2012 Mock Draft, Rounds 11 & 12

As I stated previously, I am participating in a fantasy baseball slow mock draft being coordinated by Jeffrey from BleacherGM, which can be followed on Couch Managers. There are 14 teams and there will be a total of 16 rounds. The draft began on Tuesday, December 13th and was originally anticipated to last until sometime in February.

Round nine was a bit of a struggle, but we rolled through round ten pretty quick. I even managed to take my 11th round draft pick before we stalled again. We probably would still be rolling along if BleacherGM would not have disabled auto queue. 159 picks were made in nearly 155 hours, which gives us an average of 0.98 hours per pick or 24.53 picks per day. Our draft rate has sustained a fairly steady pace as we creep closer toward the finish line. Only four rounds left.

Expected Date to Complete at Current Rate: Thursday, December 22, 2011
Latest Date to Complete at Maximum Rate: Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I should mention I will be taking a short trip starting Tuesday afternoon, so I may have to rely on my queue.

Round #11, Pick #150 - Yadier Molina
I believe you should not let your inner fan take control of your picks, which is why I actually regret picking Molina. He's one of the most popular players in St. Louis since Albert Pujols left the team and plays great defense, but it doesn't matter in an offense-only fantasy world. He was on top of the heap of leftover catchers with the catcher slot still open for three other teams. I would have considered taking a second closer this round, but all of the "tier two" closers were taken after my last pick.

Round #12, Pick #159 - Nick Markakis
I had Brandon Morrow on top of my queue to enforce my strikeout category, but he was taken just before me. Markakis was my silver medal in round 12. He plays for the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, which means they face pitchers like CC Sabathia, Jon Lester, James Shields, and possibly Yu Darvish more often than other teams in weaker divisions. However he still manages to post 70+ runs and RBIs, 10+ home runs and stolen bases, and a respectable batting average in the .300 range.

*FanGraphs fans projection

Rounds 1 & 2
Rounds 3 & 4
Rounds 5 & 6
Rounds 7 & 8
Rounds 9 & 10
Rounds 11 & 12
Rounds 13 - 16

Critiques are welcomed!