Player Lists Explained

The AL and NL lists

Each February, Scoresheet staff lists almost every player that is on an American League team 40-man winter roster, along with a few top prospects, and a few players who have been invited to spring training with an AL team. The same procedure is applied to make an NL List out of NL MLB rosters and prospects.

Look at the AL Player List, and you'll see the following information:

at the beginning of each line is the player's Scoresheet Player Number
listed next is the side from which he bats (for hitters), or throws (for pitchers)
next number listed is the player's age as of Opening Day
for position players, the next number represents the Scoresheet Fielding Range (described below)
player's team name abbreviation is next
the line ends with the player's name, sometimes with extra information such as what "round" of draft they were picked, or whether they are suspended or injured

BL list

Scoresheet has a "BL list" that combines AL and NL into one list for use in leagues that draft from the combined AL and NL lists. Because the numbers on our AL and NL player lists are exactly the same, the BL list player numbers need to be adjusted:

1000 is added to NL player numbers for all NL players on the BL list.

Links to the AL, NL, and BL Lists

Player Eligibility

All players on the Scoresheet AL Player List WILL be eligible for drafting in Scoresheet AL Leagues for the entirety of the current year, even if they are traded to the NL in the major leagues. In other words, if you draft a player, you WILL KEEP HIM even if he is traded in the real MLB. Similarly, Scoresheet will not allow you to draft anyone listed on the Scoresheet NL Player List.

The same is true for NL leagues - once a player is placed on the current-year NL list, an NL League will be able to draft that NL-list-player for the rest of the Scoresheet season. And NL teams will not be able to draft from the AL list.

This rule is necessary to maintain fairness. For example, if Clayton Kershaw is traded to the Yankees in mid-March while Scoresheet drafts are taking place, and Scoresheet allowed him to be drafted in the AL at the time of his signing date, an owner could be drafting a star player in the 25th round!

If you are unsure whether a player is on a list for your league, you may list him. But if he is not on the player list for your league (AL if your league is AL, NL if you league is NL), he will be ignored.

Drafting Unlisted Players

You are allowed to draft a player that is not listed on either league's Scoresheet Player List, as long as he is signed by (or drafted by) an MLB team or an MLB-owned minor league team. NL players can go onto Scoresheet NL list only, and AL players can go onto Scoresheet AL list only.

If you place an unlisted player on your player ranking list that fits the above criteria, you must submit his full name, current team affiliation, and position to Scoresheet for him to be added to the draft eligible lists via either an email to Scoresheet, or using one of these two forms:

NOTE: Scoresheet may include a few players on player lists that are unsigned when the lists are created. We include such players if it is determined that they are "too good" to be left with uncertainty for drafting, and we assign them a league based on with which team they ended the previous season.

Private leagues conducting their own drafts can change eligibility rules to their liking, but leagues that draft through Scoresheet must strictly abide by these drafting rules.

Player Positions

Scoresheet has listed most players at their primary position from the previous season. In general, we have not tried to guess what position to where a player might move this year. However, for players who qualify at more than one position, we have tried to list them at the position we believe most Scoresheet owners will feel they are the most valuable.

When judging a player's worth at a particular position, we consider his fielding range, and the strength of the position overall. The position listed only matters for Roster Balancing draft procedures.

Once the season begins, you may play a player at other positions (though your pitchers' performances will suffer significantly when you have fielders playing out of position). However, only qualified catchers can play catcher in Scoresheet; and only players who qualify at any one of either second base, shortstop or third base can be used at any of those three positions. See Scoresheet's out-of-position rules for full details.

Under the position headings on the Scoresheet Player Lists, players are listed in order of the number of major league plate appearances (or innings pitched) they had in the previous season - the lists are NOT meant to be an ordering of how good we consider players to be. For instance, a better player may have been injured last year, thus appearing near the end of the list at his position.