Draft Day Decision SS (Elvis Andrus vs Starlin Castro)

Elvis Andrus is a young shortstop with a lot of upside who is gathering a lot of steam heading into the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Drafting Season. He has almost limitless upside in speed and looks like a player that could grow into another Jose Reyes type talent. Based upon his ADP on Mockdraftcentral.com, many fantasy owners are big believers in this future star. He is currently going number 66, which is in the middle of the 6th round for your standard 12 team league. Owners drafting Andrus are hoping that he continues to mature and leads the second tier of fantasy shortstops in 2011.
Starlin Castro is another young shortstop with superstar upside. With just half a season under his belt at the major league level, there is not much history to go off of but Castro did show that he is ready. It will likely take some time before we see just how good Castro will be but his upside is tremendous. His ADP on Mockdraftcentral is much lower than Andrus', currently 159 or early round 14 in 12 team leagues.
There is much more risk in drafting Castro than there is with Andrus. You will likely see more highs and lows with Castro. Both players have similar tools and talents but experience at the major league level is big. While Castro will likely outplay Andrus at times throughout the 2011 season, I doubt that he will be really close at the end of the year. However, that does not mean that Andrus is the better play here. Like a lot of draft day decisions, you have to look at who else is on the board at the time. Other players drafted around the 6th round on MDC include-Clayton Kershaw, Kendry Morales, and Justin Verlander. I would take any of those three along with Castro over Andrus and any other player around round 13-Ricky Romero, Johan Santana and Mike Stanton (I think Stanton will move up from this current position).


Projections-Andrus-282 avg, 5 hrs, 43 rbi, 41 sbs, 101 runs
Castro-285 avg, 7 hrs, 53 rbi, 26sbs, 78 runs

2011 Mock First Round

I have seen a few mock first rounds for 2011, that I disagree with, so I decided to go with my own. Just to make it easy, I am basing it on your standard 12 team league with basic scoring (5x5-runs, hrs, rbi, avg, sbs, wins, saves, era, whip and k's). So, here we go.

1-Albert Pujols, 1b Cardinals-Still no question that he should go here. His lead is shrinking though.

2-Miguel Cabrera, 1b Tigers-Miggy is just hitting his prime and we are probably yet to see his ceiling.

3-Hanley Ramirez, SS Marlins-The most reliable player at a slimming position.

4-Evan Longoria, 3b Rays-Longo is already the best player at his position and is still a couple years away from entering the prime of his career.

5-Carlos Gonzalez, OF Rockies-CarGo is a superstar in the making

6-Robinson Cano, 2b Yankees-The best second baseman on the board and Cano is just into his prime.

7-Joey Votto, 1b Reds-Coming off a break out MVP season, it will be interesting to see how Votto follows it up.

8-Troy Tulowitzki, SS Rockies-If Tulo plays 150 games, which is the biggest concern with him, I think he is better than Hanley.

9-Ryan Braun, OF Brewers-Consistency was a major issue for Braun in 2010. He definitely has first round ability and expect a big rebound this year.

10-David Wright, 3b Mets-Wright is in the prime of his career and should consistently put up solid numbers for the next several seasons.

11-Adrian Gonzalez, 1b Red Sox-The move to Fenway has moved Adrian way up the draft board. I think he certainly has first round talent.

12-Josh Hamilton, OF Rangers-Hamilton bounced back from a forgettable 09 season to win the MVP last year, despite missing most of the last month. If healthy, Hamilton is the most dangerous hitter in baseball.