2020 Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft: 12-team Rotisserie puts an emphasis on stolen bases

They’re beginning to take shape now, those first couple rounds of a standard 5×5 Rotisserie draft. Little by little, we’re coming to a consensus over the best method of attack, the way that most accounts for the player pool’s scarcities.

Ronald Acuna over Mike Trout. Francisco Lindor, Trea Turner and Trevor Story ahead of Alex Bregman. Starling Marte climbing into the second round. Starting pitchers making up 13 of the first 36 picks. They all speak to the idea that stolen bases and high-end starting pitchers are the difference-makers in today’s power-saturated game.

And I was leading the charge, nabbing Turner at No. 7 overall to give me that big steals advantage right out of the gate. I might have gone with Gerrit Cole instead had I known Jose Ramirez would be there with my second pick, but hey, take the steals where you can get them, right? My next three picks — Patrick Corbin, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow — were all starting pitchers, and to top it off, I went for the batting average play in Round 6, nabbing the versatile DJ LeMahieu. Where on earth would my power production come from?

I’ll admit I went pretty hard after it thereafter — a luxury that having both Turner and Ramirez afforded me — but the end result has my team projected for the second-highest home run total. The home runs are out there. You can find them up and down the draft, so don’t lose sight of what’s actually worth paying up for.

A few more items of note from this draft:

• Giancarlo Stanton, who we recently learned has a calf injury that could sideline him for the start of the season, slid to Round 9, a four-round drop from his ADP. Seems a bit excessive, right? Particularly given my power needs, I was feeling some remorse over that one.
• Chris Sale’s shaky status for the start of the season (due to pneumonia) didn’t impact his draft stock much, if at all. He was the ninth starting pitcher off the board, going early in Round 3.
• Adalberto Mondesi went 38th overall, up 12 spots from his ADP, which further speaks to our willingness to reach for stolen bases. He’s coming off shoulder surgery, but he wouldn’t be a great bet to contribute much with the bat even if he wasn’t.
• Pete Alonso tumbled all the way to the end of Round 4, which also made me grimace given my power needs at the time. But it was another instance of us all recognizing that power isn’t of the highest priority in the early rounds. Alonso typically goes in the middle of Round 3.

Some quick introductions, and then we’ll get on with it:

1) Devin Davis, The Scorecrow (@devindavis_14)
2) Frank Stampfl, Fantasy BFFs (@Roto_Frank) 
3) Dan Gilbert, Fantasy Fisticuffs podcast (@DabberDanLit)
4) Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Company
5) Tyler Boudrow, Lineup Legends (@lineup_legends) 
6) Chris Mitchell, Fantrax (@CJMitch73) 
7) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite) 
8) Nick Mimikos, Stack Attack podcast (@NMimi)
9) Adam Aizer, CBS Sports (@AdamAizer) 
10) Mike Alexander, Fantasy Alarm (@Roto_Wan) 
11) B_Don, Razzball (@RazzBDon)  
12) R.J. White, CBS Sports (@rjwhite1)

So which sleepers should you snatch in your draft? And which undervalued first baseman can help you win a championship? Visit SportsLine now to get rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Kenta Maeda’s huge breakout last season, and find out.