I was just talking with some friends about what the first round of next years fantasy baseball draft will look like, and outside of that, who the biggest winners were this year.

Biggest Winners:

• Joe Mauer.  Mauer is now similar to Chase Utley.  He has the numbers of a mid-second round pick, but because of position scarcity could be moved up to early second round or even a late first rounder.  I wouldn’t do that, but that’s where his value is.
• Matt Kemp.  He was a trendy breakout/rising star candidate, but he validated this talk.  I think he takes Hamilton’s spot as the rising outfielder to take in the late first round next year.
• Derek Jeter.  He is not going in the first round, but he slipped in the draft this year (even with shortstop being a weak position) due to his age.  He stole 30 bases this season.  He’s not done.
• Troy Tulowitzki.  He made some owners panic before the all-star break, but ended up as a breakout SS candidate.  SS is so weak right now that he is a welcome producer across every stat category.  Probably a late second round or early third round pick now.
• Ryan Zimmerman.  When he was coming up through the minors he was talked about in the same light as David Wright.  He hasn’t come close to peaking and put up solid numbers this season.  He’ll work his way into the third round now on his way up to becoming a first round pick in a few years.

My very early projected first round for next season:

1. Albert Pujols
2. Ryan Braun
3. Hanley Ramirez
4. Miguel Cabrera
5. Carl Crawford
6. Prince Fielder
7. Ryan Howard
8. Matt Kemp
9. Mark Texeria
10. Chase Utley
11. Evan Longoria
12. Joe Mauer