You Should Pay Attention to the Draft!

I know many, if not all of you except for Kyle, really don't pay attention the the MLB draft. I advise all of you to look at the results for the draft this season, June 5th-6th, because a handful of these young prospects will be future first round draft picks in our fantasy drafts. I was under the impression that it really doesn't matter who goes in the first round and if they are any good, they are years away from making a difference in the majors. Not so fast my friend! I have highlighted some picks from the 2001-2007 from the first round:

2001
#1 Mauer
#5 Teixeira

2002
#2 BJ Upton
#6 Prince Fielder
#9 Jeff Francis
#15 Kazmir
#16 Swisher
#17 Colbert Hamels
#25 Cain

2003
#1 Delmon Young
#7 Markakis
#19 Connor Jackson

2004
#2 Verlander
#12 Jered Weaver

2005
#1 Justin Upton
#2 Gordon
#4 Zimmerman
#5 Braun
#7 Tulo
#12 Jay Bruce

2006
#3 Longoria
#7 Kershaw
#10 Lincecum
#11 Max Scherzer
Note: BALT had the #9 pick and selected Billy Rowell

2007
#1 Price
#5 Wieters

As you can see the first round, especially 2005, generates serious fantasy value. You also need to look at the position that certain teams selected and how other prospects will fare. The best example of this is the fate of Reid Brignac (Naff), top SS prospect in Rays system and one of the top in all of MLB, because the Rays are 90% certain they will be taking Tim Beckham SS out of HS in Texas. I have attached a link to a Mock Draft from Baseball America and the link below it is an easy reference guide to all past drafts. I will make the second link one of our links of interest on the side bar.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/mock-draft/2008/266117.html
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/draft/index.jsp