Tuesday, February 06, 2007

MLB Mock Draft Software Overview

March 10, 2014 Update: A preliminary version of the 2014 hitters and pitchers projection files are now available for download at the Yahoo Group. Click on the link in the paragraph below for the download. If you are having trouble, feel free to email me and I will send you the two text Ascii files. These hitters and pitchers data files are from Fangraphs and include the Fans projections.  I will leave any position or team editing to the user.


You will need to join and download from my Yahoo Group to get a copy of the zip file which contains the setup.exe. The Yahoo group also has projection file downloads if you don't want to re-download the entire software. Once you join the Yahoo group, click on the "Files" link to see the list of downloads. Feel free to email me or leave comments below with any questions.


Highlighted Feature: A helpful feature that was added last year but probably not realized by most users is the ability to import a player ranking file. This is not a player projection file, just a list of players from most valuable to least valuable based on whatever criteria you the user define. For example I have created a ranking import file for you called ADP2014.txt. I use this feature when I want the computer to value it's players during a mock draft based on how players are getting drafted in the "real" fantasy world. It can give you a more realistic mock draft, and can be used during a real draft to get a general idea on what players will most likely be taken by other owners in your league. You can also toggle between your imported rankings and the rankings the computer calculates based off of the projection(s) files you are using. From the drop down menu select the Tools->Player Ranking Systems to do this. For now don't use the Yahoo and Roto Junkie ranking options, they haven't been built for 2009 yet, but you can easily create your own import rankings file with the Yahoo ADP or ESPN ADP etc. To import a player ranking file, after you load your league config, pitchers and hitters files, simply select from Tools->Player Ranking Systems->From File, and open your import file or the one I provided. The format for your import file should be FName,LName (first name and last name of player, seperated by a comma).


Importing your own Projections
Make a comma delimited file with the following format for hitters (.txt)
ie-LN,FN,Team,Pos,AB,H,2B,3B,HR,BB,R,RBI,SB,CS
positions:
4=C
8=1B
16=2B
32=3B
64=SS
128=OF
256=DH
Multiple position, ie 1B/3B = 8+32=40 Put a 40.
Make a text file for pitchers.
LN,FN,Team,Pos,IP,ERA,BB,WHIP,W,L,SV,SO,Holds,QS
For positions...
1=RP
2=SP


Importing an Average Draft Position (ADP) File
ADP files can be used to override the computer generated rankings, or you can easily toggle between the two during a draft. Here is the format for building an ADP file. Please give your ADP file a .txt file extension and place it in the appropriate folder. 12 player ADP sample below. You probably want to list 250 to 350 players, depending on how many players your league drafts.


Albert,Pujols
Hanley,Ramirez
Alex,Rodriguez
Ryan,Braun
Chase,Utley
Prince,Fielder
Matt,Kemp
Mark,Teixeira
Ryan,Howard
Evan,Longoria
Miguel,Cabrera
Troy,Tulowitzki


Latest Version: Version 9.2.20
    Recent Upgrades:
  • 2009 Mock Draft Central and Yahoo ADP files added.
  • 2009 Marcel mixed pitching file has updated save tallies.
  • 2009 Marcels AL/NL/Mixed hitters and pitchers projections
  • 2009 Hitter Projections: xizzlehitters.txt
  • 2009 Pitcher Projections: xizzlepitchers.txt
  • 8.3.11
  • Fixed bug with using "Hits" as a category.
  • 8.3.7
  • ESPN ADP file added, plus minor projection changes.
  • 8.3.2
  • Additional feature where player's stats are displayed when the player is selected from the player list on the 'Advice' tab.
  • 8.3.1
  • Fixed bug related to players with similar names ie-Chris Young, Ryan Braun
  • 8.2.29
  • Fixed bug and added more players to MockDraftCentralADP.txt file
  • 8.2.28
  • New import rankings file from MockDraftCentral ADP
  • 8.2.27
  • Ability to set Innings Pitched Max limits.
  • Updated Yahoo ADP Rankings.
  • 8.2.26
  • 7x7 League Configuration fully supported.
  • Minor changes to help screen.
  • F4 Hot Key to toggle clipboard feature on and off.
  • Settings tab to view current draft settings.
  • Minor changes to player projections


MLB Mock Draft Software is a program written in Visual Basic 6 by Xeifrank. The purpose of this program is to be able to run a fantasy baseball mock draft, by yourself and on your own computer.

The MLB Mock Draft Software comes with a set of projections. I will make changes to these projections as I see fit, but you are encouraged to modify the projections yourself if you feel capable of doing so. I am not gauranteeing accurate projections and the product I am providing is the draft software that can run any set of projections, given that they are in the correct format.

The main uses of the MLB Mock Draft Software are (but not limited to):

1. Running practice mock drafts against the computer, where the computer drafts for all of the other teams.
2. As a tool to use during your live draft to help manage your draft process and pick the best possible team.
3. To analyze a team that you already drafted using some other draft method.

MLB Mock Draft Software Features:

1. Fully customizeable projections, with player database editing utility.
2. Standings are updated after each pick.
3. Rosters of each team can be displayed
4. Advice on which player(s) to pick, filtered by position.
5. A list of the best remaining players and their value in a sorted table.
6. The ability to view stats of any player.
7. An engine that calculates the value of each player based on the "Replacement Level Value", which takes into consideration league and roster configurations.
8. The ability to create leagues with different numbers of owners, different statistical categories (5x5 or 6x6 only) and different roster configurations.
9. The ability to run a snake draft, flat order draft or out of order draft.
10. The ability to save a draft and reload it at a later time.
11. A command explosion function that helps you quickly find a player to draft.
12. The ability to have the computer draft based off of different ranking systems.
13. Determines number of HRs, RBIs, Runs etc..., most likely needed to WIN a category.
14. More to come as I think of them...

Download Information
Email (xeifrank@yahoo.com) for the latest version. You will need to download the zip file and then run the setup.exe file. An installation wizard will quickly install everything for you. If the installation asks you to overwrite any ActiveX files that are already installed on your system, just say "No" and keep the ones you already have. Other than that, it should be smooth sailing. Double click on the desktop icon to run the software.



Operating Instructions
You start the program with the drop down menu. To run a mock draft you must first load a league configuration file, hitters database file and pitchers database file. The league configuration file must be opened first, the database files can be opened in any order. Once you do that, go to the "Select Team" tab and select which team you will be drafting for. You can select what type of draft you want from the "Tools" drop down menu. You can draft for one team, draft for all teams, or have the computer draft for all teams. If you want a draft order other than snake format (1-12 ... 12-1) then you need to select that too. Once you have all your files loaded you can save your draft as a partially saved draft via the "File" drop down menu. If you want to customize your league configuration, before loading any of the files, from the "Tools" drop down menu select "Create New League". A new form will appear and you will need to enter the number of teams, team names, number of players per position and categories used. Make sure you save your new league config file upon exiting. The draft can be started by selecting Start Draft from the "Tools" drop down menu, after all three files are loaded. The beauty of saving a partial draft is that you only need to load one file, the program remembers which league config, pitchers database and hitters database file to load.

Testimonials:
I did use my mock draft software to win the Monkey Spankers Keeper league two years ago by the narrowest of margins.

Questions and Comments:
If you have any questions, comments or would like help on how to best use this draft tool please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me in person at xeifrank@yahoo.com

Donations:
The MLB Mock Draft Software is freeware, but I do like to get donations as I put alot of hard work into this. Donation amounts are up to the individual.
My paypal account is xeifrank@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:
This program was written by me and was of original design. You have the right to download and run it for free. If you want to make a donation, that is completely up to you. The projections that come with the program are from various sources and then modified by me. The program has a nine year track history (2005-2014).

Good luck and happy drafting.