Backyard Baseball 2001 Draft: Sixth Round Recap and Analysis

If you are reading this for the first time and you don't know what this is, please refer to my previous article entitled "The Backyard Baseball Project". We then held the Backyard Baseball 2001 Draft Lottery. On Tuesday April 23, we began the draft. Slowly we are getting it done. Our owners have busy schedules with school wrapping up, which is why you might think this is all coming to you slow. Nevertheless, our GMs love  Backyard Baseball and are dedicated to building their franchises. If you aren't all caught up on the draft, here are the links to rounds 1-5:

First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Fourth Round
Fifth Round

Now let's check out the current rosters.

Little 500 All-Stars (managed by Connor Boehm)Home field: Tin Can Alley
1) Pablo Sanchez
2) Mark McGwire
3) Chipper Jones
4) Stephanie Morgan
5) Juan Gonzalez

Kingston Bunt Smokers (managed by Will Fitzgerald)
Home field: Dirt Yards
1) Curt Schilling
2) Derek Jeter
3) Carlos Beltran
4) Alex Rodriguez
5) Jeff Bagwell

Grand Salamis (managed by Tommy Mantice)
Home field: Steele Stadium
1) Sammy Sosa
2) Frank Thomas
3) Jose Canseco
4) Mike Piazza
5) Barry Larkin

Vinnie the Gooch's All-Stars (managed by Eric Benjamin)
Home field: Cement Gardens
1) Ken Griffey Jr.
2) Achmed Khan
3) Randy Johnson
4) Cal Ripken Jr.
5) Jocinda Smith

Crazy Fishes (managed by CJ Revis)
Home field: Sandy Flats
1) Pete Wheeler
2) Kiesha Phillips
3) Luanne Lui
4) Angela Delvecchio
5) Mikey Thomas

Orange Wombats (managed by Grant Smith)
Home field: Playground Commons
1) Barry Bonds
2) Kenny Lofton
3) Vladimir Guerrero
4) Nomar Garciaparra
5) Annie Frazier



And now let's cover the sixth round.

1) (31 Overall) Orange Wombats (Grant Smith)- Sally Dobbs
Sally Dobbs is a great all-around player. She can do a lot of things. She excels in all areas. She might be a little annoying to coach though. She's very bossy and she likes to take charge. If she can channel that mother in her and use it as a leader and be encouraging to her teammates- instead of nagging them and acting like a know-it-all- she will help this team big time.

2) (32 Overall) Crazy Fishes (CJ Revis)- Dante Robinson
I like Dante Robinson. There's something about the guy that just makes me laugh. He's a funny guy and I like his attitude. He's a good fielder and he's incredibly fast. If you're an opposing pitcher and he gets on first, you have to be scared because he could quickly steal second and third. Good fit for this team that has a lot of speed and is now looking for fielding. Stretch also isn't a bad hitter. Not a bad bad to have at the bottom of the order. He might be a little underrated in that regard and he also has potential to improve. I like this pick a lot.

3) (33 Overall) Vinnie the Gooch's All-Stars (Eric Benjamin)- Jason Giambi
Jason Giambi is more versatile than you might expect. He's obviously a good hitter and he can play first base very well, but he's actually a pretty good pitcher. Not a bad option for this team. Good late round pickup. The only thing Benjamin has to worry about with Giambi is if he leaves in free agency, and then having to replace him. If this does happen? Does Benjamin follow the Moneyball model? Who knows.

4) (34 Overall) Grand Salamis (Tommy Mantice)- Shawn Green
Shawn Green is another good versatile late round pickup. He can hit, he's fast and he can even pitch a little. Tommy still has yet to draft a backyard kid. How will the team chemistry be with a team full of pros? Can they put their egos to the side and play together? We'll see. It would be good for Tommy to pick up at least one or two backyard kids in the final three rounds.

5) (35 Overall) Kingston Bunt Smokers (Will Fitzgerald)-  Tony Gwynn
I like Tony Gwynn a lot. He's such a great contact hitter, and he should be in anyone's top three in their batting order, because he gets on base. He also has the clutch gene. He will knock in runs and get on base when you need him to at the end of games. He can also be the first to start a late rally. Great pick here, and I'm a little surprised Tony fell this far.

6/1) (36-37 Overall) Little 500 All-Stars (Connor Boehm)- The Webber Twins
With back-to-back picks, Boehm decided to draft the Webbers together. And how could you not? When paired together, the sisters are a nasty combination. Ashley's a good hitter and Sidney's a great pitcher. These are great value picks here. When the two are on the same team, their ratings drastically increase. They simply play very well together. They are good for team chemistry. Unlike a lot of sets of twins, these two don't seem to fight very often. One Webber is this round's pick and the other is Boehm's next round pick (he has the first pick of the next round). I wouldn't normally put one pick from another round in a separate round but I had to. How are you going to separate the Webber twins? I'm glad he didn't take just one of them. He did the right thing in drafting both and I had to include them together. Anyway, I love this pick.

So that concludes the sixth round of the Backyard Baseball 2001 Draft. Check back soon for the seventh round, followed by the last two of the draft and a draft wrap-up blog. Things are really starting to heat up! Thank you to everyone for reading. What do you guys think? Who has the best team so far? Comment, or let me know on the Facebook fan page or on Twitter @vellvita7.