[MisterTidster]

I’m about 75 years into my sim and I’m not really sold on any clear draft strategies yet. I’ll share my ideas for feedback and would love to know what has and hasn’t worked for you. I sim and play vs the AI. Normally I’m at the lower end of the draft order and not able to get the top guys.

I tried loading pitches one draft and hitters the next and that didn’t work well. A lot of development gaps would happen at certain levels (especially single A). Because of this, I do try to keep a balanced approach between pitchers and hitters. I almost never go for a low work ethic guy and will favor players with good personality traits if deciding between two similar players.

Top 5 I try to get one and not more two starters. 1st overall I’m looking for an elite guy that falls due to contract demands. It’s rare, but I nab them when I can. I don’t take a starter in the top two unless there is a total stud. In my experience it’s more common for a serviceable starter to come out of rounds 3-6 than hitters and there is a big drop off in getting a hitter you can build around after the second round. I will only rarely take a reliever early, as I tend to get relievers that I can use on my major league roster as throw ins from trades or by bundling borderline major leaguers in trades. I also rely heavily on international free agents for my relievers instead of the draft. I still like to have one or two promising young bullpen arms in my system. In this range the hitters I look for are high contact/high power or high power/high speed.

Rounds 6-10 I’m looking for two starters and the rest hitters. Starters I look for are 92+ velocity with above average stamina and neutral to gb looking predominantly at 3+ pitches with the best potential I can find. Hitters I look for lead off types (speed/plus eye/plus contact). If no other solid hitters are available, I will also sometimes add a power hitter with below average contact or better hoping for improvement.

Round 11-15 I’m looking for the best bullpen arms available. It’s rare for any to fully develop, but it does happen from time to time. This seems to be the last chance to get relievers that makes it past A+ regularly. I will also nab high defense infielders and high defense outfielders with above average contact. I do get an occasional everyday hitter that has the flexibility to plug a defensive hole out of the bunch and I can regularly get decent hitting bench players that can serviceably go in the starting lineup for short term injury stints.

Rounds 16-25 I’m looking for high school guys that have 4+ star potential at the single a level. I figure if you can at least get to single A you have a chance to at least get more potential and at the very least be young filler with a chance to be more. Hitters in this range I look for 60+ contact (80 point scale) relative to single A. I figure with decent contact they at least hit and can have a chance to improve their potential in other areas. Pitchers I look for decent stamina with three pitches or pitchers with the best stuff/velocity to fill in the lower level starting and bullpens with players that have a chance to be more.

Rounds 26-35 I’ll nab college relievers that can make the jump to A and A- if I need to fill in gaps. I’ll draft catchers with average+ arm/ability with above average contact relative to single A (catchers at all points in the draft seem hit or miss and mostly miss). Other than that I just go with guys with above average contact and power relative to rookie league favoring 5 star potential relative to rookie leagues.

I feel good about my strategy for getting enough guys to the majors with enough extra to trade for what I need and seems to do a good enough job filling the minor league rosters with guys that compete at each level with potential to become better. I rarely need to add veteran filler, but do regularly add MLFA to fill if I think it’s a player that can develop and become trade bait at some point.

I’m hoping to get some new ideas to hopefully refine my strategy or go a better route.

On a side note, I have considered the idea of minimizing my development budget and putting my scouting budget exclusively on majors and minors... the strategy there would be to draft the highest potential based on OSA scouting and always be trading for major league ready prospects. Has anyone given this a go?