[StLee]

The Draft

I did my homework. I consulted. I moved people up and down my draft board. After all this, I still didn’t feel prepared for my first draft as a rookie captain. Everyone else knew a little more than I did, but I went in with a plan.

Here is my philosophy for softball: get a team of players who can run around much faster than I can and who aren’t looking to put the ball over the fence with each swing.

So my approach to drafting was to look for people who could fit on my team.

The captains drew cards for draft and division placement. Bill drew the ace, Jayo the 2, Dougie the 3, Corey the 4, Lee the 5, Timp the 6, Bolg the 7, and Beatle the 8. Thus the draft order was set, and we used an odds and evens draw for divisions, so Division 1 (don’t know if it’s the Hite or Cass division yet) is Pitch Slappers, The Swingers, Honey Badgers, and The Bus Drivers, and Division 2 is Hanamana, The Multiple Scoregasms, H.I.T. Positive, and The Master Batters.

Bill was excited at first grabbing the first overall pick because that meant he could grab two-time league MVP and former college player Brandon B. So that was who he took. Jayo grabbed a damn fine defensive player with a solid bat Halbreich. Dougie followed with his shortstop and tournament MVP Rausa. Corey went with league MVP Matty Soup. Soup was not higher because he announced earlier that he would miss four games during the middle of the season.

My turn was next, and I considered making a trade to ensure I could grab both guys I targeted. However, I decided to take my chances that my second pick would be there when we snaked around. So I stayed at number 5 and selected Frank Q, who was my teammate last year. He lives for softball, has a nice combination of power and gap hits, and he is solid as an outfielder. I drafted him thinking he might be my CF, but I hope he can play his usual LF.

Timp followed by taking Whitacre, who I considered but decided he doesn’t fit my team needs. Whitacre is a lefty who can hit them over the fence, but he is usually a HR or bust kind of hitter. Not what I wanted for my team. Bolg surprised everyone when he didn’t take his usual 1st rounder, Digger, but instead went with the young’un and our league “reporter,” Carp.

When Beattie’s turn came up, he called Bill to the side, and they talked trade, finally deciding on a trade where Brandon B went to the Master Batters and Bill moved up with some of his picks. So Bill grabbed two players for the snake, Nuotio and Prewitt, two really fast guys who can single teams to death and play great defense.

I won’t go through every single pick in the draft, but I wanted to detail the first round to see which players should be competing for league MVP this season.

In the second round, Timp beat me to my little secret. J Riley is my co-worker and new to Daegu. He and I threw some balls and went to the batting cage, and I could see that he is a hell of a ball player. So with the 12th pick, I figured I could get my first real steal of the draft. But then Timp picked him, and my heart dropped. I didn't have a good backup plan, but I drafted Greenough who is a pretty good SS in the league. That pick would come into play later.

In the third round, I drafted a New Zealander, Ussher. He was out most of the season last year due to a back injury, but he is tall and a good ball player.

In the fourth round, I picked Dustin S, a very athletic guy who can field grounders and is a great gap hitter. He also has, in my opinion, the second hottest woman in all of Daegu. My wife, of course, is the hottest.

In the fifth round, I went with someone else’s knowledge and grabbed Keeler. Most of the coaches ripped that pick as my worst thus far, stating that he sucked, but a couple of other people told me that he was a solid defensive outfielder and wasn’t an easy out when batting. We’ll see, of course, but I have confidence he would be one of my starters in the OF.

My sixth pick was a buddy of mine, Lowell. He is young and quick and a good defensive outfielder, too. With that pick, I knew my starting outfield was set.

My seventh pick, Gonzalez, was a guy who went much higher last season, but dropped this season because he has some arm troubles. He was slotted at SS a season ago, but his throwing arm was so weak that people were beating out throws. So he was moved to 2B and started doing what he was supposed to do. At that pick, I had him as my utility infielder, probably backing up Ussher at 2B, or playing as a rover.

Due to a run of some of the better females being picked, I went with a woman in the eighth round, and grabbed my former teammate MaryKay. I targeted her for my team because she hit nearly .500 (!!!!) on the season, a phenomenal batting average for a woman in our league, and defensively she is a person who will do what it takes to make a play, so I have her as a starting rover.

With my ninth pick, I went with a new guy. He’s young and looks to be fast, so I drafted Sundell. He seems a bit goofy, but I figured he could be valuable as a rover and backup outfielder.

With my tenth pick, I grabbed one more former Swinger with DeBree. He was not a great hitter for us a season ago, but he had his only extra base hit in the championship game, so I would consider that clutch. For him, my idea was to make him a straight up utility player, backing up people in the OF and IF. He played 1B and 2B for the Swingers last season, but he is athletic and can move around.

My eleventh pick was my second female, a buddy and teammate three years ago, MJ. She is a Korean married to a Canadian, and she is fun to be around and a joy to have as a teammate.

My final pick was my final female player, Camille. She is best known for getting hit in the face with a ball while playing rover, giving her some awesome black eyes during part of the season.

That was my team, until the draft was finished. Then people started hitting me up for trades. The first trade offer that I gave serious consideration to was a Frank for J Riley trade. Timp didn’t seem set on the trade, and I knew the trade would mean I had too many infielders and not enough outfielders, so I decided to pass.

Then Jayo offered me a blockbuster. He was willing to give up Halbreich if I gave him a few top players. We negotiated for about 15 minutes, with me trying to grab a player or two on his board different than what he was offering, but he insisted that I sweeten the pot before he gave up the second best player in the league. Finally I agreed. So, I sent my 2nd (Greenough), 3rd (Ussher), and 6th (Lowell) picks to Hanamana. In return I got his 1st (Halbreich), 4th (John Johnson), and 12th (MacMillan) picks.

Halbreich is a great baseball player but he was slowed up last season due to some injuries. We’re co-workers and he and I threw the ball around at work one day. He told me he’s ready to go, so I am really happy to get him as my starting SS. Offensively and defensively, he is much better than Greenough, so I got a great trade in that part.

I hated to give up Ussher and Lowell, but I hope I got something worth it. John Johnson was a sprinter in college, so he’s as fast as the wind. He’s one of the new players, so I asked him about his playing ability for new player sign ups. He told me that he has been practicing catching fly balls, so I had a lot of confidence in his ability to be my CF (which I didn’t really have one before).

Finally was MacMillan. He has experience playing ball, but as a new guy to the league, he was a bit of an annoyance on our Facebook group and at the new player sign up. I have a feeling that he’ll be a guy I have some problems with, but I am a border alpha male and will tell him to STFU when I need to. His attitude more than his potential was the reason he was the second to last player drafted.

There’s my team. Based on the position drafted, this is my probably opening defensive alignment:

C – MJ
1B – Dustin
2B – Gonzalez
SS – Halbreich
3B – The Badger
LF – Frank
CF – John Johnson
RF – Keeler
LROV – MaryKay
RROV – Sundell
Bench – DeBree
Bench – McMillan
Bench – Camille

We have a rule that no player can sit out two straight innings unless they have an injury, so we have an unlimited substitution rule. DeBree will probably jump into RF in the 2nd, McMillan will play 1B, and Dustin will move to 3B while I sit. I am an asset as a defensive player, but I’ll sacrifice some time to get everyone on the field. Camille and MJ will rotate at C every inning, and occasionally they’ll get a chance to play ROV.

As for batting, I want to wait to see what some of them can do and how well they run before I make a batting order. We have a practice on March 31 and play our first game on April 1.