More on My 2003 Minor League Draft

1. Jose Reyes
2. Jesse Foppert
3. John Patterson
4. Andy Marte
5. Jason Stokes
6. Gavin Floyd
7. Miguel Cabrera
8. Khalil Greene
9. Justin Huber
10. Todd Linden
11. Garrett Atkins
12. James Loney
13. Brendan Harris
14. Scott Kazmir
15. Luke Allen
16. Cory Hart
17. Bobby Basham
18. Chad Tracy
19. David Wright
20. Prince Fielder
21. Jeff Francoeur
22. Angel Guzman
23. Jeff Baker
24. Felix Pie

Obviously, I play in a very deep league. Many of the hitters had only completed their rookie-ball year or low A.

Also obvious, why do teams bother taking pitchers in minor league drafts? I know Patterson was good last season but that was after he had been released into the free agent pool, and he was not drafted last season.

Third, other than Reyes and Cabrera, the players currently contributing were taken in #11 or later. This means one should be careful in making trades to move up in the draft and should focus more on dealing higher picks for multiple lower ones.

Somewhat less obvious, the more picks you have, the more likely you are to land a legitimate fantasy player. I had six and got Cabrera, Kazmir, and Francoeur. Another team had picked Greene (yes), Basham (no), Harris (no) and Wright (A big YES!)

And not at all obvious is I wanted David Wright with one of my three picks at the end of the draft. The lesson being you should play a hunch in your draft and take players earlier than hoping to sneak ones near the end. There are 11 other teams who think and analyze too.