Tout Wars Mixed Draft 2025: Mike Gianella’s Recap

Congratulations to Seth Trachtman for winning his second Tout Wars Mixed Draft league title in the last three years and his third Tout Wars title overall. (I like to include this at the front of the article, so it doesn’t get buried after 1,200 words of copy.) I finished eighth, 28 points out of first, but was never close at any point during the season. It was my weakest year by far since moving to the mixed draft league in 2025. I won in 2022, which the further away it gets the more I sound like Rushmore’s Max Fischer bleating “I wrote a hit play.” 

I had a good but not great draft.

What you’re looking at above is a fun feature from OnRoto–the statistical service that Tout Wars uses–that allows you to look at how the league would have shaken out if you simply drafted your teams and called it a day. Below is the squad I drafted that would have finished fourth based on the draft rosters. (I had the third pick in the first round, 28th pick in the second round, etc.)

Mike Gianella’s 2025 Tout Wars Roster (draft round in parenthesis)Catchers: Francisco Alvarez (10), Austin Wells (11)Infielders: Matt Olson (2), Willy Adames (6), Ryan McMahon (12), Gleyber Torres (13), Luis Arraez (17), Michael Busch (18), Jorge Polanco (27)Outfielders: Juan Soto (1), Matt Wallner (14), George Springer (15), Lourdes Gurriel (16), Wilyer Abreu (22), Justin-Henry Malloy (28)Designated Hitter: Marcell Ozuna (5)Starting Pitchers: Blake Snell (3), Hunter Greene (7), Zac Gallen (9), Bowden Francis (19), Ranger Suarez (20), Walker Buehler (21), Tobias Myers (25), Aaron Civale (26), Jon Gray (29)Relievers: Raisel Iglesias (4), Tanner Scott (8), Griffin Jax (23)

(Tout Wars uses OBP instead of AVG but otherwise is a “standard” 5×5 Roto league format.)

Unlike most years where I attempt a pure value draft, I decided to employ a strategy. In this case it was a simple, one category dump of stolen bases. The primary reason I decided to try this was because I noticed that the corollary between a strong OBP and stolen bases is poor. A better way of framing this is while it is possible to load up on good OBP/SB hitters it takes a significant amount of draft capital to do so and leaves you scrambling for power and pitching after the first few rounds, or you need to sacrifice excellent OBP for lots of stolen bases.

On the hitting side the plan worked perfectly. Coming out of the draft I had a team that not only would have maxed out in the four non-SB categories, but I also picked up a few stolen base points for good measure. A lot of this was Soto, whose career high in steals was 12 entering 2024. There were some other helpers, but Soto was the primary reason why I picked up some stray points. (Those “free” points are the hidden appeal of ditching a category.)

On the pitching side, oy. 

I noted in my preseason draft write-up that 60 points in hitting and 60 points in pitching are usually more than enough to win. I drafted a 30-point pitching team. My strategy the last few years has been “three aces” (three arms from the top 30 in ADP, roughly) and then grabbing arms later to maximize my offensive points. The “maximizing my offense points” part of the plan worked but I walked out of that room with a below average staff that was well below average without the saves.

The three aces gambit isn’t foolproof. Injury is the biggest reason for this. Yes, a starting pitcher drafted early can be bad but typically these pitchers provide so much volume in wins, strikeouts, or both that their contributions barely keep them above replacement level (I’m looking at you, Dylan Cease). Gallen was the only healthy one of my three “aces” and fit the worst-case scenario of this model well, earning a mere $2.11. The problem wasn’t so much Gallen but that Hunter Greene ($13.91) and Blake Snell (30 cents) both missed significant time, leaving me with zero aces instead of well, you know, three.

This isn’t necessarily fatal. What becomes fatal is how you deal with this problem once it emerges. There are three strategies (or variations thereof) that you can try:

Go get another ace. You can try to accomplish this via free agency but good luck with that. Three free agent starting pitchers finished among the Top 30 SP last season: Trevor Rogers (18th), Andrew Abbott (24th), and Cade Horton (30th). Trading is an option, but most teams don’t have starting pitching falling out of their ears and even if they do the price is typically steep.
Be conservative with your starting pitching free agents, go reliever-heavy and trade off losses in strikeouts in exchange for holding the line (or even gaining) in ERA and WHIP. I did this last year and managed to hold my ground in ERA/WHIP while losing a few strikeout points as I waited for reinforcements to arrive. It didn’t win me the league but did keep me afloat as I finished tied for second place.
Go “scorched” earth with starting pitching and run at least seven starting pitchers out there no matter what and perhaps run eight or nine if you’re locked in with saves or might only lose a point or two in the category. 

I waffled between options No. 2 and No. 3 before eventually choosing option No. 3. This saved my season from being a complete embarrassment but led to a mediocre finish, 13.5 points below where I was at the draft. It wasn’t all due to pitching; in fact, most of the points I lost were on offense as I became too fixated on my pitching. My offense still finished very strong, but I should have done a better job on the margins to keep my hitting elite.

These are my three biggest takeaways from my middling Tout Wars performance, which hopefully can be takeaways for you as well.

Focus more on innings. Trachtman won with a terrible ERA and WHIP in large part due to volume, which in large part was due to pitcher health. This would have sunk his team in an overall competition like NFBC but most of us don’t play in overall competition contests.
Be more diligent with FAAB. This is especially pertinent in Tout Wars, where you can FAAB minor league and IL players (something you can’t do in LABR, and you can’t do with nearly all minor leaguers in NFBC). I had Horton almost everywhere; I missed out on him in Tout even though I was a big Horton believer.
When you do need to adjust, pick a plan and stick with it. It paid off for me (relatively speaking) in 2024. I didn’t adhere to my own advice, and it cost me dearly. I finished with 46 pitching points in LABR Mixed with far worse closer luck. Following that pitching blueprint with the offense I had in Tout would have won Tout in 2025.

I didn’t win, but the takeaways for next year are clear and I’m once again ready to go to war with my fellow Touts.

Thanks as always to Peter Kreutzer, Todd Zola, Jeff Erickson, Justin Mason, Ron Shandler, Brian Walton and Nick Pollack for all the work they do to keep Tout Wars running. Keeping one league organized is difficult enough; keeping multiple leagues going is a task and then some. I can’t wait to try for my third Tout title yet again next year.