2023 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft 3.0: Where do you pick Shohei Ohtani?
The Yahoo fantasy baseball analysts — Andy Behrens, Scott Pianowski and Dalton Del Don — took part in a three-round mock draft. Each analyst gets four picks in the first round (to represent a 12-team league). You can see the first-round mock here and the second-round mock here.
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Now, on to the picks:
Round 1, Pick 1: Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Atlanta Braves
Given his age and power/speed upside, Acuña remains comfortably atop my fantasy board. — Del Don
Round 1, Pick 2: Trea Turner, SS, Philadelphia Phillies
Turner actually saw a downgrade in parks moving away from Dodger Stadium, but he remains in a terrific situation in Philadelphia. — Del Don
Round 1, Pick 3: Julio Rodríguez, OF, Seattle Mariners
I’m closer to moving him up than down. Still just 22, J-Rod is probably the current favorite to be 2024’s top fantasy pick. — Del Don
Round 1, Pick 4: Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees
Even with inevitable regression and more games missed, Judge shouldn’t fall further than this. — Del Don
Round 1, Pick 5: José Ramírez, 3B, Cleveland Guardians
Five-category stat-grabber who covers a thin position. — Pianowski
Round 1, Pick 6: Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros
Upside is AL MVP, though check on the ankle injury before committing. — Pianowski
Round 1, Pick 7: Mookie Betts, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
More floor than upside at this point, but I like picks unlikely to fail. — Pianowski
Round 1, Pick 8: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, Toronto Blue Jays
Fences coming in, and the Vlad Jr. arrow is still pointed up. You want shares of this destination offense. — Pianowski
Round 1, Pick 9: Shohei Ohtani, UTIL, Los Angeles Angels
This is the ideal spot from which to land both the hitter and pitcher versions of Ohtani, so we'll see if that works out. Ohtani the batter has already given us a 46/26 season, and the new shift rules should help him. — Behrens
Round 1, Pick 10: Bo Bichette, SS, Toronto Blue Jays
He's a five-category hitter entering his age-25 season. Bichette is a year removed from going 121-29-102-25-.298. — Behrens
Round 1, Pick 11: Yordan Alvarez, OF, Houston Astros
You shouldn't need a hard sell on a guy who offers average, run production and top-of-the-charts power. Alvarez is getting healthy just in time for Opening Day. — Behrens
Round 1, Pick 12: Juan Soto, OF, San Diego Padres
Soto is lightly dinged at the moment, a clear concern. But he also might just be the best hitter in the game. — Behrens
Round 2, Pick 13: Manny Machado, 3B, San Diego Padres
When the draft gives you the chance to take Pocket Padres at the top, I think you gotta do it. Machado fills one of the messiest roster spots, too. — Behrens
Round 2, Pick 14: Freddie Freeman, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers
Freeman is a perennial batting title contender who has led the NL in run-scoring for three straight years. — Behrens
Round 2, Pick 15: Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels
Sure, the base-stealing is gone and might never come back, but Trout still hit 40 bombs in just 119 games last season. — Behrens
Round 2, Pick 16: Pete Alonso, 1B, New York Mets
Elite power, bubbly personality; I'm in. Alonso clearly has the potential to be the overall leader in multiple fantasy categories. — Behrens
Round 2, Pick 17: Corbin Burnes, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
The safest strikeout bet in the majors and still in a comfortable age pocket. — Pianowski
Round 2, Pick 18: Austin Riley, 3B, Atlanta Braves
Turned into a superstar the past two years, and Atlanta's lineup is stacked top to bottom. — Pianowski
Round 2, Pick 19: Gerrit Cole, SP, New York Yankees
A pitcher this great has to win a Cy Young Award sometime. — Pianowski
Round 2, Pick 20: Bobby Witt Jr., 3B/SS, Kansas City Royals
The free-swinging approach is a modest concern, but if Witt falls this late, I'll gladly take his category juice. — Pianowski
Round 2, Pick 21: Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, San Diego Padres
I have Tatis as a top-10 player this year, so he was an easy call here. — Del Don
Round 2, Pick 22: Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox
Third base is relatively thin, and I actually prefer Devers over Machado and Riley. — Del Don
Round 2, Pick 23: Spencer Strider, SP/RP, Atlanta Braves
Strider is the real deal and has crept into Round 1 of some NFBC Main Event drafts. — Del Don
Round 2, Pick 24: Jacob deGrom, SP, Texas Rangers
DeGrom is the best pitcher alive — and the biggest boom/bust fantasy pick. — Del Don
Round 3, Pick 25: Aaron Nola, SP, Philadelphia Phillies
Nola continues the pitcher run and sort of begins a new SP tier here. — Del Don
Round 3, Pick 26: Max Scherzer, SP, New York Mets
A beast in the best park; age is the only question with Scherzer. — Del Don
Round 3, Pick 27: Justin Verlander, SP, New York Mets
Not quite as elite as others at age 40, but he remains plenty good. He's also in a terrific situation and still in the honeymoon TJ phase. — Del Don
Round 3, Pick 28:, Brandon Woodruff, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
I mostly target aces and bases early in fantasy drafts, and Woodruff qualifies as the former. — Del Don
Round 3, Pick 29: Shane McClanahan, SP, Tampa Bay Rays
Skills are elite, so it's just a matter of how many innings we can expect. In the third round, yes, please. — Pianowski
Round 3, Pick 30: Marcus Semien, 2B/SS, Texas Rangers
Didn't hit for about six weeks, then was a top-five fantasy producer the rest of the way. The market has undersold him all spring. — Pianowski
Round 3, Pick 31: Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B, Miami Marlins
Assuming he's not harried over positional change, we're looking at a possible 20-homer, 40-steal season. — Pianowski
Round 3, Pick 32: Francisco Lindor, SS, New York Mets
If he merely matches last year's return, we make a profit. And given his age and supporting cast, it's possible we haven't seen Lindor's best season yet. — Pianowski
Round 3, Pick 33: Shohei Ohtani, SP, Los Angeles Angels
I'm not typically someone who drafts pitchers near the top, but if you're gonna give me two scoops of Ohtani, I'll take it. This man struck out 219 batters over 166 innings last year, which is just obscene. — Behrens
Round 3, Pick 34: Randy Arozarena, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
He's coming off a legendary WBC run, plus he has gone 20/20 the past two seasons. My great preference is to get steals from players who aren't single-category specialists. — Behrens
Round 3, Pick 35: Corey Seager, SS, Texas Rangers
After a monumentally unlucky season (.242 BABIP) in which he still managed to hit 33 home runs, we should expect a massive bounce-back. Seager is likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the limitations on defensive shifting. — Behrens
Round 3, Pick 36: Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
This was a long, awkward fall for Goldy. You'll almost never get him this late. He doesn't need to match last year's production to earn this draft price. — Behrens