Fantasy Baseball: First 12-team Head-to-Head points mock draft for 2017

One pick into our very first mock draft for 2017, I was already floored.

Clayton Kershaw, folks. Clayton Kershaw.

I guess I shouldn't have been. About the time he suffered a herniated disc in late June, I had begun to think of him as the most valuable player in Fantasy Baseball and was prepared to argue for him in that top spot myself. And certainly, his return for the stretch run and the playoffs alleviated my concerns somewhat. But that's also the sort of injury that doesn't just go away, and with the top pick, better safe than sorry.

Of course, this wasn't your ordinary CBS Sports draft either. Within our own four walls, we have an understanding that starting pitchers shouldn't go that early (for reasons of durability and talent distribution) even though they tend to be high scorers in this format (sort of like quarterbacks in Fantasy Football), but not everyone holds to that standard. And when we invite owners from outside these four walls to participate -- Mike Kuchera, owner of that first pick, being one -- you get a draft that isn't so self-aware.

And thus, more realistic.

In fact, Mike shook things up so much that a starting pitcher also went two picks later, which naturally made me want to rip up two weeks' worth of rankings and start all over again.

Deep breaths.

But you know, it's a good thing. A wider variety of approaches makes for a more interesting game, and I believe this particular approach has more merit than ever in a year when every infield position is loaded because of the record number of players who hit 20-plus home runs. I wouldn't be willing to take it to quite that extreme, but if talent distribution used to be a reason to avoid starting pitching early, well, what do we have now? The talent fades quicker there than at second or third base. Shoot, I used three of my first five picks on starting pitchers.

Of course, that's in a league that uses standard Head-to-Head rosters, meaning only three outfielders and no corner or middle infield spots, and a scoring system (points rather than categories) that inflates the value of starting pitchers to some degree. We'll try it out in Rotisserie later.

A few quick observations, and then we'll get to the picks:

• Apart from the start of the draft, the distribution of starting pitchers was close to what I expected: a run of aces in Rounds 3 and 4 and then the onset of panic in Rounds 6 and 7. Shoot, Matt Harvey, who may not even throw a pitch in 2017 (or may end up starting the All-Star game -- wide range of outcomes there), went in Round 8, to groans all around.
• Danny Duffy was the first relief pitcher-eligible player to go off the board in Round 7, offering more upside in this format than an elite closer. But of course, it comes with more risk as well, which is why I rank Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman and Zach Britton ahead of him. They all went just a round later.
• By the end of Round 11, a whopping 18 third base-eligible players had gone off the board. Granted, many were drafted to play other positions, but a couple were just to fill a utility spot. I honestly had no idea how it'd play out when I was ranking Maikel Franco 18th at the position (or even lower to start out) and wondering what had become of my life, but clearly, even in a league without a corner infield spot, there's a way to make all the pieces fit. Guess you can't wait the entire draft to commit to one, then, huh?
• For all the depth in the infield, outfield is pretty thin, and even in a three-outfielder league, I found myself wishing I had already snatched up a second one as early as Round 7. Eventually, the supply exceeded the demand with so few spots to fill, and so you see relative values late such as Jay Bruce in Round 18, Carlos Beltran in Round 19 and Adam Duvall (who I don't even like but felt obligated to take) in Round 21. But none of those players are winning the league for you. I would have liked to see Padres rookie slugger Hunter Renfroe go off the board, but we simply ran out of draft.
• A couple of the more notable value picks aside from those outfielders were Chris Davis in Round 8 (in a league with Heath Cummings, no less) and Dustin Pedroia in Round 14.

Here are the participants:

1. Mike Kuchera, The Fantasy Man
2. Brian Huss, CBS Sports
3. R.J. White, CBS Sports
4. Scott White, Senior Fantasy Writer, CBS Sports
5. Bernie Pleskoff, Today's Knuckleball
6. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer, CBS Sports
7. Chris Towers, Fantasy Writer, CBS Sports
8. Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Co.
9. George Maselli, CBS Sports
10. Jeff Tobin, CBS Sports
11. Al Melchior, Today's Knuckleball
12. Adam Aizer, Podcast King, CBS Sports