Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft for 15-team Rotisserie: Just accept that you're going to be weak somewhere

The 15-team Rotisserie league has become the format of choice for Fantasy Baseball professionals in recent years, which I think has mainly served to distance them from their audience. Shoot, just the emphasis on Rotisserie does, but then the 15-team aspect adds a dimension of depth that few followers can relate to.

Few doesn't mean zero, though, and even if you're just exploring the possibility of playing in a 15-teamer, a mock draft like this can be helpful in highlighting the differences.

First, the elephant in the room: This was our first mock draft since the recent round of broken hamate bones that ensnared Corbin Carroll, Francisco Lindor, and Jackson Holliday. It was our first since learning that Zack Wheeler and Shane Bieber would begin the year on the IL, and our first since learning that Spencer Schwellenbach and Anthony Santander could potentially miss the whole season.

You can do a Ctrl-F search to see the effect on their draft stock. I'll note specifically that Carroll was still selected with the final pick of Round 1 while Lindor slid all the way to 27th overall. I'm more of the mind they should be late second-rounders, particularly in a 12-team context, because while their absence isn't likely to extend more than a couple weeks into the season, if even that, the outcomes of this particular surgery can be unpredictable. They should be fine in time, but power can be slow to return. The risk is compounded, then, for what's supposed to be your first- or second-best player.

But enough with the current events. Let's make with the introductions:

1) Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Company
2) Jeremy Heist, Fantistics Fantasy (@heistjm)
3) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)
4) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
5) Doc Eisenhauer, Prospects Live (@DocEisenhauer)
6) Jake Wiener, Prospects1500 (@GatorSosa)
7) Anthony Kates, SportsEthos (@akfantasybb) 
8) Raymond Atherton, Fantasy Aceball (@RaymondAtherton)
9) James Ganey, Dynasty One Stop (@CubbyNole)
10) Rob Sherwood, TGFBI participant (@rob_sherwood)
11) Michael Polidoro, The Can-Am Super Show (@CanAmSuperShow)
12) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)
13) Marty Tallman, RotoBaller (@Marty_Tallman)
14) Zach Steinhorn, Steinhorn's Universe (@zachsteinhorn)
15) Nathan Judah, Express & Star (@NathanJudah)  

Now, what makes a 15-team league different from the 10- or 12-teamers you're used to?

• The single biggest difference is that everybody is going to be weak somewhere. No position is deep enough to accommodate all the roster spots that need to be filled. Some celebrate this as "finally, no teams full of All-Stars," but a major part of the strategy in shallower leagues is to avoid getting boxed out at a position. A 15-team league, particularly Roto, removes the position scarcity element almost completely. Who cares if you have one of the few elite second basemen if your second outfielder stinks as a result? Even catcher, with its seemingly endless supply of talent this year, falls well short of filling all 30 spots with quality options.
• Though every position takes a turn for the ugly before every lineup spot can be filled, the one that seems to deplete the fastest is the corner infield. This is mostly third base's fault, its lack of quality options putting an additional strain on first base to meet the corner infield need, but first base itself could get dicey if even just a couple teams fill their corner infield spot early. Lenyn Sosa, Miguel Vargas, Luis Arraez, Josh Jung, Andrew Vaughn, Willi Castro, Jake Burger, and Miguel Andujar are all occupying one corner infield spot or another in this league. Some of those aren't even projected to be true starters.
• Pretty much every reliever who's in line for saves gets drafted in Rotisserie leagues, regardless of size. When more teams are divvying up the same number of saves, the closer crunch can be intense. Mason Miller was the first one off the board at 46th overall, with Edwin Diaz also being drafted in Round 4. Three others (Andres Munoz, Jhoan Duran, and Cade Smith) were taken in Round 5. This is actually behind their usual pace on NFBC, the primary proliferator of the 15-team Rotisserie format. I actually came away with three probable closers in this draft, seizing on the injury discount for Josh Hader at 124 and then happening into Emilio Pagan and Trevor Megill at 177 and 184, respectively. It's supposed to be harder than that.
• Boring is often better, even in the late rounds. In leagues where the TJ Friedl and Isaac Collins types go widely undrafted -- you know, players who might only contribute a combined 30 home runs and steals but will play regularly enough to factor in runs and RBI -- you're better served targeting upside late, knowing you could always fall back on the boring. But in leagues where the Friedl and Collins types are sure to be drafted themselves, the penalty for missing on a pick, even one of your last starters, is more severe. Paltry totals from a lineup spot or two can put you in too big of a hole to climb out of, so while you obviously want better players than the competition, simply having some high-volume reinforcements can do you a world of good.

Let's see how everyone did.