2024 Tout Wars Mixed League Draft Review
At 12:05 PM ET last Tuesday, I officially made my debut in the 15-team Tout Wars mixed league that uses Innings Pitched instead of Wins and Solds (Saves + Holds) instead of Saves. I simply wanted to try something different after competing in the Tout Wars Mixed Auction league for the past 12 years and this alternate category league certainly qualified as being different. I’ve never played in a league with IP and Solds, so preparing for the draft was a bit challenging as I didn’t have a familiar strategy. The logical differences were that closers would be devalued while reliable starting pitchers would be more valuable than usual.
Unsurprisingly, I was correct in those predictions as 15 starting pitchers flew off the board by the end of the third round and the first relief pitcher wasn’t selected until midway through the seventh round. That’s when I decided it was time to finally break the ice and grab Devin Williams. Then came a closer run with four additional stoppers being drafted with the next six picks.
Rather than writing the standard but often uninteresting draft review that includes listing every pick along with a short comment, I’m going to structure this similarly to my LABR review. Click here to see the full draft results and if you have any questions or comments about players not discussed, feel free to post them.
Let’s get started.
When should you draft a closer in this format?
There’s no clear answer to this question but I’m generally happy with how things turned out. Starting a closer run is always risky but I’d rather start a closer run than be stuck at the end of a closer run. Then again, if I had known that following the seventh-round selections of Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, Jhoan Duran and Emmanuel Clase, another closer would not be chosen until round 10 (Andres Munoz), I might have taken a different path.
Nico Hoerner better be good
Drafting Hoerner in the fourth round is the decision I regret the most. This isn’t a knock on Hoerner but it was a missed opportunity to add Christian Yelich, who was selected with the very next pick. Tout Wars uses OBP instead of AVG, significantly boosting Yelich’s appeal. I’m optimistic about Hoerner this year but he will likely fall short of Yelich in every category except steals. I was too speed-focused when making this pick, allowing one category to overshadow the steady across-the-board contributions of Yelich. In the early rounds, I try to avoid risk as much as possible and Hoerner, coming off what was by far his best season in the majors, carries more risk than Yelich.
Bryan Reynolds, Sean Murphy and Willy Adames again
There are a few other hitters who reside on both my LABR and Tout Wars roster but these three are the most notable. Reynolds is one of the more underappreciated outfielders in the fantasy game, a dependable four-category producer who even swiped a dozen bags last year. Murphy faded down the stretch last season but he’s still an annual 20-homer candidate and should be a useful asset in the OBP department. Adames won’t be of much help in OBP but I love the idea of drafting a 25+ HR shortstop outside of the top-150.
Wyatt Langford in round 10
What a difference a week makes. I originally viewed my Langford pick at #145 as a slight reach since it was possible that he wouldn’t even make his big-league debut until mid-season. But thanks to his red-hot hitting this spring, it sounds like it will be a shock if he doesn’t open the season in the Rangers’ lineup. The 22-year-old is now routinely being drafted within the top-100 in NFBC leagues and it might not be long before his fantasy stock rises to top-75 status. In this case, I benefited from perfect timing. I guess it’s possible that an early-season slump will lead to Langford being sent down for a portion of the season but I think the more likely scenario is he performs well enough to remain an every-week starter in mixed leagues.
Injury-risk starting pitchers
Triston McKenzie, Kenta Maeda, Frankie Montas. Whoa. That’s a lot of injury risk on one pitching staff. I rarely take on this much pitcher injury risk but as 15th, 16th and 25th-round picks respectively, there isn’t much downside here. Oh, and I added Robbie Ray (aiming for a mid-season return from Tommy John surgery) in the 26th round. Maybe I went a little overboard. Or maybe half of these risks will pay off. Half would be enough for me.
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