STOUTS OFFENSE TERRORIZING THE LEAGUE

Currently sporting the best record in Expansion League with a 24-12 mark, the Baltimore Stouts are winning on the back of their potent offense.  The team is leading the league in six offensive categories, pacing the entire MBL in runs per game, HR, BA, OBP, SLG and OPS.  They have also swiped 21 bags compared to just four caught stealing, good for 4th best in the SB category.

Team	G		RPG			HR			SB	CS				BA			OBP			SLG			OPS
Baltimore Stouts	36		6.44	1		67	1		21	4	17	4		.295	1		.372	1		.518	1		.890	1

Individually, Todd Helton (.368), Larry Walker (.353) and Fernando Vina (.343) all are in the top-10 in the Expansion League in batting average.  Walker paces the league in OBP with a .514 mark, while Helton leads the league with an .826 slugging percentage.  Helton also leads in HRs with 16 and RBI with 52.  The duo are one-two in runs scored, Walker with 38 and Helton with 36.  Alex Rodriguez is hitting .296 with ten homers and 39 RBI.  

      

PICK 1.11

Todd Helton, COL 1B
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/heltoto01.shtml


The top of the draft went pretty much as expected.  All the good pitchers (Pedro, Maddux, Unit, Mussina) and the big sluggers (ARod, Bonds, Sosa, ManRam) were taken.  I struggled over this pick quite a bit.  It's hard when you're drafting players and you know their future careers in advance.  So many good players were available at this spot.  Jeter went two picks ahead of me so that eliminated one player off my board.  My strategy coming in was to grab guys at the scarce positions (C, 2B, SS, 3B).  Jeff Kent and Chipper Jones were still available and I almost pulled the trigger on both of them.

In the end I couldn't overlook the absolute monstrous numbers Helton put up, not only in the year 2000, but for the next several years.  In 2000 he was an absolute beast.  Not sure how he finished a distant 5th in the MVP voting that year.  He led all of MLB with a .372 batting average, led in slugging at .698, and led with a 1.162 OPS.  His lowest OPS for the next five years was 1.006.  Lowest batting average during that span was .329.  Lowest OBP .429.  Although there are quite a few very good 1B in this draft, Helton just stood out, not only for his awesome 2000 but for his continued excellence.  I'll try to lockup a #1 starter in the next round, or target one of the scarce positions.

YEAR 2000 INAUGURAL MILLENNIUM LEAGUE DRAFT

A little background to begin.  The Millennium League is a simulation baseball league using Dynasty League Online Baseball as its platform.  Dynasty League Baseball is from the designers of the classic baseball board game Pursue the Pennant.  This is the inaugural year of the league.  There are 24 teams in the league from all across the United States, with one team being managed from the UK.  The kicking off point is the year 2000.  All players are eligible to be drafted.  Teams draft 30 players per squad and keep 20 from year-to-year.  Draft is serpentine.  The Baltimore Stouts draft in the 11th spot, meaning in odd number rounds they have the 11th pick, and in even number rounds they select 14th.  Drafting began on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.  I will recap the individual rounds here.  For complete draft results, please visit the league draft page.

ROUND 1 RECAP

#1 Pick Overall

Top of the draft went pretty much as expected.  First four picks go Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Barry Bonds and Pedro Martinez.  Hard to argue with any of those.  First "surprise" came with the 10th pick when the Pittsburgh Crawfords selected Bernie Williams.  Obviously Bernie Williams is an excellent player, but his 2000 was nothing special, and he only has a couple more "good" years left in him.  To each his own I guess.

Another head scratcher was Mark McGwire by the St. Louis Sliders with the 22nd selection.  Home team pick maybe?  McGwire played in only 89 games in 2000 (albeit with a 1.229 OPS), then another 97 in 2001 before retiring.

2000 NL MVP

The best picks in my estimation were Vlad Guerrero by the Atlanta Stonecutters at 15, Chipper Jones at 18 by the Seattle Lightning, and Jeff Kent to the Arizona Apaches at pick 20.  Kent was MVP in 2000 and has a decided positional advantage at 2B among his peers in this draft.  Guerrero has an OPS above 1.0 for three of the next four years BEFORE winning the MVP award in 2004.  Chipper, coming off his MVP in 1999, has an OPS above 1.0 for four of the next nine years, only dropping below .900 once in that span.

It will be interesting to see how teams come back in round two.  If a team selected a pitcher in round one, will they try to load up their rotation in the second round with another?  Will a team select a couple bashers to stack their lineup?  We shall see.