2024 Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Startup Mock Draft

Image credit: Julio Rodriguez (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

For the second consecutive season, Baseball America’s fantasy team headed by Dylan White and Geoff Pontes assembled a star-studded group of dynasty and prospect rankers to mock out the first 360 picks of a startup dynasty league. 

The league is structured as a 5×5 roto style scoring with on-base percentage swapped for batting average. Our rosters consisted of one catcher, a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, corner infield, middle infield, five outfielders, one utility spot and nine pitchers. 

There were 12 teams, making this a shallower dynasty league. Due to the shallow nature of this league’s player pool we required a minimum of five prospects rostered per team. 

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Dylan White tracked the leagues projected standings using Fangraphs projections. Jordan Rosenberg of Scout The Statline and Prospects Live is our projected champion with Baseball America’s duo of Dylan White and Geoff Pontes finishing second and third respectively. 

You can see full results from the draft here. Users can sort by an overall view of the draft, team-by-team and round-by-round selections. We have also asked each manager to break down their draft below.

Here are the results from the first round.

1. Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Braves (Jordan Rosenblum, Prospects Live)
2. Julio Rodriguez, OF, Mariners (Ross Jensen, Scout The Statline)
3. Corbin Carroll, OF, D-backs (The Itch, Razzball)
4. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals (Chris Blessing, Baseball HQ)
5. Juan Soto, OF, Yankees (Shelly Verougstraete, Rotoworld)
6. Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, Padres (Matt Eddy, Baseball America)
7. Kyle Tucker, OF, Astros (Dylan White, Baseball America)
8. Shohei Ohtani, UT, Dodgers (Geoff Pontes, Baseball America)
9. Yordan Alvarez, OF, Astros (Jesse Roche, Baseball Prospectus)
10. Mookie Betts, OF, Dodgers (James Anderson, RotoWire)
11. Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees (Eric Cross, FTN Fantasy)
12. Spencer Strider, RHP Braves (Chris Clegg, Dynasty Dugout)

Jordan Rosenblum, Prospects Live

In the year of our lord Acuña 2024, my rule of thumb is that in any league where you’re lucky enough to get the best player, you have to go all in to avoid a missed opportunity.  There has never been a bigger projection gap between Ronald Acuña Jr. and the next best player.

Accordingly, I drafted a win-now team projected to dominate the league in 2024 per Dylan White’s number crunching using FanGraphs projections. I have both the best projected hitting and pitching, forecasted to win the league by 23 standings points. 

My pitching is highlighted by Corbin Burnes, Kevin Gausman, and Tyler Glasnow, with Jhoan Duran headlining my bullpen. On the offensive side, Acuña’s supporting cast is led by José Ramírez and underrated OBP stalwarts, Kyle Schwarber and Alex Bregman.

Lastly, although I am going for it in 2024, I could not pass up major injury discounts on Shane McClanahan and Jacob deGrom after pick 100. If we played this one out, both would have a ton of trade value to noncontenders near the trade deadline in year one—if I didn’t decide to keep them and have an even more stellar 2025 rotation.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	1	1	OF	Ronald Acuna Jr.	ATL
2	12	24	3B	Jose Ramirez	CLE
3	1	25	P	Corbin Burnes	BAL
4	12	48	P	Kevin Gausman	TOR
5	1	49	P	Tyler Glasnow	LAD
6	12	72	OF	Kyle Schwarber	PHI
7	1	73	3B	Alex Bregman	HOU
8	12	96	P	Jhoan Duran	MIN
9	1	97	2B	Andres Gimenez	CLE
10	12	120	1B	Yandy Diaz	TB
11	1	121	P	Andres Munoz	SEA
12	12	144	P	Carlos Rodon	NYY
13	1	145	P	Shane Bieber	CLE
14	12	168	P	Shane McClanahan	TB
15	1	169	P	Jacob deGrom	TEX
16	12	192	1B	Rhys Hoskins	MIL
17	1	193	MI	Trevor Story	BOS
18	12	216	OF	Teoscar Hernandez	LAD
19	1	217	OF	Daulton Varsho	TOR
20	12	240	P	Yu Darvish	SD
21	1	241	OF	Taylor Ward	LAA
22	12	264	2B	Brandon Lowe	TB
23	1	265	P	Jose Alvarado	PHI
24	12	288	OF	Emmanuel Rodriguez	MIN
25	1	289	OF	Samuel Zavala	SD
26	12	312	C	Willson Contreras	STL
27	1	313	P	Drew Thorpe	SD
28	12	336	P	Noah Schultz	CHW
29	1	337	P	Sean Manaea	NYM
30	12	360	SS	Kevin McGonigle	DET

Ross Jensen, Scout The Statline

Among those that know me, it’s no secret that I plan every dynasty draft I’m in with a very forward-facing focus. This draft was no different. I went with young hitters early and often, reaching for talents that I expect to be highly productive in the years to come over immediate returns. This usually means that I will take my lumps for a couple years, but once it arrives, team success is repeated and sustained. I do tend to make exceptions with my strategy for pitchers, typically looking to draft older, more established players. In general, my rationale is that pitchers don’t consistently follow the average development trajectory as well as hitters do. These pitchers may turn into trade bait for me if my team isn’t ready to compete out of the gates.

I started my draft with uber talent Julio Rodriguez No. 2 overall and shifted to nab arguably the league’s best pitcher Gerrit Cole with my 23rd overall pick. With the 33rd pick, I landed my personal No. 1 overall prospect, Jackson Holliday, who I think may make a major league impact sooner than people expect. From there, it was all about filling important open positions with young talents. Evan Carter, Anthony Volpe, Spencer Torkelson and Francisco Alvarez give me a strong young core of players that I have a high level of confidence in. Coby Mayo and Colt Keith will both make immediate impacts at third base (possibly?) and second base, respectively.

The later rounds of my draft were filled with some high-floor young players that I think will help immediately but still have some room for potential growth (Steven Kwan, Jung Hoo Lee, Esteury Ruiz, Nolan Schanuel, Eloy Jimenez).The projections done by Dylan White don’t love my team for 2024, but overall, I have confidence that this team will end up becoming one of the league’s premier teams in the next 2-3 years.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	2	2	OF	Julio Rodriguez	SEA
2	11	23	P	Gerrit Cole	NYY
3	2	26	SS	Jackson Holliday	BAL
4	11	47	OF	Evan Carter	TEX
5	2	50	SS	Anthony Volpe	NYY
6	11	71	1B	Spencer Torkelson	DET
7	2	74	C	Francisco Alvarez	NYM
8	11	95	P	Aaron Nola	PHI
9	2	98	3B	Coby Mayo	BAL
10	11	119	3B	Colt Keith	DET
11	2	122	MI	Bryson Stott	PHI
12	11	143	OF	Esteury Ruiz	OAK
13	2	146	OF	Steven Kwan	CLE
14	11	167	P	Shota Imanaga	CHC
15	2	170	P	Walker Buehler	LAD
16	11	191	UT	Eloy Jimenez	CHW
17	2	194	OF	Jung Hoo Lee	SF
18	11	215	P	Andrew Abbott	CIN
19	2	218	P	Kenley Jansen	BOS
20	11	239	P	Tanner Scott	MIA
21	2	242	P	Yennier Cano	BAL
22	11	263	P	Yuki Matsui	SD
23	2	266	P	Merrill Kelly	ARI
24	11	287	UT	Curtis Mead	TB
25	2	290	1B	Nolan Schanuel	LAA
26	11	311	P	Bryce Eldridge	SF
27	2	314	SS	Cole Young	SEA
28	11	335	OF	Justin Crawford	PHI
29	2	338	C	Kyle Teel	BOS
30	11	359	C	Salvador Perez	KC

Nick Roos, Razzball

My core of Corbin Carroll, Ozzie Albies, Rafael Devers and Tarik Skubal should be useful for however long this league might last. I’d like to think all my key players are either entering their prime or smack in the middle of it, which is how I like to navigate startups in a general sense. You only get one shot, kind of thing. Josh Bell and Kris Bryant are exceptions, but even they have upside in an OBP league at their cost of free forty free. 

I don’t love having an unsigned Snell, but I like to build sustainable pitching in shallower leagues, and even when Snell’s bad he can be OK for our purposes. The law firm of Snell, Cease, and Steele doesn’t roll off the tongue, but the prices were right. Drew Carey was yodeling over my shoulder the whole time and wound up paying for my lunch. 

I probably reached for Ryan Pepiot and Paul Skenes, but I wanted to have the full confidence of organizational confidence represented. Let’s see what the Rays can do with Pepiot, and alternatively, what the Pirates can’t do with Skenes, who I’d be looking to trade if we were going live with this league. 

Some of my favorite values here (aside from the lunch) were Alex Kirilloff, Alek Manoah, and J.P. Crawford, who was a 3/4/5 guy over the season’s second half and should approach 100 runs with a useful OBP even if he regresses from the .380 he posted in 2023. He’s always had extreme physical gifts though, especially in his hands, so I’m guessing he keeps most of the gains he’s made over a long career filled with opportunities to fail and improve.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	3	3	OF	Corbin Carroll	ARI
2	10	22	2B	Ozzie Albies	ATL
3	3	27	3B	Rafael Devers	BOS
4	10	46	P	Tarik Skubal	DET
5	3	51	SS	CJ Abrams	WSH
6	10	70	OF	Jazz Chisholm Jr.	MIA
7	3	75	P	Blake Snell	(N/A)
8	10	94	P	Paul Skenes	PIT
9	3	99	P	Josh Hader	HOU
10	10	118	P	Justin Steele	CHC
11	3	123	P	Dylan Cease	CHW
12	10	142	1B	Nathaniel Lowe	TEX
13	3	147	P	Ryan Pepiot	TB
14	10	166	P	Evan Phillips	LAD
15	3	171	OF	James Outman	LAD
16	10	190	P	Adbert Alzolay	CHC
17	3	195	C	Sean Murphy	ATL
18	10	214	SS	J.P. Crawford	SEA
19	3	219	P	John Means	BAL
20	10	238	1B	Lazaro Montes	SEA
21	3	243	P	Alek Manoah	TOR
22	10	262	UT	Byron Buxton	MIN
23	3	267	OF	Alex Kirilloff	MIN
24	10	286	UT	Henry Davis	PIT
25	3	291	SS	Sebastian Walcott	TEX
26	10	310	1B	Josh Bell	MIA
27	3	315	P	Max Meyer	MIA
28	10	334	P	Rhett Lowder	CIN
29	3	339	P	Jordan Hicks	SF
30	10	358	OF	Kris Bryant	COL

Chris Blessing, Baseball HQ

I am pleased with my draft, top to bottom. Bobby Witt Jr. was a no-brainer at No. 4 overall given his immense stat-stuffing abilities. I grabbed Wyatt Langford, my first prospect, with my third-round pick. Langford was the best player on my board at that point, edging out fellow prospects Jackson Chourio and Junior Caminero.

Prior to the fifth round, I wasn’t sure if I was playing for this year or playing for the future. I decided to go for it, picking Jose Altuve in the fifth round and grabbing Paul Goldschmidt in the eighth. For me, landing four pitchers in the top 10 is out of character. I usually grab a front-line starter in the fourth round, like I did with Zac Gallen, and a closer a little later, and then pile up on pitchers in the mid-teens. However, looking at the other competitors, grabbing two more starters in the Top 10 rounds was the right play. 

After picking Langford in the third round, I didn’t pick a prospect again until round 19, where I was between James Wood and Andrew Painter. I chose Wood and was able to grab Painter a round later. I took top Jan. 15 international signing Leodalis De Vries in the 26th round and I took two prospects who have already debuted, Ceddane Rafaela and Orion Kerkering, hoping each might help this season and into the future.

I have a balanced roster and believe I could compete for a championship in year one of this league if we were to play on. I wish I had gotten some more over-the-fence power on offense and I wish my rotation didn’t have as many question marks, especially on the back end.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	4	4	UT	Bobby Witt Jr.	KC
2	9	21	OF	Michael Harris II	ATL
3	4	28	OF	Wyatt Langford	TEX
4	9	45	P	Zac Gallen	ARI
5	4	52	2B	Jose Altuve	HOU
6	9	69	OF	Riley Greene	DET
7	4	76	P	Logan Gilbert	SEA
8	9	93	1B	Paul Goldschmidt	STL
9	4	100	P	Emmanuel Clase	CLE
10	9	117	P	Cole Ragans	KC
11	4	124	OF	Seiya Suzuki	CHC
12	9	141	P	Bryce Miller	SEA
13	4	148	OF	George Springer	TOR
14	9	165	C	Yainer Diaz	HOU
15	4	172	P	Jordan Romano	TOR
16	9	189	3B	Jake Burger	MIA
17	4	196	3B	Alec Bohm	PHI
18	9	213	2B	Luis Arraez	MIA
19	4	220	OF	James Wood	WSH
20	9	237	P	Andrew Painter	PHI
21	4	244	1B	Andrew Vaughn	CHW
22	9	261	P	Nick Pivetta	BOS
23	4	268	P	Lucas Giolito	BOS
24	9	285	P	Kenta Maeda	DET
25	4	292	UT	J.D. Martinez	(N/A)
26	9	309	SS	Leodalis De Vries	SD
27	4	316	2B	Jonathan India	CIN
28	9	333	UT	Ceddanne Rafaela	BOS
29	4	340	P	Charlie Morton	ATL
30	9	357	P	Orion Kerkering	PHI

Shelly Verougstraete, Rotoworld

My overall strategy was to put together a team that would be competitive for the upcoming season but also not bog down my roster with a bunch of older players. With the fifth overall pick, I selected Juan Soto. If any of the previous four players (Acuña Jr., Rodriguez, Carroll, Witt Jr.) had fallen to me there, I easily would have selected them over Soto. I followed those picks up with two Phillies, Bryce Harper, and Trea Turner, which should give me a considerable batting average floor and some much-needed steals from Turner.

 Sadly, my team has already been bitten by the injury bug, as I took Kyle Bradish in the fifth round. He has already begun to throw, but it is not where I would have gone if we had the news earlier. Outside of Bradish, I have Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Aaron Civale and MacKenzie Gore as my core starters. It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers use Miller and Sheehan going forward, as the team seems poised to move into a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future. However, I believe in their talent and that the organization will get the most out of them during their careers. 

From a minor league perspective, I love the five I selected: Jett Williams, Adael Amador, Samuel Basallo, Hurston Waldrep and Robby Snelling. Most have a realistic shot of helping my squad in the next two years, with Basallo being the furthest away.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	5	5	OF	Juan Soto	NYY
2	8	20	1B	Bryce Harper	PHI
3	5	29	SS	Trea Turner	PHI
4	8	44	P	Bobby Miller	LAD
5	5	53	P	Kyle Bradish	BAL
6	8	68	OF	Nolan Jones	COL
7	5	77	2B	Marcus Semien	TEX
8	8	92	OF	Bryan Reynolds	PIT
9	5	101	P	Devin Williams	MIL
10	8	116	SS	Jett Williams	NYM
11	5	125	P	Emmet Sheehan	LAD
12	8	140	P	David Bednar	PIT
13	5	149	C	Bo Naylor	CLE
14	8	164	3B	Ke’Bryan Hayes	PIT
15	5	173	SS	Adael Amador	COL
16	8	188	C	Samuel Basallo	BAL
17	5	197	OF	Parker Meadows	DET
18	8	212	P	Aaron Civale	TB
19	5	221	P	MacKenzie Gore	WSH
20	8	236	OF	Sal Frelick	MIL
21	5	245	1B	Jeimer Candelario	CIN
22	8	260	P	Hurston Waldrep	ATL
23	5	269	SS	Vaughn Grissom	BOS
24	8	284	P	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI
25	5	293	P	Robby Snelling	SD
26	8	308	UT	MJ Melendez	KC
27	5	317	P	Kutter Crawford	BOS
28	8	332	SS	Liover Peguero	PIT
29	5	341	OF	Max Kepler	MIN
30	8	356	P	Aaron Ashby	MIL

Matt Eddy, Baseball America

Picking sixth overall granted me access to the strong middle class of the first round. I favored Fernando Tatis Jr. for his overall explosiveness and youth. He’s younger than Kyle Tucker or Yordan Alvarez and could be poised for a huge 2024—his first 30-30 season?—after building back from a lost 2022 and a recovery year in 2023. 

My draft strategy overall was to focus on players with room to grow and find another level. That group includes Zack Gelof (eighth round), Christian Encarnacion-Strand (10th), Hunter Brown (11th), Gabriel Moreno (12th), Zach Neto (16th), Kerry Carpenter (17th) and Reid Detmers (18th). 

When drafting veterans, I steered toward those no older than 31 and preferably on large contracts, such as Matt Olson (second round), Luis Castillo (fourth), Manny Machado (sixth), Xander Bogaerts (seventh), Brandon Nimmo (14th) and Carlos Correa (25th).

For my core rotation arms, I placed an emphasis on strikeout pitchers and set a floor at roughly 180 projected punchouts. I liked the values on Camilo Doval, Paul Sewald and Robert Stephenson, and drafting three closers allows for greater flexibility in making speculative in-season adds.

For my five prospect picks, I emphasized elite upside or proximity. I got both with Jackson Chourio (third round) and did well value-wise with Jackson Merrill (20th), Colt Emerson (22nd) and Ethan Salas (24th). 

Players’ projected statistics place my team right in the middle of the 2024 standings. But there is another race where my team fares well. It has the third-youngest average age of core players, trailing only Chris Clegg and Shelly Verougstraete.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	6	6	OF	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SD
2	7	19	1B	Matt Olson	ATL
3	6	30	OF	Jackson Chourio	MIL
4	7	43	P	Luis Castillo	SEA
5	6	54	P	Freddy Peralta	MIL
6	7	67	3B	Manny Machado	SD
7	6	78	SS	Xander Bogaerts	SD
8	7	91	MI	Zack Gelof	OAK
9	6	102	P	Camilo Doval	SF
10	7	115	1B	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	CIN
11	6	126	P	Hunter Brown	HOU
12	7	139	C	Gabriel Moreno	ARI
13	6	150	OF	Cedric Mullins	BAL
14	7	163	OF	Brandon Nimmo	NYM
15	6	174	P	Mitch Keller	PIT
16	7	187	SS	Zach Neto	LAA
17	6	198	OF	Kerry Carpenter	DET
18	7	211	P	Reid Detmers	LAA
19	6	222	P	Paul Sewald	ARI
20	7	235	SS	Jackson Merrill	SD
21	6	246	P	Braxton Garrett	MIA
22	7	259	SS	Colt Emerson	SEA
23	6	270	P	Robert Stephenson	LAA
24	7	283	C	Ethan Salas	SD
25	6	294	SS	Carlos Correa	MIN
26	7	307	OF	Brandon Marsh	PHI
27	6	318	P	Ranger Suarez	PHI
28	7	331	P	Chase Silseth	LAA
29	6	342	P	Erick Fedde	CHW
30	7	355	OF	Drew Gilbert	NYM

Dylan White, Baseball America

I adhered closely to our Dynasty 700 rankings for the first few rounds. When Geoff sniped Bo Bichette from me in the fourth round, it forced me to pivot to a starting pitcher (Pablo Lopez, who I like quite a bit for dynasty) and again in the sixth round when Geoff took Mike Trout (an OBP monster and another target of mine), I took another arm in Max Fried.

Adley Rutschman in a 12-team, one-catcher league is not as valuable as indicated on our list—a perfect reminder that league format and settings are extremely important—but I wanted the ability to not have to worry about the catcher position for the next five years and took him in the fifth round.

Speaking of making adjustments to your ranking list based on your league format, I decided in the eighth round to take the first closer of the draft with Edwin Diaz. Even though relievers are not generally ranked highly in dynasty lists (mainly due to job precarity), I made the explicit decision to try to win in 2024 and started drafting players with an eye for immediate production. It also kicked off a “closer run,” as five more relievers were taken before my next pick.

For my pitching staff, there’s quite a bit of injury risk, but I’m gambling on Nestor Cortes and Chris Sale returning much nearer-to-form than the market believes. With Chase Hampton and Ricky Tiedemann, I also picked two of my favorite upper level pitching prospects.

All in all, the projection systems like what I did, estimating that my startling lineup will finish in the top 2. As I would do in a non-mock draft, I also made sure I had bench depth to fill in for each position (except catcher) in case of injury—or to maximize the ability to focus on specific roto categories. Not bad for a tough room!

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	7	7	OF	Kyle Tucker	HOU
2	6	18	1B	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	TOR
3	7	31	3B	Junior Caminero	TB
4	6	42	P	Pablo Lopez	MIN
5	7	55	C	Adley Rutschman	BAL
6	6	66	P	Max Fried	ATL
7	7	79	OF	Josh Lowe	TB
8	6	90	P	Edwin Diaz	NYM
9	7	103	3B	Nolan Arenado	STL
10	6	114	2B	Ketel Marte	ARI
11	7	127	SS	Ha-seong Kim	SD
12	6	138	OF	Lars Nootbaar	STL
13	7	151	P	Bryan Woo	SEA
14	6	162	P	Pete Fairbanks	TB
15	7	175	UT	Jorge Soler	SF
16	6	186	P	Chris Sale	ATL
17	7	199	OF	Tyler O’Neill	BOS
18	6	210	P	Ricky Tiedemann	TOR
19	7	223	SS	Tommy Edman	STL
20	6	234	P	Chris Bassitt	TOR
21	7	247	P	Nestor Cortes Jr.	NYY
22	6	258	2B	Tyler Black	MIL
23	7	271	P	Griffin Canning	LAA
24	6	282	OF	Max Clark	DET
25	7	295	MI	Jorge Polanco	SEA
26	6	306	3B	Matt Chapman	(N/A)
27	7	319	1B	Ryan Mountcastle	BAL
28	6	330	SS	Masyn Winn	STL
29	7	343	P	Chase Hampton	NYY
30	6	354	OF	Luis Matos	SF

Geoff Pontes, Baseball America

Picking from the eighth slot, I missed out of what I feel is the clear top group in the player pool. While Shohei Ohtani won’t pitch in 2024, he provides a first-round quality bat with the hope he returns to his two-way form in 2025 and beyond. 

After Gunnar Henderson and Elly De La Cruz went before my second pick I made a clear decision to build a win-now roster. Ohtani, Corey Seager, Freddie Freeman and Bo Bichette gave me a solid offensive base. 

In the fifth round I selected my first pitcher in Zack Wheeler. The Phillies righthander has proved to be one of the most productive fantasy starters over the last few seasons. He’s older but when paired with a group of younger starters in Jesus Luzardo, Hunter Greene, Kyle Harrison and Brayan Bello he provides some certainty at the top. 

In a 12-team league with saves as a category, closers get pushed up and I managed to nab two closers (Alexis Diaz, 11th round and Raisel Iglesias, 15th) inside my first 15 picks with solid situations heading into 2024. In the final two I picked Justin Lawrence and Jose Leclerc as closer fliers that could easily be discarded for saves on the waiver wire if things don’t work out. 

As far as prospect strategy, with a minimum of five prospects required I tried to focus on close to the majors players with the ability to contribute and didn’t put a premium on prospects. I waited until round 14 for my first prospect in Kyle Harrison, a player who’s already debuted and looks likely to be entrenched in the Giants rotation. My next two prospects followed the theme of 2024 contributors with D.L. Hall and Michael Busch. In rounds 25 and 26  I took my first real prospects as I nabbed a pair of highly regarded shortstops that tumbled down the board in Brooks Lee and Marcelo Mayer. 

My roster ranked third overall based on preseason projections with the second-best projected hitting. In a 12-team league where pitching will be more abundant on the waiver wire I feel I have a roster built to compete for the next 3-5 years.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	8	8	UT	Shohei Ohtani	LAD
2	5	17	SS	Corey Seager	TEX
3	8	32	1B	Freddie Freeman	LAD
4	5	41	SS	Bo Bichette	TOR
5	8	56	P	Zack Wheeler	PHI
6	5	65	OF	Mike Trout	LAA
7	8	80	P	Jesus Luzardo	MIA
8	5	89	2B	Nico Hoerner	CHC
9	8	104	OF	Christian Yelich	MIL
10	5	113	P	Hunter Greene	CIN
11	8	128	P	Alexis Diaz	CIN
12	5	137	3B	Max Muncy	LAD
13	8	152	OF	Ian Happ	CHC
14	5	161	P	Kyle Harrison	SF
15	8	176	P	Raisel Iglesias	ATL
16	5	185	P	Brayan Bello	BOS
17	8	200	OF	TJ Friedl	CIN
18	5	209	C	J.T. Realmuto	PHI
19	8	224	OF	Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	ARI
20	5	233	MI	Jordan Westburg	BAL
21	8	248	P	Eduardo Rodriguez	ARI
22	5	257	P	DL Hall	MIL
23	8	272	UT	Michael Busch	CHC
24	5	281	P	Edward Cabrera	MIA
25	8	296	SS	Brooks Lee	MIN
26	5	305	SS	Marcelo Mayer	BOS
27	8	320	P	Max Scherzer	TEX
28	5	329	P	Seth Lugo	KC
29	8	344	P	Jose Leclerc	TEX
30	5	353	P	Justin Lawrence	COL

Jesse Roche, Baseball Prospectus

Dynasty leagues come in all shapes and sizes, yet the goal is always the same: build a dynasty. There are many paths to developing a consistent, competitive team, during and following a startup draft. The draft itself, while important, is far from conclusive. Post-startup team-building via trade, waivers or draft is always necessary, regardless how well the initial draft goes. That said, a strong startup draft is an ideal jumping off point.

Startup draft strategies range from a pure youth route–drafting exclusively prospects or young big leaguers–to a pure win-now, tomorrow-be-damned route–drafting the best possible redraft team and worrying about the future later. My preferred strategy falls somewhere in between. Typically, I target young, established production–ideally, 27 years old or younger–early and backfill with aging veterans. The perceived dynasty value of younger MLB players is more likely to increase or remain stable. Even with poor production, such players retain solid value. (For example, players like Jarred Kelenic maintain a market despite three lackluster seasons.) 

Notice how I qualified the youth I target with “established production”? I do not target prospects in dynasty startup drafts unless the acquisition cost is simply too good to pass up. Prospects can be readily identified and acquired in-season via waivers or, in some cases, trades. The failure or attrition rate for non-elite prospects is high. Why bear that risk in a startup draft?

For this draft, I balanced early high-upside youth with MLB production (Yordan Alvarez, Elly De La Cruz, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Jordan Walker) with stable 27- to 30-year-old veterans (Pete Alonso, Logan Webb, Cody Bellinger, and Framber Valdez). (Granted, Bellinger is hardly stable.) Later, I backfilled with older, quality options (Sonny Gray, Justin Verlander, Marcell Ozuna, and Starling Marte) that can provide short-term stability for a roster with a lot of youth. Of the players on my active roster, 14 of 22 are age-27 or younger. I waited to select non-Yamamoto prospects and still filled out a quality group (Colson Montgomery, Jacob Misiorowski, Owen Caissie, Victor Scott, and Carson Williams) despite not selecting a prospect until pick 249. My roster is designed to compete in year one and beyond, with plenty of players that could breakout or further increase their value as soon as this year.

1	9	9	OF	Yordan Alvarez	HOU
2	4	16	SS	Elly De La Cruz	CIN
3	9	33	1B	Pete Alonso	NYM
4	4	40	P	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	LAD
5	9	57	OF	Jordan Walker	STL
6	4	64	P	Logan Webb	SF
7	9	81	1B	Cody Bellinger	(N/A)
8	4	88	P	Framber Valdez	HOU
9	9	105	P	Tanner Bibee	CLE
10	4	112	1B	Vinnie Pasquantino	KC
11	9	129	2B	Nolan Gorman	STL
12	4	136	3B	Isaac Paredes	TB
13	9	153	P	Michael King	SD
14	4	160	2B	Edouard Julien	MIN
15	9	177	P	Ryan Helsley	STL
16	4	184	SS	Willy Adames	MIL
17	9	201	P	Sonny Gray	STL
18	4	208	OF	Jack Suwinski	PIT
19	9	225	P	Taj Bradley	TB
20	4	232	C	Cal Raleigh	SEA
21	9	249	SS	Colson Montgomery	CHW
22	4	256	P	Justin Verlander	HOU
23	9	273	P	Jacob Misiorowski	MIL
24	4	280	UT	Marcell Ozuna	ATL
25	9	297	OF	Owen Caissie	CHC
26	4	304	OF	Starling Marte	NYM
27	9	321	P	Robert Suarez	SD
28	4	328	OF	Victor Scott II	STL
29	9	345	SS	Carson Williams	TB
30	4	352	2B	Luis Rengifo	LAA

James Anderson, RotoWire

My approach was to take the best dynasty player available with my first 10-12 picks, and then to address specific team needs from there. Everyone in a 12-team league should be playing to win right away, knowing that you can pivot to playing for Year 2 if things go wrong early in Year 1. With that in mind, I took a lot of my favorite starting pitcher targets for 2024 (Brandon Pfaadt, Bailey Ober, Dean Kremer, Chris Paddack, Luis Severino, Trevor Rogers) and got a couple closers. 

I didn’t take any prospects outside of my top 18, as I think the size of this league really devalues the non-elite prospects, and using those later picks on productive big leaguers makes more sense. My infield is the strength of my hitting, and the strength of my farm is my outfielders (Walker Jenkins, Roman Anthony, Chase DeLauter), so I thought that worked out well, as I won’t have a huge logjam of infielders and should be able to successfully phase out guys like Anthony Santader and Chas McCormick once they’re post-prime.

It’s a minor consideration, but I loved pairing Mookie Betts (outfield and second base) and Gunnar Henderson (shortstop and third base) for their dual-position eligibility, as that gave me more flexibility in the draft and should be very useful during the season. I knew I’d be one of the last, if not the last team to take a starting catcher, since it’s a 12-team, 1-catcher league. I almost got Willson Contreras, who’s a borderline top-five catcher just for 2024, but settled on Logan O’Hoppe, who should play a ton and hit 20-plus homers. I loved the value of Matt Wallner in the 27th round, as he’s one of my top breakout candidates this year.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	10	10	OF	Mookie Betts	LAD
2	3	15	3B	Gunnar Henderson	BAL
3	10	34	P	Eury Perez	MIA
4	3	39	1B	Triston Casas	BOS
5	10	58	3B	Josh Jung	TEX
6	3	63	2B	Gleyber Torres	NYY
7	10	82	P	Joe Ryan	MIN
8	3	87	SS	Jordan Lawlar	ARI
9	10	106	1B	Josh Naylor	CLE
10	3	111	P	Zach Eflin	TB
11	10	130	OF	Walker Jenkins	MIN
12	3	135	OF	Roman Anthony	BOS
13	10	154	P	Brandon Pfaadt	ARI
14	3	159	P	Bailey Ober	MIN
15	10	178	OF	Anthony Santander	BAL
16	3	183	OF	Chas McCormick	HOU
17	10	202	1B	Xavier Isaac	TB
18	3	207	P	Jose Berrios	TOR
19	10	226	P	Craig Kimbrel	BAL
20	3	231	P	Clay Holmes	NYY
21	10	250	OF	Chase DeLauter	CLE
22	3	255	OF	Leody Taveras	TEX
23	10	274	P	Dean Kremer	BAL
24	3	279	P	Chris Paddack	MIN
25	10	298	P	Luis Severino	NYM
26	3	303	P	Trevor Rogers	MIA
27	10	322	OF	Matt Wallner	MIN
28	3	327	C	Logan O’Hoppe	LAA
29	10	346	2B	Brandon Drury	LAA
30	3	351	3B	Ryan McMahon	COL

Eric Cross, FTN Fantasy

The goal for me in any dynasty startup draft is to assemble a high-upside and fairly young hitting core along with grabbing an ace before attacking my pitching staff. That’s exactly what I did in this draft. In the first three rounds out of the 11-spot, I grabbed Aaron Judge, Luis Robert and Royce Lewis, the latter two of which are under 27 years old. These three gave me a solid core that can contribute across the board offensively that I could build around moving forward. 

Overall, six of my first seven picks were hitters as I grabbed Randy Arozarena, Oneil Cruz and Noelvi Marte in rounds five through seven. My one ace in the middle of all those hitters was second-year Baltimore arm, Grayson Rodriguez, who I currently value as a top-10 pitcher for dynasty purposes.

After that, I really began focusing on building my pitching staff, grabbing Kodai Senga, Jackson Jobe, and Shane Baz in rounds eight, 10, and 11 respectively. Given recent injury news, the Senga pick stings, but I executed my strategy in this draft. My SP2 for dynasty startup teams usually comes in the pick 80-100 range and I was able to grab a high-upside SP2 (before the injury) at pick 86. 

As for prospects, I try to sprinkle them in throughout the draft with most of them being prospects close to ready. In this draft, I grabbed Marte in round seven, Jobe in round 10, Baz in round 11, Cade Horton in round 14, Mason Miller in round 20 along with AJ Smith-Shawver and Noble Meyer in the last several rounds. It’s important to layer your prospects in my opinion, that way you have some close to ready and the next wave of younger upside plays.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	11	11	OF	Aaron Judge	NYY
2	2	14	OF	Luis Robert Jr.	CHW
3	11	35	UT	Royce Lewis	MIN
4	2	38	P	Grayson Rodriguez	BAL
5	11	59	OF	Randy Arozarena	TB
6	2	62	SS	Oneil Cruz	PIT
7	11	83	3B	Noelvi Marte	CIN
8	2	86	P	Kodai Senga	NYM
9	11	107	C	Will Smith	LAD
10	2	110	P	Jackson Jobe	DET
11	11	131	P	Shane Baz	TB
12	2	134	1B	Christian Walker	ARI
13	11	155	SS	Dansby Swanson	CHC
14	2	158	P	Cade Horton	CHC
15	11	179	P	Nick Lodolo	CIN
16	2	182	OF	Jarren Duran	BOS
17	11	203	2B	Thairo Estrada	SF
18	2	206	OF	Lane Thomas	WSH
19	11	227	SS	Ezequiel Tovar	COL
20	2	230	P	Mason Miller	OAK
21	11	251	UT	Christopher Morel	CHC
22	2	254	P	Nathan Eovaldi	TEX
23	11	275	P	AJ Smith-Shawver	ATL
24	2	278	UT	Maikel Garcia	KC
25	11	299	SS	Jeremy Pena	HOU
26	2	302	P	Noble Meyer	MIA
27	11	323	P	Jeffrey Springs	TB
28	2	326	P	Dustin May	LAD
29	11	347	OF	Austin Hays	BAL
30	2	350	2B	Brendan Donovan	STL

Chris Clegg, Dynasty Dugout

Picking in the back end of the first round always creates an interesting draft process, especially in a dynasty league. You have to get your guys because they likely won’t make it back, especially with 22 picks in between in the 12-team format.

I started my draft grabbing Spencer Strider with the 12th pick and followed him up with Austin Riley (Atlanta Braves homer, I know…). I usually don’t grab starting pitching that high, but knowing the top guys would all be gone by my third-round pick led me to go ahead and get Strider. Riley made sense as one of the more consistent hitters in baseball who has been a four-category stud over the last three years.

Francisco Lindor and George Kirby were my third and fourth-round picks. Lindor feels very undervalued still after coming off a 30 home run/30 stolen base season and while he likely won’t do that again, he still provides plenty of power and speed. Kirby is a very high floor arm and a great compliment to Strider as staples in the rotation.

The next six rounds went: Matt McLain, Adolis Garcia, Jasson Dominguez, Gavin Williams, Dylan Crews, and William Contreras. My favorite picks of that grouping were probably Dominguez, Crews, and Contreras. 

Moving down the draft board, I scooped up starting pictures who seemingly fell in value in Joe Musgrove(12th round), Sandy Alcantara(Out for 2024/15th round), Cristian Javier(16th), Jordan Montgomery(18th), and Triston McKenzie(21st). Given the stability of the rotation at the top, these arms complimented the rotation well.

In general, I wanted to build a youngish team that could compete in 2024 and beyond and it feels like I accomplished that if the draft were played out.

Round	Pick	Ov Pick	Pos	Player	Team
1	12	12	P	Spencer Strider	ATL
2	1	13	3B	Austin Riley	ATL
3	12	36	SS	Francisco Lindor	NYM
4	1	37	P	George Kirby	SEA
5	12	60	SS	Matt McLain	CIN
6	1	61	OF	Adolis Garcia	TEX
7	12	84	OF	Jasson Dominguez	NYY
8	1	85	P	Gavin Williams	CLE
9	12	108	OF	Dylan Crews	WSH
10	1	109	C	William Contreras	MIL
11	12	132	1B	Spencer Steer	CIN
12	1	133	P	Joe Musgrove	SD
13	12	156	1B	Kyle Manzardo	CLE
14	1	157	2B	Matt Shaw	CHC
15	12	180	P	Sandy Alcantara	MIA
16	1	181	P	Cristian Javier	HOU
17	12	204	OF	Nick Castellanos	PHI
18	1	205	P	Jordan Montgomery	(N/A)
19	12	228	OF	Masataka Yoshida	BOS
20	1	229	OF	Jarred Kelenic	ATL
21	12	252	P	Triston McKenzie	CLE
22	1	253	OF	Pete Crow-Armstrong	CHC
23	12	276	P	Reese Olson	DET
24	1	277	3B	Brett Baty	NYM
25	12	300	UT	Heston Kjerstad	BAL
26	1	301	2B	Termarr Johnson	PIT
27	12	324	2B	Gavin Lux	LAD
28	1	325	P	Matt Brash	SEA
29	12	348	OF	Colton Cowser	BAL
30	1	349	OF	Spencer Jones	NYY