It’s time to start prepping for fantasy baseball drafts as the long offseason comes to an end. Mock drafts are a great way to familiarize yourself with the upcoming player pool and find trends for real drafts. Using FantasyPros’ Draft Wizard tool lets you run a realistic fantasy baseball mock draft with your league-specific settings. Let’s run an NL-Only points league mock draft using Draft Wizard.
This 10-team Roto NL-Only league will use a roster of 1-C, 1-1B, 1-2B, 1-3B, 1-SS, 5-OF, 1-CI, 1-MI, 1-UTIL, 9-Pitchers and three bench spots. You can find the draft board here.
Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
1.09: Francisco Lindor (SS – NYM)
Francisco Lindor is coming off another 31/31 season and has been one of the most stable fantasy producers over the last three seasons. He hits atop one of the best lineups in baseball and gives you a balanced approach to the start of your draft.
2.02: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (SP – LAD)
Coming off a fantastic year in which he stayed healthy, there are no concerns with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He will win a ton of games on the Dodgers and provide amazing ratios and strikeouts.
3.09: Brice Turang (2B – MIL)
I am not expecting 18 home runs again from Brice Turang, but he is a good bet for 10+ home runs with 30+ stolen bases and a solid batting average. He has a good approach and hit tool, and the defense will always keep him in the lineup.
4.02: Edwin Diaz (RP – LAD)
One of the hardest things to find in NL-Only or AL-Only Leagues is saves off the waiver wire. You will get lucky every once in a while, but it is a chore. I prefer to grab elite relief pitchers/closers and lock down the position. Edwin Diaz is the top closer in the game on the best team in baseball. This was an easy pick.
5.09: Devin Williams (RP – MIL)
Piggybacking off of my last pick, I double-tapped closer here. This locks down the category while giving me a stable ratio foundation.
6.02: Agustin Ramirez (C – MIA)
Agustin Ramirez was fantastic as a rookie, and while he struggles defensively, that’s not a big issue in fantasy because he will get plenty of at-bats as the team’s designated hitter. If he can get back to 575-600 plate appearances, there is a potential 20/20 catcher here with even more upside in the power department.
7.09: Ivan Herrera (C – STL)
Double-tapping on catcher is not something I do very often, but in an NL-Only league, there are massive drops in value at catcher. Ivan Herrera is someone I have come around on recently. He has great underlying skills, and while he won’t catch to start the season, he is expected to take a lot of at-bats as the team’s designated hitter and then work behind the plate at times as he rehabs his elbow.
8.02: Jakob Marsee (OF – MIA)
Jakob Marsee had a really impressive debut, hitting .292/.363/.478 with five home runs and 14 stolen bases in 234 plate appearances for the Marlins. He was lucky in the batting average on balls in play (BABIP) department, so the average will come back down, but most projection systems have him dropping tremendously in batting average, while I think it will be more of a small decline.
Marsee makes fantastic contact and has plenty of speed, so he can post a higher than normal BABIP. He has 15/40 upside leading off for an improving team.
9.09: Brenton Doyle (OF – COL)
Brenton Doyle is coming off a really disappointing season, where he struggled most of the year. However, he had a real-life family tragedy that happened early in the season, which likely made it difficult to focus on the field. I am willing to look past his 2025 and believe he will produce more like his 2024 season because the underlying skills were still good.
10.02: Matthew Boyd (SP – CHC)
Matthew Boyd is coming off a very good season, but he is 35 and has a history of health problems, which is why you can get him this late. If I can get 130-140 good innings from him on a good Cubs team, he will be worth his average draft position (ADP).
11.09: Andrew Vaughn (1B – MIL)
Andrew Vaughn is a former top prospect who was heading towards bust status in Chicago, but after the White Sox traded him to the Brewers, he hit .308/.375/493 with nine home runs and 46 RBI in 254 plate appearances.
Vaughn has always had good underlying skills and a boatload of talent, but he finally put it all together in Milwaukee. The fact that he goes as low as he does is a gift for those who take the plunge.
12.02: Ryne Nelson (SP – ARI)
I am a big believer in the skills we have seen from Ryne Nelson over his first few seasons. He will finally get to enter the season as a cemented starter and is reportedly refining his curveball and slider in hopes of becoming less dependent on the fastball to be able to go deeper into games. If he does, Nelson could take a massive leap forward.
13.09: Adolis Garcia (OF – PHI)
Adolis Garcia has had a few down seasons as he gets older and his skills decline. However, the Phillies brought him in because he can still hit for power, and he is a good defensive player. It is a much better park for power, and he should have a locked-in playing time. Garcia is a pretty good bet for 20+ homers and 10+ stolen bases if you can offset the bad average.
14.02: Alec Bohm (3B – PHI)
When you take players like Adolis Garcia, you have to draft players that offset them, like Alec Bohm. Bohm doesn’t do anything particularly well, except that he hits for a good average year in and year out. He is the definition of an accumulator who only really has value because he plays a ton. That is all you need — someone who can hit .275 with 600 plate appearances.
15.09: Clay Holmes (SP – NYM)
I am kind of surprised to get Clay Holmes this late. He doesn’t have a good health track record, but he is coming off a season where he was able to throw 165.2 innings with a 3.53 ERA. He will likely regress some there, but he pitches for a great team in a good home park, so the regression shouldn’t be as bad as his ADP suggests.
16.02: Bryce Eldridge (1B – SF)
This is a gamble on upside. Bryce Edridge is a top-tier prospect who made his debut at the end of the season and struggled. He could start back in the Minors, but the Giants are going to give him a chance to win the designated hitter role in San Francisco. If he can make enough contact, there is 30-40 home run upside, even in a tough park
17.09: Tyler Mahle (SP – SF)
Tyler Mahle is coming off a really good season that was cut pretty short due to injury. He is moving to a great park and a good team that has a history of signing veteran starters to one-year deals with great success. Ultimately, there is a lot of risk because Mahle hasn’t thrown 100 innings in a season since 2022. If he can reach that number, there is some really nice upside.
18.02: Willi Castro (OF, 2B, 3B – COL)
Willi Castro is moving to Colorado and will be a full-time starter for the first time in his career. He still has speed, and the thin air and larger outfield in Colorado should help his BABIP. Castro is eligible in three spots, which is huge for a league this deep.
19.09: Lars Nootbaar (OF – STL)
I have been a fan of Lars Nootbaar for a while, but it has never really worked out the way I had hoped. I am giving him one last chance in a season where the Cardinals are rebuilding, and they have no reason not to give him a full run in the outfield. There are still good reasons to believe in Nootbaar — good in-zone contact, walks a ton and has power in the bat.
20.02: Chad Patrick (SP – MIL)
Do not let the two first names fool you, Chad Patrick is a very interesting pitcher. He has four pitches with a stuff+ over 100 and pretty good control and command. With the trade of Freddy Peralta, he should have a rotation spot locked down in Milwaukee. Patrick is a great sleeper pick this year.
21.09: Gavin Sheets (1B, OF – SD)
Gavin Sheets isn’t going to repeat what he did last season, but he has a regular role in San Diego and power in the bat. That means something late in an NL-Only league.
22.02: Riley O’Brien (RP – STL)
Riley O’Brien is competing for the closer role in St. Louis. I would recommend handcuffing JoJo Romero to him if you are going to make this type of pick, which I didn’t do here — a clear mistake.
23.09: Joey Ortiz (SS – MIL)
Joey Ortiz is a low-level accumulator, but in leagues this deep, these players pay dividends. I think there is some average upside here. Ultimately, I just need the plate appearances.
24.02: Reynaldo Lopez (SP – ATL)
Reynaldo Lopez missed a lot of last season with an injury, but when he has been on the mound, he has been a very effective starter.
25.09: Nasim Nunez (2B, SS – WSH)
Nasim Nunez may be one of my favorite sleeper picks this year. He has the second base job to himself with the Nationals moving Luis Garcia Jr. to first base. Nunez has a ton of speed and a great hit tool.
Nunez doesn’t have power, and there is a risk that pitchers try to take advantage of that, but he is also great at drawing walks. There is very little risk to a player this cheap, but a lot of upside if he can keep this job.
26.02: Andrew Painter (SP – PHI)
Andrew Painter is a top pitching prospect who missed a lot of time in 2023 and 2024 with Tommy John surgery and then struggled in his return last season. The first year back from Tommy John surgery is always a struggle, but Painter is expected to compete for a rotation spot with the Phillies this spring. If he looks like the pitcher he was pre-surgery, this pick will look incredibly smart.
Draft Wizard Insights
The Wizard gave this draft a B+ grade (86/100) and is projected as the fifth-best team in the league. My biggest issues are batting average and WHIP. I do not mind punting batting average and probably should have just committed to that mid-draft instead of trying to offset it. Overall, I think I did a good job of getting a lot of volume on this team while mixing in upside plays.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | SoundCloud | TuneIn
