Happy holidays everyone! Just in time for Christmas, we have a new MLB Showdown league to share with everyone: the SEC Showdown league! Now, the league is not a simple "each teams alumni facing off" or making cards from current SEC players. Instead, we had some fun with players from 2000 to the present, "recruiting" (aka drafting) '01 style cards to SEC schools. Since we are playing as colleges, we didn't have a salary cap; instead, we limited the total OB that could be on a team's lineup and control in a team's rotation and bullpen. Needless to say: it's going to be an All Star league!!
We've got a 162 game schedule cooked up to play out this 16 team league, much like the 30 for 30 leagues of the past! So now, let's take a look at how the draft played out!
Draft Order
We used a random draft order generator to help us get this snake draft rolling, and it gave us the following order, with each manager included (some are the names of the manager on the discord server):
- Mississippi State (managed by WDR)
- South Carolina (Cal, the creator of the 2011 set)
- Arkansas (Riley)
- LSU (Malford)
- Georgia (Michael)
- Oklahoma (Tommy)
- Tennessee (Ren)
- Auburn (Kevin)
- Ole Miss (Stitch)
- Florida (Davy)
- Vanderbilt (Miles)
- Alabama (John)
- Texas A&M (Kyle)
- Mizzou (Cokey18)
- Kentucky (Parker)
- Texas (DMACATTAK)
ROUND 1:
(1) Mississippi State selects Aaron Judge - OF
WDR started things off by passing over Barry Bonds to take another powerful slugger in an effort to conserve an on-base for later in the draft, betraying his Boston fandom to take Aaron Judge's 2022 card as the 1,1 pick in this all star draft:
This card is obviously incredible. 16-20 power with an OB 10, positive defense and acceptable speed, this is a card you can plug into a lineup and watch it give you 50+ HR with a .400 OBP.
(2) South Carolina selects Barry Bonds - LF/RF
After Bonds remained on the board, it was no shock that he'd go second... but what was surprising was the year taken by Cal! Instead of the OB 11, HR at 16 version that hit 73 dingers in 2001, Cal took the OBP masterpiece of a card from 2004, snagging the OB 13 version of Bonds.
While this will inevitably cause some juggling with the OB of hitters later in the draft, it's hard to top a leadoff man with (1) a 13 OB card; (2) a 13 OB card that WALKS when you roll a 1. This table-setter should help South Carolina score a plethora of runs this year!
(3) Arkansas selects Pedro Martinez - SP
Another "by the book" selection here, with Tier 1, control 4, no doubles Pedro Martinez going off the board! Moreover, 2000 Pedro Martinez is cemented in all of our showdown-loving hearts as the O.G. legend for being the first Control 5, 1-17 out, no doubles starter in the game. That '01 card is a masterpiece, so it's no surprise that Riley went ahead and snatched him up with his first pick.
This was the first real shocker of the draft, as no one suspected Ohtani going in the top 5 and definitely didn't expect his DH-only version to be the one selected. That said, it's hard to argue against the versatility of this card -- OB 10, HR at 17 with speed A and a TON of extra-base potential thanks to his 50/50 season. This card will absolutely produce and while he was a surprise, he's definitely not a bad one!
Also, LSU would go on to select several alumni favorites, including stud pitcher Paul Skenes in round 2!
(5) Georgia selects Javy Lopez - C
The name is surprising but once you see the card, you understand why Javy Lopez was the first catcher off the board. Due to the lack of elite depth at the catcher position, especially considered to other positions that have a plethora of OB 10, HR at 17 (or at least a lot of 500+ pt players), it was definitely Michael's plot to snag strong catchers early and often!
(6) Oklahoma selects Jacob DeGrom - SP
The Sooners decided to lock down one of the most steady, Tier 1 starters available in Mets' legend Jacob DeGrom. His 2018 version had a 1.70 ERA and locked down a Cy Young, and Tommy is counting on DeGrom to deliver similar success for his squad in SEC play!
(7) Tennessee selects Todd Helton - 1B
Our first "homer" selection is Todd Helton, returning to the school he dominated on the diamond and backed up Peyton Manning at in the 90s. WDR confessed that he almost took this dominant first basemen #1 overall due to his high on-base, fantastic defense, and extra base hitting that starts at 15 (without any draining speed or K on his own chart)... but he'll be back in Knoxville, helping his manager sing a mocking ROCKY TOP against opponents all season long.
(8) Auburn selects Hanley Ramirez - SS
The first middle infielder goes to the plains, as Auburn started its strategy of snagging studs with 17-20 HR ranges with one of the few possible SS with an OB 10, HR at 17 card. But its not just power that Auburn is getting, as Hanley brings A speed, solid defense, and plenty of additional extra base pop to his card. This is a card to remind us all that while most associate Hanley with his amazing seasons in Miami, his best year was in Dodger blue!
(9) Ole Miss selects Clayton Kershaw - SP
The best pitcher of the 2010s goes off the board next and I think Stitch did a great job selecting his 2016 card over the other Tier 1 versions available. Why? Because of the control limitations in team building! There's no point limits for these teams, but rotations can only have the total control of the five starters add to 22 (so if a manager takes a pair of Control 5 starters, they can only average 4 control for the remaining three starters). In other words, there will be many control 3 and 4 pitchers in the league and, therefore, the ability to have an absolute stud with Control 3 will give a lot of flexibility later on... and Ole Miss grabbed the best one!
Plus, let's be honest, Clayton's dodger blue looks great on an Ole Miss powder blue card!
(10) Florida selects Mike Trout - CF
Everyone was waiting for this one, right? It seems crazy that Mike Trout could last to pick #10... and it's only the result of there being so many excellent centerfielders available to pick from, whereas C and SS are weaker positions. But a great pick for Davy here, who had his pick from a host of great Trout seasons and took his amazing 2018 card, which gives elite OB 11, elite speed, elite power and gets on at 3 while giving fine defense. This card can do it all and deserved the U-S-A jersey version of Trout!
(11) Vanderbilt selects Alex Rodriguez - 3B
When Miles initially took A-Rod, they left things open-ended in terms of whether he'd utilize him at SS (with one of the awesome Rangers years) or 3B... and that's where they decided to use A-Rod after finding OB 11 Troy Tulowitzki available in the third round. But this A-Rod is also the best possible version they could use, as his 50+ HR season with the Yankees gave him a STUD card.
Vandy's first-round stud has incredible power (and it helps that he goes to extra bases at 14) but I especially love his A speed. Definitely worth the 600 points and anchors the Commodore attack! Their rotation will feature a bevy of alumni too, with David Price, Walker Buehler and Sonny Gray all lined up to go!
(12) Alabama selects Mark McGwire - 1B
The Crimson Tide took the second best hitter in the draft by points alone, as the 720 pt Mark McGwire gives them an absolutely amazing power hitter to anchor the lineup. However, his lack of speed (or extra base hits outside of dingers) had him fall down to the 12th selection... but as an OB 12, HR at 17 hitter, he's the prohibitive favorite to lead the league in homers!
This may be the biggest head-scratcher of the first round... but boy oh boy did it fit the overall plot that Kyle cooked up for the Aggies. Rolen's 2004 card is awesome, although does not have the OB 10, HR at 17 power of some other available 3B that were on the board... but it DOES have the 3B+5 defense those cards lack. Which ended up supported the Aggies final defense having 3B+5, SS+7, 2B+6 and 1B+1 to give them a +19 infield to pair with a bunch of groundball pitchers! In a league full of good hitting and pitching, the double play machine at A&M is one that Kyle hopes gives them an edge that puts them over the top!
(14) Missouri selects Albert Pujols - 1B
Mizzou taking *the* Cardinal of the 2000s seems awful fitting! This is another stud that the manager could take any of a number of years as the applicable card and have made the right pick. For flexibility in on-base (since the lineups can only have a total of 86 on-base), he took a STUD OB 10, HR at 17 card with great extra-base hitting, some speed, almost no outs, and helpful defense too.
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