MLB: First NFBC Draft of 2025

On Wednesday night, 15 high-stakes fantasy baseball managers drafted the first 11 rounds of a 50-round NFBC Draft Champions over Zoom. Before getting to specifics, here's the board:

This is the third year in a row that Rob DiPietro got the 15 of us together in mid-August to start the Too Early Meatball DC, but the first two years we only did seven rounds in August. This year we did 11, and it still felt like it went by too quickly. The league consists of some decorated high-stakes players like Steven Weimer, Jason Duponte and Michael Mager and seemingly half the league either has a podcast, writes for a fantasy site or both. Here's the top half of this year's standings:

We went in order of this year's standings to select draft order and I elected the No. 4 spot, which was the highest spot available, without much thought. After doing my prep, I regretted that selection, and if I couldn't pick in the top three, I'd prefer to pick seventh or eighth, as I don't view Elly De La Cruz or Kyle Tucker as a drop-off at all from Gunnar Henderson, and I do view Austin Riley as a slight step down from Bryce Harper in the second round.

My Approach

I had a long list of players I wasn't going to draft because I thought they were too risky from an injury standpoint. It's perfectly fine if you disagree about the risk level with any of these players or the strategy of avoiding these types of players. I know injuries will find my team, especially in a draft that takes place over seven months before the start of the season, I just don't want to knowingly steer into injury risk in this draft. I will warm up to the idea of drafting many of these players either in the offseason or once I see them healthy in spring training. Here are the players who were not on my board that went in the first 11 rounds:

I thought outfield was going to be really deep in the middle rounds and I thought the opposite would be true with the infield spots, so I knew I would be going heavy on infielders. I also planned on getting one relatively "safe" closer and at least one catcher. I knew I'd either have two or three starting pitchers, no more, no less. I also wanted to get at least one multi-position player. Here are the players who went in the first 11 rounds who are already eligible for multiple positions:

If McLain makes it back this season, he'll very likely only be eligible at second base next year. It's also quite possible that by the end of the season Mookie Betts will be eligible in the outfield and/or at second base in addition to shortstop. Let me know in the comments if there's another player who went in this draft who will likely gain multi-position eligibility that I didn't mention.

1.4 Gunnar Henderson, SS, BAL

2.27 Austin Riley, 3B, ATL

3.34 William Contreras, C, MIL

This was my anticipated first three picks. I was between Henderson and Elly De La Cruz at pick No. 4. I could have made myself uncomfortable with an Elly build — I've got zero recent experience trying to build around a first-round hitter who probably won't help my batting average. Additionally a lot of my favorite hitter targets in the early and middle rounds project to be significant sources of speed, so starting with a great batting average, runs and RBI base was the comfortable way for me to go. Riley should return to peak form for his age-28 season — he played at that level in 57 games from mid-June to mid-August (.292 AVG, 16 HR) after getting off to an uncharacteristic poor start. Contreras is the clear No. 1 catcher, leading all catchers with 542 plate appearances — next closest is Salvador Perez at 508. Contreras is also tied for second among catchers with five steals (Connor Wong has six), and in 360 games since 2022, he has a .286 batting average.

4.57 Robert Suarez, RP, SD

5.64 Zach Neto, SS, LAA

6.87 Manny Machado, 3B, SD

Steve took Emmanuel Clase with the first pick of the third round, so I knew I'd have to use the 34th pick on a closer (I would have taken Josh Hader there) if I wanted to make sure I really felt good about that first closer. I opted to see who came back to me in the fourth round, and in Suarez I got the last closer I was willing to take in the first 11 rounds (Clase, Devin Williams, Hader, Edwin Diaz, Felix Bautista, Raisel Iglesias were the others). Suarez doesn't rack up the strikeouts like some of those other options, but given how well he has pitched this year and the fact he is under club control next year, it seems pretty likely to me that he's at least the Padres' closer heading into next year. Neto has been on a 25/25 full-season pace since the start of May, and I could see him flirting with 30/30 in his age-24 season. Machado got off to a slow start this year — recall he wasn't even a lock to be ready for the start of the season as he was working his way back from elbow surgery. But he is hitting .297 with 15 home runs and four steals in his last 77 games, essentially classic Machado production. We'd gotten to the point where he was the last infielder on the board who I felt good about being a 4.5-category force.

7.94 Hunter Brown, SP, HOU

8.117 Brandon Pfaadt, SP, ARI

I know Rob was between Jack Flaherty and Machado in the sixth round, and if he had taken Machado, I would have take Flaherty (if he made it to me). Brown had a 7.06 ERA and 1.78 WHIP through his first 10 starts and he has a 2.27 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 15 starts since. He is 23rd in the league with 145 strikeouts and he was the 32nd starting pitcher off the board. Pfaadt is 15th in the majors in innings (150) and he has a 1.15 WHIP this season to go with a career 5.5 percent walk rate. Once the draft resumes, I'll be pounding starting pitching while mixing in some outfielders.

9.124 Spencer Steer, 1B/OF, CIN

10.147 Marcus Semien, 2B, TEX

11.154 Lawrence Butler, OF, SAC

Steer was the last first baseman on my board, so I jumped at him with this pick. This season isn't over yet and he already has a 21-homer/18-steal average over the past two years. His dual eligibility fits my needs perfectly. I was stunned that this room let Semien last this long. He wasn't a target per say, but this was an easy pick. Among second basemen, only Ketel Marte (162) has more runs+RBI than Semien's 140. Butler is slashing .274/.314/.554 with 11 home runs, seven steals (on seven attempts) and a 23.6 percent strikeout rate in 52 games since getting recalled from Triple-A and he'll be playing in a more favorable home park next year in Sacramento.

Here's the full breakdown of the players selected in these first 11 rounds by position:

CATCHER (11)

FIRST BASE (12)

SECOND BASE (9)

THIRD BASE (12)

SHORTSTOP (16)

OUTFIELD (38)

UTILITY (4)

STARTING PITCHER (52)

RELIEF PITCHER (15)