Over this past weekend I participated in my first in-person, live draft. Twelve teams picked 19 players per team for a whopping total of 228 total picks. There are actually 25 total players on each roster. Every team kept 6 players for the previous year's roster.
It was a lot of fun pretending we were each major league GMs that were experts at evaluating talent and acquiring the players we needed to achieve a championship. As a rookie, possibly quite foolishly, I traded away the number one pick (Albert Pujols was the highest rank player available). In return, I received a 3rd, a 6th, and a 10th round pick. That left me with no first rounder and my first pick, Hanley Ramirez, came early in the 2nd.
Later in the draft I took a gamble on Yoenis Cespedes in the 13th round. I wasn't feeling too sure about that until hearing today that he has been named the opening day starting center fielder moving Coco Crisp to left.
It should be fun.
