2024 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft: Dynasty startup for Rotisserie (5x5) scoring with full results, recap

If you've ever thought about starting up a Dynasty league, this mock draft offers a good representation of what you're in for, particularly if 5x5 Rotisserie is your scoring format of choice.

But that's more true for the broader trends than the particulars. After all, Dynasty isn't the backbone of Fantasy Baseball coverage the way redraft is. To the extent that rankings exist, they're not referenced, debated and picked over ad nauseam, such that the draft becomes something akin to a coordinated dance. People build their teams more on instinct, which is really the way it should be. A Dynasty draft isn't just something you have to live with for a year, after all. It's the seed from which all future teams will germinate.

Naturally, youth is in higher demand, but how much? Obviously, prospects enter into the discussion, but how often? I'll direct your attention to some of the more revealing details, but let's make our introductions first. Here's who all took part in this draft:

1) Ethan Haller, lucky reader who got to join in
2) Martin Sekulski, Pitcher List (@M_Ski22)
3) Simon Hiatt, lucky reader who got to join in
4) Darren "Doc" Eisenhauer, Scout the Statline (@DocHollidayDyna)
5) JR Fenton, TGFBI participant (@JohnRussell215)
6) Michael Polidoro, The Can-Am Super Show (@CanAmSuperShow)
7) Jake Wiener, Prospects1500 (@GatorSosa)
8) Garrett Atkins, Fake Teams (@13atkins13)
9) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
10) Raymond Atherton, Fantasy Aceball Podcast (@RaymondAtherton)
11) R.J. White, CBS Sports (@rjwhite1)
12) Mike Gianella, Baseball Prospectus (@MikeGianella)

You'll notice the draft starts out much like a redraft league except that Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, two Dodgers already in their 30s, have slipped quite a bit. It's a testament to Freeman's consistency that, a 34, he could still go as high as 22nd overall. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Luis Robert, who's normally more like a third-round pick, has climbed into Round 1. That's  a little harder to justify given that he's leapfrogged other players of a similar age to get there, but I think it speaks to the long-term concerns about the entire outfield position in a five-outfielder league.

I made my own age-related judgment in Round 2, selecting Austin Riley ahead of Jose Ramirez and Bryce Harper, who are both four years his senior, but Round 3 is when this draft really turned on its head. That's when prospects Wyatt Langford, Jackson Holliday and Jackson Chourio all went off the board, and I obviously thought it was justified because I followed with Junior Caminero early in Round 4. If you're following along, that pick gave me two long-term third basemen with my first four picks, and let me tell you, it hurt to watch Manny Machado slide to Pick 70.

I made near-term, high-end prospects a point of emphasis for my team, but nobody leaned more on prospects than Martin Sekulski of Pitcher List, who devoted 12 of his 30 spots to them. He's obviously out of contention for this year and doubled down on his future by drafting two pitchers on the mend from Tommy John surgery, Felix Bautista (Pick 218) and Robbie Ray (335). Players who are out of the running for 2024 sometimes get overlooked in longer-term drafts. Other examples include Shane McClanahan (133), Sandy Alcantara (154), Brandon Woodruff (163), Jacob deGrom (204), Jeffrey Springs (310), Luis Garcia (311) and Dustin May (358).

Jose Altuve wouldn't seem to fit with Martin's team, but at that relatively early point in the draft, his strategy may not have fully taken shape yet. I say relatively early because the 33-year-old still 36 spots below his ADP, 74th overall. Other players who slid because of their age include Adolis Garcia (80), Kyle Schwarber 94), Christian Yelich (103), Blake Snell (105), Aaron Nola (112), Paul Goldschmidt (124), Nolan Arenado (130), Christian Walker (152), Chris Sale (271), Merrill Kelly (304) and Yu Darvish (317). Closers as a whole slipped far below their redraft values, I think just because of the volatility of the role, which is how I wound up with Camilo Doval and Alexis Diaz in Rounds 15 and 16, respectively.

Conversely, some players who climbed because of their youth include Royce Lewis (37), Oneil Cruz (45), Bobby Miller 50, Triston Casas (57), Eury Perez (60), Grayson Rodriguez (61), Jordan Walker (69), Spencer Torkelson (91), Christian Encarnacion-Strand (96), Shane Baz (127), Gavin williams (129) and countless others, many of them of course being prospects.

That's only a taste of some of the strategic idiosyncrasies of this draft, but I'll leave you to discover the rest on your own.