- April 18, 2024
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I'm planning on adding a little Ormond Beach flavor to one of my fantasy baseball teams this season.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
There has been a lot of baseball talk in this space over the past few weeks, but there is no more imortant topic than this one: fantasy baseball.
If you’ve never played fantasy baseball before, and you have no desire to get a small glimpse of the chaos that will be my life, starting with my first of three drafts Sunday, stop reading.
But if you’re still with me, you’re probably wondering why I would torture myself in three different fantasy baseball leagues this year. And honestly, I have no good answer. Could this backfire on me? There’s an excellent chance.
This first league, which drafts Sunday night, is one I’ve been a part of since I was a freshman in college. This is the eighth season and about half of the league has been around since it began, and there are serious bragging rights at stake.
These leagues aren’t for the casual baseball fan, either. They have keepers, we trade draft picks, and in one league, the inaugural season of a dynasty league, we’ll have a minor league draft.
Yes, there is a group of baseball nerds (10 of us) so desperate for an escape from reality that we’ll take time, probably a significant amount of time, to research prospects who have never been called up to the bigs, and try to predict who will be good in three or four years.
Now, any seasoned fantasy baseball manager will tell you drafting major league talent is never easy. There are uncertainties and slumps that can torpedo a season.
Drafting minor league players? You’re probably just as safe closing your eyes and guessing. But I have a secret up my sleeve.
Months before I even knew I would be in a league with such a ridiculous element, I happened to be doing a little scouting.
Tucker Jensen is an Ormond Beach native who played college ball at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is currently in the Toronto Blue Jays system.
I wrote about Jensen in October, and watched him pitch batting practice to 12-year-olds on an Ormond Beach Golden Spikes team.
He looked dominant. And that’s good enough for me.
Jensen, you made it! Consider yourself drafted.
