Happy Friday, everyone! It's Dan Schneier here again. We haven't talked in a little while because we didn't want to go ahead and jinx this MLB lockout, but it seems that not saying anything at all hasn't in fact jump started the end of the lockout. What we have seen over the past two weeks is an absolute halt coming to what was a scorching hot stove. 

We do have some loose ends to tie up though first before we dive into a recent industry mock draft that will be a lot of fun to break down plus Scott White's prospects that you need to know about for your Fantasy Baseball leagues in 2022 -- whenever they may get underway -- just kidding -- no jinx!!!

The Astros have signed Justin Verlander to a two-year, $50 million contract. According to ESPN's Buster Olney, this deal wasn't finalized prior to the lockout but the MLB and union have "worked through the final details" and it is official. Verlander will be attempting to make his return from Tommy John surgery as a 39-year-old this coming spring. Blue Jays reliever Jordan Romano underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He went 23-for-24 on save opportunities in 2021 and will almost certainly be in line to save games for one of the projected winningest teams in 2022.

Oh and the Mets appear closer to finally landing a general manager, but otherwise, it's been relatively slow on the rumor front. So let's instead dive right into this mock draft and take a look at some prospects you can keep an eye on now and load up as final-round high-upside bench stashes. 

Of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify.

Key Takeaways:

• H2H points mock drafts run differently than Roto and H2H categories. Things that you'll see happen in this draft that are different from others? Starting pitchers and hitters with strong plate discipline are on the rise, steals specialists tend to fall (they're only worth 2 Fantasy points on CBS). Also, a reminder that our rankings are not loaded into the CBS draft room yet so they're still going based on last year's rankings. If you're following the draft with us you might see some unexpected picks. That's why. 
  
• Now, on to the draft as it played out. Scott and I didn't exactly practice what we've preached this offseason about starting pitching being very deep -- we both chose three starters in the first four rounds! There were 19 total starting pitchers drafted in the first four rounds.

Other observations from Scott:

• Freddie Freeman, a probable first-rounder in this format, slipped all the way to the end of Round 2. I was relieved to see him go just before my pick since I already had Guerrero.
• Max Muncy in Round 3 would make sense in this format, big walker that he is, if not for the recent revelation  that he has UCL damage in his elbow and isn't healing as quickly as he'd like. I've moved him way down in my rankings.
• Trevor Bauer going in Round 6 is ... interesting. Marcell Ozuna, who would seem to have a clearer path to returning, didn't go until Round 17, but it's true Bauer would likely be the more impactful of the two if he's indeed invited back.
• Ryan Pressly in Round 5, as the second closer off the board, was another head-scratcher for me. Liam Hendriks, who might be the consensus No. 1 reliever, went more than a full round later.
• I also didn't care so much for Steven Matz in Round 8 or Dinelson Lamet in Round 16 -- both should go undrafted, in my mind -- but I'll stop picking on other people now.
• The big relief pitcher-eligible starting pitcher picks, which are always a thing in this format, were Ranger Suarez (Round 7), Luis Severino (Round 13) and Cal Quantrill (Round 15).
• Several prospects went off the board aside from the obvious Bobby Witt (Round 9). The most notable include  Adley Rutschman (Round 12), Riley Greene (Round 16) and Julio Rodriguez (Round 21). Kind of feel like the Rangers' Josh Jung needs to be part of that group, especially given the scarcity at third base.

For more observations from the mock draft and full results from all participants, head here. 

Scott is breaking out the prospect talk early this offseason with the lockout in full swing, and now is a great time to familiarize yourself with potential league winners during the second half of the 2022 season. Even last year, a down year for prospects called up, players like Wander Franco served as league winners. So it's always a good idea to get a pulse on the prospects now and it's never a bad idea to use one of your final draft picks on them either -- those final bench spots should be focused on high-upside swings knowing full well you may have to move on from them quick for waiver wire options early in the season. 

Without further ado, here are a few of the top pitching prospect write ups that stood out. You'll find Scott's entire write up of the top-30 pitching prospects and their Fantasy outlooks here. 

No. 1 -- Rays P Shane Baz: Having previously rocketed up rank lists because of the same sort of arsenal tweaks that worked for Tyler Glasnow, Baz once again elevated his profile with control so improved it inspired the notoriously slow-to-promote Rays to bring him up for the stretch run. His fastball is a bat-misser in its own right -- a true 80-grade pitch -- and he's added a curveball that pairs nicely with his slider. 

No. 4 -- Rangers P Jack Leiter: The second pick of the 2021 draft never made it into game action, but as the son of former Mets star Al Leiter and a product of the powerhouse Vanderbilt program, he's already so advanced that it might take some doing for the Rangers to keep him down all year. He's a bit on the small side (6-feet-1), but durability is only a minor concern. 

No. 8 -- Marlins P Sixto Sanchez: The most pessimistic among us will consider Sanchez's torn shoulder capsule, an injury initially deemed "fatigue," to be a deal-breaker in dynasty, but we should know pretty early whether his stuff is still intact. If it is, we already know from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season how that stuff will play, piling up ground balls while exhibiting latent swing-and-miss potential.