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.

41 comments:

ajb26 said...

Any chance that you could upgrade the software to handle 7x7 leagues?

Xeifrank said...

Ok, at first I thought this would be a major rewrite but "upon further review" of my code, it's something that I think I can do. I will post back when it's ready, or leave your email if you want an email alert for 7x7 configs. I won't be adding any new categories though.
vr, Xei

Xeifrank said...

Ok, I added the ability to create and use a 7x7 league configuration. There is one test 7x7 league config file called (yahoo77.drf) that comes with the latest installation, which is version 8.2.26

vr, Xei

jas said...

Software rocks as usual! Are you going to add rotowire projections like you have in previous years? How about ESPN rankings?

Xeifrank said...

jas, Rotowire seems to be a pay site, so I can't do any of their stuff. I probably won't do any more projections. People are free to modify what I gave them. Perhaps I will add another player rankings import file. I already have
yahooprerankings08.csv
mockdraftcentraladp.txt

for rankings files to import. If you know of any other site that lists their ADP (Average Draft Position) please fill free to tell me and I will consider adding them to the list of import rankings files that you can use.

vr, Xeifrank

jas said...

I know ESPN does ADPs at http://games.espn.go.com/flb/livedraftresults
they also have free projections if you want to incorporate those. Do you recommend using the Yahoo or other rankings over the computer rankings in a live draft when trying to figure out player value?

Xeifrank said...

jas, thanks for the ESPN ADP link. I added a rankings import file to the download. I will probably do away with the different ranking systems that load from the drop down menu and go to a strictly import rankings method. Then uses can choose between their imported rankings and the computer rankings. To answer your question as to which one would I use. I'd probably use both. You need the Yahoo/ESPN/Mock Draft Central type of rankings to get a feel for where players are likely to get drafted at. You need the computer rankings because they take into consideration your league configuration, position scarcity, actual projections etc... I'd use both, and I'd also use the "Advice" button feature, and keep in mind there is a "F9-Key" advice feature that lets you filter by position.

vr, Xei

jas said...

Great--is there an easy way to incorporate ESPN projections as well, besides the ZIPS ones?
Oh, and I think there is a Chris Young problem again--YoungSD, Chris, is also listed as an OF....

S+E said...

I have a mac and I get it to read the setup.exe -- what do i use?

Xeifrank said...

evan, it is written for Windows/PC only. There is no mac version. If you guy me a mac with a VB compiler, I will make one. :)
vr, Xei

Unknown said...

I keep getting runtime error 6, overflow when using any config other then Yahoo and the mixed hitters and pitchers. I'm running on Vista Ultimate.

Xeifrank said...

If you are getting an error you most likely.

1) Didn't install the program properly. There is an ActiveX component that you must install with the program.

2) You modified some of the files and saved them in the wrong format.

If you get an error, please email as it is easier to troubleshoot it this way, rather than on this message board. Thanks. vr, Xei
(xeifrank@yahoo.com)

Greg said...

cool software.
Great work.
A nice addition would be to be able to alter the # of teams in the draft. Not everyone uses 12 teams.
I tried to figure out how to do this, I thought it must be a league cfg file, but they were all 12 teams.
Thanks again for your work. good stuff.

Greg said...

sorry, i notice that it is listed as a feature.. but I could not figure it out. my bad.

Greg said...

well, now i read the directions and all is well! hehe, funny how that works..

Anyway... i guess there is no way to run a 10x10 is there?

any plans to integrate that?

Xeifrank said...

Greg, glad you figured that out. As far as 10x10, it is feasible, I just need to make sure there is enough screen real-estate for the standings and advice screens with so many categories. At some point, I'd like to limit the number of categories. I upped it from 5 to 6 last year and up to 7 this year. If I do 10, then what's next? 20x20? The other problem might be that I probably don't include all the stats needed to support 10x10 (20 categories). Chances are you are using something obscure that I don't have. Thanks for the comments.
vr, Xei

Fantasy Dr X said...

Hi, do you have a football version of it?
Thanks.

Xeifrank said...

There is an old football version of it called "GridIronPro", which was hosted at the FantasyInfoCentral website, but I haven't maintained the data files and code in the last 3 seasons.
vr, Xei

Unknown said...

The link to the software doesn't appear to be working right now.

Thanks for making this available, though. I've been wanting to play with a piece of software that does this.

Xeifrank said...

Yes, my ISP for some reason took away my ability to FTP and store files on their server. If anyone has any ideas on how or where I could host the setup.exe file on the internet for people to download, please feel free to explain how. Right now, you will need to email me, and I will email you the setup.exe file. Keep in mind I haven't made any 2009 player projections yet, but you can make your own until then.
vr, Xei

Unknown said...

Ahh, thank you for this software! I found it on the FBCafe forums used it last year and won my roto league by 28 points (!)

RickM said...

Thanks for the download.

Do you have a date that you might have 2009 projections?

Thanks,
Rick

Xeifrank said...

If you go to the Yahoo group you can download 2009 projections. I basically converted the 2009 Marcel Projections made by Tom Tango into a format that the draft software can read. I then added in some save estimates from another site. The save estimates are only in the Mixed League version of the Marcel 09 projection file. I really am not in the business of making projections, so I provide some basic ones and then let people go from there. I think the Marcel ones are good enough to get started. The thing you might want to make adjustments for is playing time and players who have recently changed teams, especially for the NL and AL only projection files.

kyleb740 said...

when i try to do nl only there are a lot of al players in the database also and not just the ones that have been traded.

Xeifrank said...

kyleb740, thanks for pointing that out. I updated the Marcel NL/AL hitting and pitching files. The NL files were found to have many AL players and the AL files were found to have many NL players. Hopefully, this is fixed now. You can download the new projection files. The setup program will install with the new projection files for those new users. Please visit the Yahoo Group download area to get the updates if you so desire.

RickM said...

I am trying to add yahoo rankings. What is the max number of players that I can have in this file? I am getting a

runtime error '9'
subscript out of range

Thanks

Xeifrank said...

Rick, I finally got around to doing that already, as noted in the recent upgrade listing. If you go to the Yahoo group, you can download the Yahoo Pre-Ranking ADP file. I am not sure how many players can be listed, and in fact I didn't test out my file. I probably put in around 350 players. Feel free to be the first to test it and let me know if it does not work for you. My guess is that your file didn't work due to improper formatting. You can test this by making a list of say 50 players, and if it still crashes then it's a formatting problem. If 50 players doesn't crash it, but 500 does, then it may be a limitation problem on the software part. I will investigate later. Thanks for the comment!

Xeifrank said...

RickM, I found a problem in the YahooADP file. It is fixed now. You can download it from the Yahoo Group.

Unknown said...

Frank, Just wanted to say your software rocks. I've been using it for year. Keep up the good work

RickM said...

Is there a way to handle draft picks being traded? For example, I want to trade my 2nd and 3rd round picks for player "B"'s 1st and 5th. When his 1st round pick comes up, I wold like to have that player on my roster and when my 2nd and 3rd round picks come up, those players will be on his roster.

Thanks

Xeifrank said...

RickM, if I am reading your question correctly there is a way to do this. What you will need to do is make a "Draft Board" import file, which can be loaded from the drop down menu. A draft board import file let's you set the draft order for your "entire" draft. You do so by creating a comma delimited (CSV) file. I will try to explain the format here, but i can help you make one if you email me.

Let's say you have a ten team league. Each team gets assigned a team number from 0 to 9. 0 = Team 1, and 9 = Team 10. If each team is picking in round 1 for example, the first row of your CSV file would look like the following...
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

and round two would look like this in a snake draft format...
9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0

Let's say in the 3rd round Team 2 (index=1) and Team 7 (index=6) trade draft picks. The 3rd row would look like.

0,6,2,3,4,5,1,7,8,9

You can even leave teams out of certain rounds. For example, in my keeper league players are reserved into the round they were drafted in in the previous year, so you could see a row looking something like.

0,5,6,7,9

Teams (index) 1,2,3,4 and 8 don't make a pick in that round.

When you do this, make sure that the number of picks in your CSV file match the number of picks it takes to fill your league configuration and remember to set the proper bench size.

This functionality works great for keeper leagues and leagues that trade draft picks. You can enter in all of your keepers, then create your draft board import file, blanking out teams that reserved players in certain rounds, and taking into account any draft pick trades, then run your mock draft. It works like a charm. Let me know via email if you need any help with this.

RickM said...

Hi,
Ok, I created my import file as a .csv with the trade that I want to do. I am confused on how to do the import of my new draft order file. Help??

Thanks,

Rick

Xeifrank said...

RickM,
1) Load your league config
2) Hitters projections
3) Pitchers projections
4) Import draft board file
File->Open->Draft Board

The computer will now draft in the order supplied by your draft board import file, unless you reset it back to snake or out of order. Make sure you follow all the guidelines from my previous post, and then start your draft.

Unknown said...

question,
is there a way to edit position eligibility?
for example, i don't think kevin youkilis is listed at 3b for 2010..

Thanks in advance!

RickM said...

Is the software ready for 2010? If so, when will the yahoo rankings be added?

RickM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RickM said...

Garret Atkins and Shane Victorino have a 0 for position in the xHitters2010.txt.

Xeifrank said...

Yes, there is a way to edit position eligibility. Just modify the integer positional field as stated in this blog post. Use notepad or wordpad. For example, if a player is listed as a 3B but should be a 1B, change the 32 to an 8. Outfielders are 128. All this info is in the blog entry.

Yes, I do have a 2010 Mock Draft Central ADP file available. I will upload it to the Yahoo Group shortly, or you can email me and I will send it directly to you. You can access it with the "From File" option under Tools->Player Rankings.

RickM said...

Just wanted to let you know, that latest hitters file has the following for Victorino.

Victorino,Shane,PHI,0,585,165,36,10,10,55,93,56,128,0

He has a 0 for position and 128 for steals. I fixed mine but just giving a heads up.

Thanks.

Xeifrank said...

I udpated the pitchers and hitters databases and added a few more players to the ADP file. All files can be downloaded at the Yahoo Group.

jas said...

Are you updating the projections from March 13? It would be really helpful!
Thanks for great software!