Fantasy Baseball: First 12-team 5×5 Rotisserie mock draft for 2017 – CBSSports.com

I wish I had more stolen bases.

That’s what was running through the mind of every owner in the middle rounds of this draft.

The obvious response would be to draft a base-stealer, but by that point, they were nowhere to be found.

Some saw it coming. Specialist du jour
Billy Hamilton
went in Round 5 — a concession that still feels icky to me, even after enduring the shortage — and
Eduardo Nunez
, who stole 40 bases this year but has serious legitimacy questions after an age-29 breakout that ended with a poor second half, in Round 10. But after that — less than halfway through the draft, mind you — it was good luck to everyone.

And it gets worse. The best base-stealer drafted between Hamilton and Nunez, at least going by 2016 numbers, was
Ian Desmond
, who had merely a 21-steal campaign. The next best was Gregory Polanco with 17.

It’s a continuation of the trend that first jumped out at me last year, when only 30 players players stole 20 or more. This year, only 28 did, and many of them —
Jarrod Dyson
,
Travis Jankowski
and even
Rajai Davis
— you’d hate to have to start just for that.

It also helps explain why
Paul Goldschmidt
went second overall even though I had assumed
Mookie Betts
and
Jose Altuve
were locks to go ahead of him. He out-ran both of them last year, swiping 32 bases, and is one of only two first basemen (
Wil Myers
being the other) who’s of any help in the category. Drafting Goldschmidt builds an early advantage in stolen bases without closing off an opportunity for more.

The Goldschmidt pick also sheds some light on the sneaky scarcity at first base. It’s not as obvious as last season, but now in two straight drafts, I’ve seen someone bemoan the lack of quality options in the middle rounds. I wouldn’t say it’s shallower than any other position, but it has so many early-round types that the gap between the haves and have-nots is a glaring one in a 12-team league.

A few more observations before we get to the results:

• My top two steals targets (and really, the only palatable ones) after Nunez went off the board were
  Jose Peraza
  and
  Hernan Perez
  . I had hoped to get both but ultimately had to settle for just one. They’re palatable because I think they could contribute something other than just steals, but neither’s playing time is assured as of now.
• I ended up with only two players I would classify as base-stealers, Perez and
  A.J. Pollock
  , but looking around the league, not too many owners are better off. The only one with more than three players who stole 20 or more bases last year is George Maselli, who stockpiled five of them, but of course the owners of Hamilton and
  Jonathan Villar
  have an advantage that goes beyond simple player count.
• We’re 2 for 2 now on
  Giancarlo Stanton
  going early in the second round, which would suggest his draft value has hardly changed with his disappointing 2016. I don’t get it. Sure, he has as much upside as ever, but his downside is more palpable, no?
• As deep as every infield position seemed in our Head-to-Head points draft, the bigger lineups in the Rotisserie format did change things quite a bit for me. My middle infield of
  Dustin Pedroia
  ,
  Dansby Swanson
  and
  Logan Forsythe
  makes me cringe, and it’s not like I was consciously ignoring it. Meanwhile, outfielders like
  Kevin Kiermaier
  and
  Melky Cabrera
  went completely undrafted. So maybe the outfield isn’t shallow compared to the infield. It just isn’t as deep at the top.
• Who were some of the best players not picked?
  Josh Bell
  ,
  Yulieski Gurriel
  ,
  Yangervis Solarte
  and
  Asdrubal Cabrera
  all seem like oversights, especially after the first three were drafted in the Head-to-Head league. Among pitchers,
  Zack Wheeler
  ,
  Joe Musgrove
  and projected closer
  Brandon Maurer
  probably should have been drafted and weren’t.
• Speaking of pitchers, I’m beginning to think draft order is just a matter of personal preference after the top 35 or so. I dipped into that group pretty early in the Head-to-Head draft, making
  James Paxton
  the 38th starting pitcher taken and
  Sean Manaea
  the 43rd. This time around, I waited to see Paxton go 54th at the position and then made Manaea the 55th selection.

Here are the participants:

1. Igor Mello, CBSSports.com
2. Grey Albright, Razzball
3. Brian Huss, CBSSports.com
4. R.J. White, CBSSports.com
5. Chris Towers, Fantasy Writer, CBSSports.com
6. Scott White, Senior Fantasy Writer, CBSSports.com
7. George Maselli, CBSSports.com
8. Paul Sporer, FanGraphs
9. Mike Kuchera, The Fantasy Man
10. Adam Aizer, Podcast Dude, CBSSports.com
11. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer, CBSSports.com
12. Jeff Tobin, CBSSports.com