If you don’t like the designated hitter, then you’re in the right place! Today’s special is baseball’s Senior Circuit, as we’re running through an NL-only mock draft for you specialists out there. The randomizer assigned me with the fifth pick, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

For this respective 10-team NL-only redraft mock, we’re using standard 5×5 roto categories with these slots: C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, CI, MI, 3 OF, 2 Util, 3 SP, 2 RP, 4 P and 5 BN. To complete this mock, I used our Draft Wizard which is a quick and easy way to prepare for your fantasy baseball drafts. You can view the full draft board and analysis here.

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Mock Draft Picks

• 1.05 Bryce Harper, WSH
• 2.06 Freddie Freeman, ATL
• 3.05 Jon Lester, CHC
• 4.06 Kyle Schwarber, CHC
• 5.05 D.J. LeMahieu, COL
• 6.06 Justin Turner, LAD
• 7.05 John Lackey, CHC
• 8.06 Marcell Ozuna, MIA
• 9.05 Tony Watson, PIT
• 10.06 Joe Ross, WSH
• 11.05 Keon Broxton, MIL
• 12.06 Neftali Feliz, MIL
• 13.05 Hunter Renfroe, SD
• 14.06 David Peralta, ARI
• 15.05 Asdrubal Cabrera, NYM
• 16.06 Gio Gonzalez, WSH
• 17.05 Brandon Drury, ARI
• 18.06 Martin Prado, MIA
• 19.05 Kyle Barraclough, MIA
• 20.06 Joaquin Benoit, PHI
• 21.05 Ty Blach, SF
• 22.06 Matt Adams, STL
• 23.05 Chris Herrmann, ARI
• 24.06 Stephen Drew, WSH
• 25.05 Robert Stephenson, CIN
• 26.06 Michael Lorenzen, CIN

Early Rounds

Bryce Harper entered 2015 as a challenger to Mike Trout’s No. 1 fantasy pick status but fell well short of expectations with a .243/.373/.441 slash line, though he still hit 24 homers with 21 steals. He’s recently said he knows exactly what went wrong last season, but hasn’t elaborated on the matter.

Many speculate injury, but regardless of the specifics, he should remain a strong bet to deliver top-five stats. With 20+ steal potential now apparent on top of the power, I’ll build my team around him.

Next up we have Freddie Freeman, who has steadily crept up draft boards thanks to an absurd 43.5 percent hard-hit rate and league-leading 29.1 percent line-drive rate. He’s in his prime at age 27, so count me in as a believer.

Sadly, Trevor Story went one pick before me, and I wasn’t going to bite on Buster Posey, so I felt alright grabbing Jon Lester to anchor my rotation. Even without David Ross, he still has the support of baseball’s most talented defense behind him. Their 808 runs were also third best in the MLB, not that the Cubs being a good target is groundbreaking.

Next up came the decision of Kyle Schwarber versus Matt Carpenter. I love Carp’s versatility, but Schwarber being catcher-eligible here was the tie-breaker. His 30-homer potential in the aforementioned powerful lineup makes him a solid pick a full round after Posey.

In an NL-only format, I do not want to wait to attack the infield, so I went with D.J. LeMahieu and Justin Turner in Rounds 5 and 6. All LeMahieu did in his age-27 season was win the NL Batting Title while setting career-best marks in walk (10.4 percent) and strikeout (12.6 percent) rates.

He still hits at Coors and that offense has only gotten more potent in 2017, so I’ll gladly grab a share. Turner shouldn’t be questioned, as he finally got show what he could do over a full season in 2016. Believe and buy.

Getting another Cubbie pitcher in John Lackey isn’t a bad idea, right? Those guys win games.

On top of the team situation, Lackey also turned in a career-high 11.5 percent swinging-strike rate in 2016. His 1.06 WHIP will likely give a little, but he’s still a good pitcher and that defense behind him cannot be underestimated.

Marcell Ozuna was on fire (.320/.375/.574) before hurting his wrist in late June, as he slashed a paltry .214/.269/.337 from June 28 on. While we can’t attribute everything to the wrist injury, count me as a believer in pre-injury Ozuna to be what we see in 2017. I didn’t want to fall behind the eight ball in the OF either.

Middle Rounds

Tony Watson (Round 9) and Neftali Feliz (Round 12) may not be the most imposing closers, but they’ll get the job done and won’t leave me relying on the likes of Jeanmar Gomez or Brandon Maurer. Two closers in an “only” league help one avoid early trouble.

In between them, I took Joe Ross and Keon Broxton. Ross could take a big step forward with a little refinement to his command. If last season’s .319 BABIP drops 10-20 points, then we could have a solid 3.40 ERA/1.24 WHIP pitcher.

Broxton will likely hit .230, but he could pop off for 20 homers and sniff 50 steals due to playing for Milwaukee — baseball’s most aggressive base-stealing team (181 in 2016, the Reds were second with 139).

Hunter Renfroe and David Peralta make for intriguing utility bats in the next two rounds. Renfroe clobbered 30 homers in hitter-friendly Triple-A last season, and San Diego should give him steady playing time in ’16. Peralta’s all-around bat skills should come back into play with a clean bill of health, but it would be nice if I could bench him against lefties (.310 career average versus RHP, .222 versus LHP).

It was time to address the rest of my starting lineup, so I went for two vets — Asdrubal Cabrera and Martin Prado — alongside an intriguing youngster, Brandon Drury. Gio Gonzalez was also sandwiched in there, but we really know what we’re getting out of those three established commodities. Drury, on the other hand, could be Arizona’s everyday second baseman in 2017.

Projection systems aren’t accounting for this, but he could approach a 20-homer season with a .280 average if given 500 at-bats. We’ll root for even more.

Late Rounds

It’s time for speculative RP plays! Kyle Barraclough’s 5.45 BB/9 mark is ugly, but everything else is gorgeous — especially that 14.00 K/9 and 52.1 percent groundball rate. Joaquin Benoit saw his peripherals slip in 2016, but he’s still a better pitcher than Jeanmar Gomez.

If Philadelphia wants to keep Hector Neris’ value down while building up Benoit for a trade-deadline move, then he could see some opportunities if/when Gomez falters. Ty Blach has stellar control and grounder-inducing stuff, with an outside shot at the No. 5 slot in San Francisco’s rotation.

After a Matt Adams pick (in case someone goes down) that should’ve been Cody Bellinger, I decided to grab Chris Herrmann so that I could potentially shift Schwarber to the outfield if Herrmann looked good to start the season. He quietly hit six homers and stole four bases in 166 PAs last season — he’s got talent. Stephen Drew won’t inspire anyone, but his versatility makes him a nice bench piece.

Robert Stephenson has lots of raw talent but won’t make it without improved control. If he can’t show that in Spring Training then he’s cut. I felt better taking fellow Red Michael Lorenzen, who had a 2.75 SIERA behind the 2.88 ERA last season and is now a piece of the closing committee.

Overall, I’m happy to have gotten so many players who can deliver power without sacrificing average. This’ll allow me to play Broxton every day, as I surely need his speed in this lineup. Prado should help balance out Broxton as well.

Investing in Cubs pitching to lead my rotation ahead of two closers and some solid middlemen help yield a competitive staff, though my offense is still the key.

Our analysis charts illustrate this, alongside the lovely A-plus grade that I’ll put up on the fridge. It’s always easier to make up for pitching rather than hitting, so let’s take this team to the bank!

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