. Kyle Tucker
8. Shohei Ohtani
9. Bobby Witt Jr.
10. Yordan Alvarez
11. Freddie Freeman
12. Vlad Guerrero Jr.
13. Mookie Betts
14. Paul Goldschmidt
15. Bryce Harper

The first thing that strikes me about this round is that not one SP was selected.
I believe that like offensive players, there is no dominant pitcher that is coveted above all others .
The second thing that strikes me is that ball players really begat great ball players.
Three 'Juniors' in the first round and there would have been a fourth without Tatis Jr. getting suspended.....I still hate 'Paternity Leave' though.

Round 2

1. Corbin Burnes
2. Yu Darvish
3. Carlos Rodon
4. Bo Bichette
5. Pete Alonso
6. Sandy Alcantara
7. Gerrit Cole
8. Jake deGrom
9. Austin Riley
10. Brandon Woodruff
11. Manny Machado
12. Shane McClanahan
13. Fernando Tatis Jr.
14. Dylan Cease
15. Rafael Devers

Here come da Pitchers!
Nine of the selections in the second round were SP.
There is something 'wrong' with each of these pitchers. Something that has kept them to second round status.

Corbin Burnes ERA for August and September is 4.10
Yu Darvish will be 37 years old next year
Carlos Rodon has an injury history and may be pitching in an unfriendly park next year
Sandy Alcantara pitches for a team who struggles for Wins, no matter how brilliantly he pitches
Gerrit Cole allowed...count 'em....32 HR this year
Jake deGrom....Without the injury history, he would easily be the number one pitcher...but that history is scary
Brandon Woodruff...Ah Brandon Woodruff....For some reason the Brewers hate Woodruff getting a W. Blame Counsell, blame their offense, blame their bullpen. Despite an ERA under 3.00 over the last three years, Woodruff has just 25 Wins during that time. Ugh.
Shane McClanahan did a complete fade...a 5.79 ERA this month
Dylan Cease piks are harder to nit. Through the first four months he was striking out more than 11 batters per nine innings. Under a strike out an inning since. His other stats look fine, but the loss in dominance is concerning.

Anyway, the first two rounds are in the books and this coming season could be one of the most challenging yet for NFBC drafters.
No clear cut offensive player. No clear cut Starting Pitcher. Rule changes on the MLB horizon.
All making for an enjoyable drafting season!

Great stuff Dan. Who doesn't love looking at draft results for next year before this year is over!!! Love it.

Just a little teaser here, we are working hard to possibly get the draft room open even before this league concludes. We'll see if we can keep up with this group and get this league drafting on the 2023 NFBC site before too long. Oh, and then we'd obviously be open for business on the first NFBC Draft Champions leagues of the year as well!!!

Again, no formal announcement on this, but we're working on it. We'd love an October draft season in the NFBC!!! Thanks for the early picks and I have a feeling this will whet the drafting appetites of more people than just me. Good luck the rest of the way.

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:42 am

Great stuff Dan. Who doesn't love looking at draft results for next year before this year is over!!! Love it.

Just a little teaser here, we are working hard to possibly get the draft room open even before this league concludes. We'll see if we can keep up with this group and get this league drafting on the 2023 NFBC site before too long. Oh, and then we'd obviously be open for business on the first NFBC Draft Champions leagues of the year as well!!!

Again, no formal announcement on this, but we're working on it. We'd love an October draft season in the NFBC!!! Thanks for the early picks and I have a feeling this will whet the drafting appetites of more people than just me. Good luck the rest of the way.

You will immediately and consistnently have drafts filled and going if somehow you pull this off, Greg. I am awaiting the announcement and it will be go time for Draftaholics 1 & 2, The Premature Sequel, and various others including my official NFBC Retirement DC the way it's been going lately for me. Just say the word. Thanks, and tell IT there's an extra $100 bucks in it from me.

Thanks for the write up Dan!

Dan, it actually does not surprise me that no pitchers went in the first round. I believe this trend will continue. As you laid out, every pitcher has a question mark or 2. I believe a lot of drafters will go hitter-pitcher-hitter or even hitter-hitter-pitcher.

Greg it would be awesome to get the drafting going later this month. With playoffs going strong all month the interest in baseball will stay strong.

Mike - Can't wait for your first fast draft. I'm in for sure. The faster the better.

All Rise !! Congrats to Aaron Judge who set the all time legitimate Home Run record. What a class act he is. Team first attitude. Humble every day. Even Yankee haters are happy for the man.

Baseball Furies wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:49 pm

Greg Ambrosius wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 8:42 am

Great stuff Dan. Who doesn't love looking at draft results for next year before this year is over!!! Love it.

Just a little teaser here, we are working hard to possibly get the draft room open even before this league concludes. We'll see if we can keep up with this group and get this league drafting on the 2023 NFBC site before too long. Oh, and then we'd obviously be open for business on the first NFBC Draft Champions leagues of the year as well!!!

Again, no formal announcement on this, but we're working on it. We'd love an October draft season in the NFBC!!! Thanks for the early picks and I have a feeling this will whet the drafting appetites of more people than just me. Good luck the rest of the way.

You will immediately and consistnently have drafts filled and going if somehow you pull this off, Greg. I am awaiting the announcement and it will be go time for Draftaholics 1 & 2, The Premature Sequel, and various others including my official NFBC Retirement DC the way it's been going lately for me. Just say the word. Thanks, and tell IT there's an extra $100 bucks in it from me.

Sounds good on all. Now tell me about this NFBC Retirement DC!!! I'm curious.

Rumor has it we will have the 2023 Draft Room open by this weekend, if not earlier. Anyone ready to draft? Stay tuned as the boys are working hard to turn over the draft room, while still keeping your 2022 data on your team pages through the World Series. That would be a big change for us, but they are working on it now.

The boys in IT tell me "what does he think, it's 1998? $100 doesn't go as far today as it did then." Sounds like they are calling you cheap!!

Thanks all and get your Cheat Sheets ready. We may be open for business sooner than expected.

Thurman15 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 7:33 am

Congrats to Aaron Judge who set the all time legitimate Home Run record. What a class act he is. Team first attitude. Humble every day. Even Yankee haters are happy for the man.

+1. And most importantly, authentic.

COZ wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:57 am

Thurman15 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 7:33 am

Congrats to Aaron Judge who set the all time legitimate Home Run record. What a class act he is. Team first attitude. Humble every day. Even Yankee haters are happy for the man.

+1. And most importantly, authentic.

Agreed...61 in '61 lasted 61 years! Now with the Yankees already having a 2022 $246M payroll, with Cole ($36M) and Stanton ($32M) on the books at $30M+, not to mention having Donaldson's albatross of $21.750m hanging out there, how much are the Yankees going to pay to KEEP Judge? And for how long? Helps that Chapman, and Britton will be off the payroll.

Round three is in the books...

3/1 Francisco Lindor
3/2 Aaron Nola
3/3 Max Scherzer
3/4 Mike Trout
3/5 Spencer Strider
3/6 Jose Altuve
3/7 Max Fried
3/8 Randy Arozarena
3/9 Justin Verlander
3/10 JT Realmuto
3/11 Shane Bieber
3/12 Alec Manoah
3/13 Julio Urias
3/14 Adolis Garcia
3/15 Edwin Diaz

Another nine pitchers are drafted. Including the venerable Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. These guys keep falling in drafts despite putting up numbers better than most counterparts.
Mike Trout, welcome to the third round. Trout has seen his roundage go from first to second to third the last three years.
Not using his speed to steal bases and injury concerns have kept drafters away.
Spencer Strider, welcome to the third round.
Strider was undrafted in most drafts last year until getting noticed in Spring Training. Personally, I don't think he'll go in the third round the following year. With his stuff, he should be a first rounder. The hedge, this year, being if he can stand the strain of 200 innings this coming year.
Lindor, Realmuto, Arozarena, and Garcia all rewarded third round status with 20-20 stats.
In looking at the full list, 2023 will be very, very deep for top round selections.
It will

No Josh Hader in round 1?

Drafters were well-paced yesterday in the PreMature League. So, the next three rounds are posted here...

ROUND 4

1. Emmanuel Clase
2. Nolan Arenado
3. Ozzie Albies
4. Liam Hendriks
5. Marcus Semien
6. Zac Gallen
7. Michael Harris II
8. Nestor Cortes
9. Tim Anderson
10. Daulton Varsho
11. Zach Wheeler
12. Cedric Mullens
13. Byron Buxton
14. Corey Seager
15. Luis Castillo

ROUND 5

1. Kevin Gausman
2. Matt Olson
3. Jazz Chisholm
4. Will Smith
5. Josh Hader
6. Will Springer
7. Joe Musgrove
8. Luis Robert
9. Trevor Story
10. Dansby Swanson
11. Kyle Wright
12. Starlin Marte
13. Kyle Schwarber
14. Brandon Drury
15. Sal Perez

ROUND 6

1. Tyler Glasnow
2. Cristian Javier
3. Eloy Jimenez
4. Andres Gimenez
5. Tommy Edman
6. Jordan Romano
7. Teo Hernandez
8. Framber Valdez
9. Whit Merrifield
10. Ryan Pressly
11. O'Neill Cruz
12. Devin Williams
13. Felix Bautista
14. Adley Rutschman
15. Robbie Ray

Its been an absolute pleasure hosting the PreMature League draft for all these years.
When starting, folks thought we were crazy for starting a draft before the current season was over....And we were/are
But now the NFBC will be opening the draft room at about the same time.
The craziness has spread!
Most likely, this will be the last PreMature League draft. I am grateful to Greg and the NFBC for letting us be wacky enough to draft this early all these years and play on the NFBC site.
And thanks to you insane 15 drafters who have mostly been the same fellas over all these years. Hardly any turnover at all.
Thanks for being weird like I am! You guys are the best.

many thanks to Dan for always being on the ball and getting this draft up and running smoothly each year. hope this isn't the last year! but if so, mazel tov, been a helluva run and truly one of my favorite drafts every season.

I’m ready for the premature DC as soon as it is a go