MLB Draft 2012 Results: Grading Expert Mock Drafts

The 2012 Major League Baseball draft kicked off in style, with a lot of shocks and surprises—some good, some bad—that caught everyone off guard. 

In light of what we saw on Monday night, we wanted to take a fun look back at some of the mocks that were floating around prior to the draft and grade them. 

All of these mocks were informed by sources, so there were certainly a lot of red herrings being put out there to throw everyone off the teams' scents, making it unfair to harshly criticize the mock draft mistakes. 

But we also give credit where credit is due, and if someone nailed a pick—or mentioned the possibility of a surprise—we will bump them up. 

Without further ado, here are our grades for the expert mock drafts for the first round of the 2012 MLB draft. 

Jim Callis, Baseball America

Correct Picks: 7 out of 31

Analysis: Callis made up for his draft with a lot of information on Twitter as the draft was going on. He got thrown for a loop—as so many did—right out of the gate, with the Astros taking Carlos Correa instead of Mark Appel.

Five of his seven correct picks happened right after the top pick, but he didn't have another one until Gavin Cecchini to the Mets at No. 12. 

In a draft that was so unpredictable, it is hard to penalize Callis too much. My own mock draft didn't look much better than his. 

Final Grade: D+

Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus

Correct Picks: 3 out of 31

Analysis: In golf, you are given a mulligan if you are playing a friendly round with your buddies and they take pity on you for an awful shank off the tee. Kevin Goldstein needs the baseball equivalent of that, with just three picks correct. 

He did have two top-10 picks correct—Kevin Gausman to Baltimore and Albert Almora to Chicago—so he does get some points for that. After that, the only first-round pick he got right was Victor Roache to Milwaukee. 

Since I did not see a lot of people putting Roache with the Brewers, I give him bonus points for that bold selection. 

Final Grade: D

Keith Law, ESPN (Must Have Insider Access)

Correct Picks: 6 out of 31

Analysis: Law, like Callis, was updating his mock throughout the day with a lot of information that did not turn out to be true. As we mentioned in the intro, a good chunk of what these people hear is going to turn out to be false. 

Everything in the first 10 picks threw everyone for a loop. A mock is only as good as the information presented, and things happened that made everything change. 

Final Grade: C-

Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com

Correct Picks: 8 out of 31

Analysis: Looking at the rest of the mock drafts, nailing over 25 percent of the picks is cause for celebration. Mayo nailed both of the Brewers' picks and had the No. 2 through No. 6 selections all correct. 

Some of his misses are forgivable, since they were first-round talents who slid for one reason or another. 

Final Grade: B

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