First year with a reserve round - where do you get your info

[Jschmuck2]

So this year I'm joining a league that has a reserve round after the main event. It's a snake style draft for prospects and such with a 10 dollar round, 8 dollar, 6 etc...

Does anyone else do this? Do you have a strategy that differs from normal draft strategy? Where do you get your info? Baseball America seems like the obvious choice but I was hoping someone had a magic/secret that they were willing to divulge here on the internet for all to hear.

??

[MasterX1918]

taking guys who are closest to being MLB ready seems to be the most logical choice, for instance i'd rather have Mike Moustakas than Mike Trout or Manny Machado simply because Moustakas is closest to contributing. Machado for instance is probably the better player in the long run but he's probably 3 years away from contributing at the major league level. I'd check out the minor league forum, we have some members who compile lists of the top 50 prospects, myself included. Like I said you want guys who are the closest to being major league ready, so heres some names you'll want to know. Hellickson/Jennings/Brown/Chapman/Kimbrel should be some obvious ones.

Jeremy Hellickson
Desmond Jennings
Domonic Brown
Freddie Freeman
Craig Kimbrel
JP Arencibia
Aroldis Chapman
Danny Espinosa
Michael Pineda
Chris Sale
Mike Minor
Jesus Montero
Brandon Belt
Mike Moustakas
Eric Hosmer
Zack Britton
Dustin Ackely
Brett Lawrie
Brett Jackson
Chris Carter
Lonnie Chissenhall
Kyle Gibson
Shelby Miller
Jason Kipnis
Jordan Lyles
Simon Castro
Jacob Turner
Martin Perez
Julio Teheran
Mike Trout
Wil Myers
Jenrry Mejia
Jeremy Jeffress
Hank Conger
Mark Trumbo
Grant Green
Miguel Sano
Nick Weglarz

this isn't really in any order

[Steve-o]

We don't do it exactly how you do it, but I've been playing in leagues that have a MiLB draft for about 5 years now. Following the minor leagues is very time consuming, but I've found it to be a ton of fun. To the point that I'm just as likely to guy to a MiLB game to "scout" my players as I am to watch my guys at a professional one.

Baseball America is a decent source, as is Kevin Goldstein at BPro, Jon Sickels, Keith Law at ESPN, Project Prospect, Scouting Book, heck even the Shandler's Forecaster does a MiLB ranking. There is tons of information out there.

Obviously, you don't have the time, and you probably don't have the skill, to scout these guys yourself (I certainly don't in either aspect), so you end up relying on their rankings to a certain extent. Personally, there are commentators I like more or less than others and rely on them a little more frequently, so I create a weighted mean spreadsheet from various sources. Then I make adjustments to the lists based on certain statistical categories (K:BB mainly) and which tools the prospect has that are considered plus or not. For example, guys that are considered to have a plus hit tool and a plus power tool (60 or better on the 20-80 scouting scale) get huge jumps in making rankings whereas guys that have plus gloves or plus arms get bumped down. Pitchers are a bigger injury risk in MiLB than in MLB, so they generally get moved down my list as well.

[Steve-o]

Here's a good compilation source.