Being new I need some advice on how to handle the draft

[Antmf]

Not new to baseball but new to out of the park. So I’m wondering what do you guys do when it’s draft time? What exactly do you guys look for when it comes to picks and once I find a prospect that I want do I offer them a minor league contract is that how it works?

Also if I have it good player on my team whose contract is very expensive and he’s up there in age do I keep them or do I let them go what’s your strategy on that as well?


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[NoOne]

if you want to learn quickly, i'd suggest using a restored from backup league you can throw away. if you don't want to 'see' your next draft class, make sure not to use a backup from after the draft class is created. can always restore a 'test.lg' and eventually it can't give you foresight over time, too.

anyway, on to the 'throw-away' league. it's a copy, so it is all the same rules you play by.

now, go to "game settings" and turn it to 100% accuracy -- temporarily.

go check out the draft pool. either apply some filters for 'quality' batters and pitchers and shortlist them. you could do this by hand too, but some minimum con/gap/pow/avoid k and stuff/move/con filters are probably good enough for this exercise. pitchers are a bit tougher, since 'stuff' on younger prospects might be an underrated value if they gain velocity as they age.

to make it simple, just filter for 10-20 best of each batters and pitchers. (mostly sp, and only an obviously 'elite' rp)

now, go back and change accuracy to its normal setting.

return to the draft pool. take note of how much scouting accuracy will blind you. some of these elite guys will be rated 21-25 / 80. possibly even 20. you can only work with the information given and the quality of that information. if you spend more than other teams on scouting and your scout, you will likely have better quality information.

so, don't beat yourself up if you have some bad drafts.

beyond that it will depend alot on size of ML level, which will affect depth of draft.

in my drafts, elite players are gone 10-20picks. ~good players are gone by end of round 2, if not before. after that it's luck due to inaccurate scouting or some future unknown TCR event. can't count on finding them.

learn when things are taken. SP / power hitters are snatched up immediately. a few surprises slip through to late 1st to 2nd round, but not something you can always count on.

after that it's really about your MiL competitiveness. rarely are all 29 teams wrong about something. the elitely rated that show in 2nd-3rd round are almost assuredly frauds. definitely can't sort by potential after first 10-20 picks, imo. you cannot count on finding diamonds in the rough. you cannot predict future TCR. the greatest thing you can affect with later draft picks is teh quality of your MiL teams. try to get well-rounded players that can at least make it to AAA etc.

if you can find a 'true' ~60/60/60+ con/pow/gap guy in any round 2+ that can play defense somewhere, that's a great find and maybe not uncommon, either. anything better is extreme luck.

once obvious picks are taken (round 3-5+?):

sort via different methods. evaluate a bit differently.

i start sorting pitchers by movement with filters on the other 2. not too high for stuff as to not eliminate 18ish year olds. of the top 10-20 i see i choose the one with the combo of ratings i prefer.

i used a similar method as at the beginning of this post to start sorting by movement. shortlist with 100% accuracy, then revert settings and distribution of the capitalized names helped me make some general filters i use that pushed the greatest number of those capitalized names near the top of a sorted list. i must say i haven't done this in '19 yet, but seems similar enough so far.

with batters i still sort by contact potential. i do not simply draft the top name, of course. i'll look for a pleasing combination near top.

[Hemi425HP]

I don't get too in-depth in the draft. I agree with NoOne that the premium players are gone after the first couple of rounds, after that it's really a crap shoot. I usually pick all of the compensable picks (1st 5 rounds) myself, then auto-draft after that. I stay away from players who are impossible for me to sign. One thing to watch out for is after making the 1st five picks if there's a highly rated but impossible to sign player on the board the AI could choose him.

As far as strategy I try to get a pipeline of talent moving through my MiL system to the major leagues. My general strategy for that is to look at what my A and A- teams are lacking and try to focus on those positions. If you're drafting based on what the major league club needs right now you're probably out of sync. I look for signs of laziness or selfishness and avoid those players while trying to get guys with good work ethic.

One piece of advice is to not "draft and offer slot." Simply draft the player and negotiate with draftees once the draft is over. The player's demands are usually lower than the slot, and you can save up to a couple million dollars by just meeting their demands.

[BBGiovanni]

I too draft the first few rounds and then skip ahead. I will spend a few rounds picking up very fast/great defense guys at C, SS, CF hoping they develop a hit tool; they sometimes turn into decent AAA filler or ML bench pieces.