So yesterday I had my first fantasy baseball draft of the year.  Today, I’m going to break down the rationale behind all my selections, and try to give you a little incite as to what I think you should do if you find yourself doing a fantasy baseball draft without a strategy.  The draft was for a 25 man roster, so be warned that this entry will be longer than usual.

For the record, this was for a ten person, rotisserie scoring league.

1st round (5th pick): Jose Bautista- “Joey Bats” has been an absolute monster the last two years, and has proven to not just be a one-season wonder.  A nice added value in Bautista is the fact that most leagues have him listed at multiple positions, which makes him a well above average third baseman, and a solid outfielder, too.

2nd round (16th overall): Prince Fielder- Most fantasy experts have Fielder ranked in the top 20, so I thought it was an okay selection with the 16th pick.  I do not believe this pick has anywhere near the top value, but there’s no reason to expect that Fielder won’t be a top-five offensive first baseman for the Tigers.  A bigger home field should limit his home run numbers a bit, but Comerica is quite forgiving for left-handed power hitters.  Look at Fielder to hit doubles in the right-centerfield gap all year long.

3rd round (25th overall): Jered Weaver- With Verlander, Kershaw and Halladay all off the board, I thought it was necessary to get myself an ace for my team before the options got too thin.  The Angels should be significantly improved this year, so if Weaver can have an average year for his standards, expect his wins to be up a bit compared to 2011.

4th round (36th overall): Mike Napoli- I admit this was one of the tougher selections I made in the draft, but there’s so few quality offensive catchers, that I felt like it gave me a chance to secure an edge in comparison to other teams from that position.  I expect most of Napoli’s number’s to go down a bit, but he should be much more productive at the plate in comparison to the majority of catchers in baseball.

5th round (45th overall): David Price- I’d categorize this as one of the many steals I had in the draft.  Price should be dominant once again in Tampa, and to pick him at 45th in the draft is slightly below where he was projected in most leagues to get picked.  I wasn’t necessarily looking to add a starting pitcher with this pick, but didn’t know how to pass Price up.

6th round (56th overall): Brandon Phillips- Besides being a twit-a-holic, Phillips has been one of the most consistent second baseman the last few years.  Take into consideration that he’s also in a contract year, and expected to sign quite a large deal, I don’t think it’s hard to envision him putting up solid numbers in 2012.  It’s hard to not consider him a top five second baseman, so there’s excellent value in him at this point in any draft.

7th round (65th overall): Dee Gordon- I’d imagine that this is a name that not a lot of recreational baseball fans are familiar with, but you might want to capitalize on that.  In just 56 games with the Dodgers in 2011, Gordon hit .306 with 24 stolen bases.  If you’re in a league that counts stolen bases, Gordon may very well steal more bases than any other shortstop in baseball.  Don’t expect him to hit over .300 for the season, but don’t let that be a deterrent.

8th round (76th overall): Carl Crawford- There’s a lot of fair-weather fans that think Crawford is going to be a complete bust again, but I just don’t think I can agree.  Sure, Crawford should not be drafted in the top five rounds, but picking him up in the eight round has tremendous value.  Due to an injury, Crawford will likely miss the first two weeks of the season, but I think he’s going to prove to baseball that he’s back to his usual self in 2012.

9th round (85th overall): Ichiro Suzuki- 2011 was not a good year for Ichiro, who put up a career low .272 batting average for Seattle.  A lot of people in baseball believe that Ichrio’s career is far from over, and his talent level would certainly support that claim.  Despite being 37 years old, Ichiro did still manage to steal 40 bases.  There’s no reason why you shouldn’t think that Ichiro will get his batting average up to .300 and steal at least 35 bases this year.

10th round (96th overall): Michael Young- If you’re willing to pass up a guy who seems to get 200 hits every year, and is a lifetime .304 hitter in the tenth round, you should really just let your computer autodraft for you.

11th round (105th overall): Jose Valverde- Even as a Tigers fan, I don’t expect Valverde to go 49 for 49 again in save opportunities.  With that being said, I do expect him to get plenty of saves for a team that should be able to easily win 90 or more games.  I thought this was about the right time to start drafting a few relief pitchers, since they’re aren’t that many true quality relievers.  I always prefer to get closers when drafting relief pitchers, and you should, too.

12th round (116th overall): Brennan Boesch- I know there’s going to be a lot of people who think this was an absurd pick in the 12th round, but I respectfully disagree for one main reason.  When Boesch comes up to bat this year, take a look at who is on deck, and who is in the hole.  No pitcher is going to want to walk Boesch to face Cabrera and Fielder with a runner on base, and I truly think he’ll be able to benefit greatly from it.

13th round (125th overall): Josh Johnson- I definitely gambled a bit on this one, but a healthy Josh Johnson is a dominant pitcher for what should be a very competitive team in Miami.  I think the risk vs. reward definitely helps make this pick a pretty easy one.

14th round (136th overall): Doug Fister- “Mister” Fister will likely not be able to duplicate what he did after getting traded to Detroit last year, but odds are he will be a quality number two pitcher for a team that should win 90 games.  You can never get enough wins from your starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, so there’s always extra value in drafting starting pitching from teams that are likely going to make it to the playoffs.

15th round (145th overall): Heath Bell- If your fantasy team awarded points to pitchers who can slide, Bell would be a first round pick.  With that being said, he’s definitely a top-tier closer, and I was quite shocked that he was still on the board this late in the draft.  Again, I like to draft pitchers from winning teams, and from everything I’ve seen and read, Bell seems like an easy guy to cheer for.

16th round (156th overall): Ryan Roberts- Truthfully, I’m not sure what to expect from this pick.  I liked the fact that he is listed at multiple positions in my league, and he seemed like a cool guy from my brief interactions with him in Arizona.  If he can hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases for Arizona this year (which he could very well do), then I got excellent value for a late-round pick.

17th round (165th overall): Kyle Farnsworth- A bit of a wildcard for me, since he seems to always go up and down throughout his career.  His raw stuff is amongst the best in baseball, and he should get plenty of save opportunities for Tampa Bay this year.

18th round (176th overall): Yadier Molina- It’s too bad that defensive abilities don’t count in fantasy baseball, since Molina is without a doubt one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball.  His offensive numbers aren’t terrible, which makes him a quality backup in most fantasy leagues.

19th round (185th overall): Ryan Raburn- Despite not being an everyday player for the Tigers, Raburn should get enough playing time between second base and the outfield to hit 15 home runs and drive in 60 runs.   It’s hard to ask for much more than that from a bench player in any league.

20th round (196th overall): Jesus Montero- No clue how he fell this far in the draft, but I like having a guy on my team who may very well end up winning the Rookie of the Year award in the American League on my team.  Getting him in the 20th round is an absolute bargain for a guy who is going to be a quality hitter for many years to come.

21st round (205th overall): Emilio Bonifacio- In 2011, Bonifacio hit .296 and stole 40 bases.  I’d imagine that both of those numbers are very likely to go down in 2012, but he definitely gives you great value and depth as a bench player.

22nd round (216th overall): Delmon Young- Delmon does one thing well, and that’s hit.  I’m expecting him to get an opportunity to drive in 100 years for Detroit this year, and being a contract year for him, one would think he’s going to do everything he can to showcase himself and prove he’s worth signing to a multi-year contract.  I’d imagine you don’t normally see a guy who will drive in 80 or more runs after the 20th round, so take advantage if you can.

23rd round (225th overall): David Robertson- As much as I hate rooting for the Yankees, Robertson proved to be one of the best relievers in 2011.  Take into consideration that he would likely be Mariano Rivera’s replacement if he gets injured, and this was an absolute no doubt pick.

24th round (236th overall): Yoenis Cespedes- This was a bit of a shot in the dark for me, but the Athletics seem convinced that he’s going to break camp with the team.  If he can come close to any of the hype he built in the offseason, Cespedes will go about 100 picks earlier in 2013, making this a low risk, but great return selection for me.

25th round (245th overall): Chris Perez- For my final selection, I was debating between Bryce Harper and Perez, but ultimately selected Perez since I know he’ll be playing for the Indians the entire season.  It’s nice to find a decent closer in the 25th round, but I’m still not sure about how much I like this pick.  The nice thing about it is that usually your 25th rounder doesn’t mean a whole lot to your team, so if he starts off slowly this year, I can always drop him and hit the waiver wire.

That’s all for this draft breakdown.   Hopefully this will help make your draft-day decisions a little bit easier for you.