All my mock drafts are done on ESPN, which uses the standard roto rules (25 man roster). I’ve done several mock drafts, but today I tried a different strategy: I went young. For the most part, I tried to draft guys who can provide long-term value, since my main league is a roto keeper league and I can either trade these prospects for chances to win NOW or keep them and dominate the league for years to come.

I also used the LIMA plan in this mock draft. If you don’t know what it is, basically you sacrifice pitching and focus on putting a ton of offense on the field. It’s more complicated than that, but you get the picture. The goal is to finish at the top or near the top of all offensive categories, thereby ensuring that you’ll win the league (because no one team typically dominates all pitching categories).

I think I ended up with a good mixture in all offensive categories.

Here’s my mock team:

** (5) Team Botter - Ryan Braun 3B
** (16) Team Botter - David Ortiz DH
** (25) Team Botter - Mark Teixeira 1B
** (36) Team Botter - Corey Hart RF
** (45) Team Botter - Russell Martin C
** (56) Team Botter - Adam Dunn LF
** (65) Team Botter - Hunter Pence CF
** (76) Team Botter - Daisuke Matsuzaka SP
** (85) Team Botter - J.J. Hardy SS
** (96) Team Botter - Tim Lincecum SP
** (105) Team Botter - Nick Swisher 1B
** (116) Team Botter - Rickie Weeks 2B
** (125) Team Botter - Andruw Jones CF
** (136) Team Botter - Pat Burrell LF
** (145) Team Botter - Kelly Johnson 2B
** (156) Team Botter - Jeremy Bonderman SP
** (165) Team Botter - Joba Chamberlain RP
** (176) Team Botter - Clay Buchholz SP
** (185) Team Botter - Phil Hughes SP
** (196) Team Botter - Jacoby Ellsbury LF
** (205) Team Botter - Andy Pettitte SP
** (216) Team Botter - Dontrelle Willis SP
** (225) Team Botter - Jon Garland SP
** (236) Team Botter - Justin Upton RF
** (245) Team Botter - Ryan Church LF

Notes:

- Braun at 5th is just about perfect. I would actually take him at #4 if I had to. He has eligibility as an outfielder and 3rd baseman, and Baseball Prospectus has him ranked as the #3 best 3B (behind Wright and Rodriguez) and the #1 outfielder.

- Probably took Corey Hart way too early, but I wanted to make sure I got him. Same goes for Russell Martin.

- I was going to hold off for pitching until the late rounds completely, but felt like I needed to at least get 1 or two semi-quality guys, which is why I took Dice and Lincecum earlier than I’d planned.

- I think Andruw Jones is going to have a monster year in terms of home runs.

- Kelly Johnson is another guy who I probably grabbed way too early, but wanted to make sure I have him. I’ve got him ranked as the #3 2nd baseman and Rickie Weeks at #4, so I got some great value here. The mock draft uses the 2B position and the 2B/SS position, so I’d have both Johnson and Weeks in the starting lineup.

- This would be a very young pitching staff, and probably wouldn’t do much for me this year, but it gives me a staff of awesome young prospects that I could hold on to if I knew I didn’t have a chance of winning, or I could trade them for needs if I had a chance. Having Hughes, Chamberlain, Buchholz, and Lincecum could make my choice of keepers for next year a very tough process. I got Andy Petitte just because he was best available vet at that point. Dontrelle Willis was one of those picks that was a no-brainer, because I took him so late that it doesn’t really affect me if he continues to bomb, but I’d look like a genius if he returns to his form from a few years ago.

- Think I’m most proud of getting Upton and Church, two highly HIGHLY rated prospects, in the last two rounds. The only other sleeper I wanted was Akinori Iwamura, but he went two rounds before I thought he should. Fukudome went waaaay too early as well.

- I just wrote a whole bunch of words about a fantasy baseball mock draft. I apologize. Do you have any thoughts about my mock draft or your own draft strategies? Leave em’ in the comments!