The 2018 MLL Draft! Live Blogging!

Written by Lee Roggenburg on April 18, 2018. Posted in Featured Posts, Florida Lacrosse News, Florida Launch, Launch/MLL/NLL/Women’s Pro, MLL Around The League.

Welcome to my live blog of the MLL draft! The Launch hold: 7, 11, 16, 24, 34, 43, 52 and 61 in the 7 rounds! The following trades have affected the Draft positions:

2018 MLL Collegiate Draft Trades

03/20/2018 – Florida has Liam Byrnes to Atlanta for the #11 and #24 overall picks in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
01/17/2018 – Atlanta trades Randy Staats and Jesse King to Dallas in exchange for the 24th, 32nd & 51st overall picks in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
01/17/2018 – Atlanta trades James Pannell to Boston in exchange for a second-round selection (10th Overall) in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
11/16/2017 – Rochester Rattlers moved to Dallas and became the DALLAS RATTLERS.
10/12/2017 – Charlotte trades Brendan Fowler to New York in exchange for Jacob Richard and a second-round selection in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
09/29/2017 – Rochester receives a fifth round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft as compensaton from Boston for signing Kyle Denhoff.
09/29/2017 – New York receives a third round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft as compensaton from Atlanta for signing Matt Gibson.
09/28/2017 – Boston receives a third round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft as compensaton from Denver for signing Josh Hawkins.
09/18/2017 – Denver trades Mike Bocklet to New York in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2018 MLL Supplemental Draft and a fourth-round selection in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
09/12/2017 – New York receives a fourth round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft as compensaton from Atlanta for signing Tommy Palasek.
06/27/2017 – Chesapeake trades Kevin Cooper to Charlotte in exchange for a third round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft.
06/27/2017 – Denver trades Tim Barber to Florida in exchange for a third round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft.
06/27/2017 – Charlotte trades Cal Dearth to Boston in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft.
06/06/2017 – Rochester trades JoJo Marasco to New York in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft.
02/24/2017 – Ohio trades Dan Groot to Chesapeake in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2018 Supplemental Draft this coming December 2017 as well as a fourth round pick in the 2018 Collegiate Draft.
06/24/2016 – Ohio trades Jimmy Bitter to Chesapeake in exchange for their fourth round pick in the 2017 MLL Supplemental Draft and their third round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.
03/10/2016 – Atlanta trades Ryan Walsh to New York in exchange for Conrad Oberbeck and their third round pick in the 2018 MLL Collegiate Draft.

5:45pm Rumors swirling about NY, Chesapeake and Ohio wanting to move up to #1, likely to take Trevor Baptiste. If Boston keeps the pick it’s more like Conor Kelly of Maryland as the pick. Stay tuned! 5:48pm What are the real needs of the Launch? Another close defender and/or LSM to pair with Durkin, Neumann, Tullet An upgrade at FOGO, they won less than 50% last year. Part of that is wing play but why not look there too? A SSDM, looking forward, Mike Unterstein is very experienced but grooming someone else wouldn’t hurt. I think the Launch will be looking at Yale’s Tyler Warner as a possibility in the first three rounds. Attack would be a luxury but with Kieran McArdle still playing NLL it doesn’t hurt to have another stud on the roster to fill in while we wait for his availability. Goalie – right now it’s Kaut, Shane Doss and Matt Lalli on the 25-man roster plus practice squad. A late pick, like last year’s pick of Benny Pugh, is quite possible. If I have to guess I would say that at #7 the defender gets picked, a middie at #11 and then Best Player Available at #16 with Warner hopefully still there are #24. If they get nervous maybe Warner at #16. 6:10 LSN getting close to reviewing the 1st round possibility of the Launch, currently talking about the MLL All Star Game, which will be the MLL All Stars against Team USA, as they prepare for the Worlds in Israel. LSN targeting defense in the 1st round and they are suggesting John Sexton and Ben Randall. Not sure on that. Sexton is a Goldman Sachs hiree to be and that means availability for practice is a problem. Randall has taken a bit of a step back this year at Ohio State. I think they will look elsewhere. 6:26pm Waiting for the first overall pick! New MLL Commissioner to preside. Jake Steinfeld kicking things off! Former bouncer at the OBI West in Island Park!! Isles fanatic! Got that Tom? 6:33 New commissioner Sandy Brown announces that the Atlanta franchise has a new owner! A good start! Here we go with the first pick! Boston selects Trevor Baptiste of Denver, the great FOGO, instead of Connor Kelly Atlanta up next and they are picking Kelly from Maryland. Charlotte is up next and are looking for Connor Fields and Ben Reeves and the pick is Fields from Albany, the guy who should be playing behind Davis Diamond . . . Lacrosse fans might remember that Connor Fields played at St. Andrew’s against the Scots in high school when he was at Bishop Timon of Buffalo. 6:44pm Chesapeake now up Jake, Jared and Jessie Bernhardt’s dad Jim is now with Chesapeake after serving many years with the Houston Texans! Possible trade for Ben Reeves as Chesapeake is strong at attack. The trade occurs! #4 overall for #6 and #42 from Dallas! Dallas on the clock. Ben Reeves is the pick, NY on the clock. NY Lizards now taking Joel Tinney at #5, the middie from Johns Hopkins Chesapeake on the clock They select Sean Mayle, LSM of Denver . . . that was someone I thought the Launch would consider at #7 The Launch are up next! The pick is Jules Heningburg, attack at Rutgers! Rutgers Link 61 points so far this year Denver is next. Connor Keating from Penn on defense. Ohio Machine up at #9 Two more for the Launch and the middies are for the most part still there. Justin Guterding at #9 for the defending champs! Lots of value there. The Second Round #10 – Atlanta – Kyle McClancy the middie from Albany The Launch are on the clock at #11! Tyler Warner!! How good am I?? Don’t answer that . . . Yale Bio Freeport, NY! Margo and Franks! Baldwin High, Matt Sofarelli . . . At #12 it’s Charlotte and they take Tim Rotanz, who I thought the Launch might well take at #11. #13 – Chesapeake takes Ian MacKay, the middie from Vermont #14 – Charlotte is on the clock, they take Ben Randall, the defender from Ohio State #15 – Dallas Rattlers trade the pick to Ohio for #18 and #23. Ohio obviously wants someone specific to give up those two picks. The pick is Bryce Young, the defender from Maryland The Launch are on the clock again! They are taking time, a possible trade coming up? Quint taking a shot at Steven Brooks . . . The Launch decide to take Michael Rexrode of Rutgers at #16, the close defender! Rutgers Bio Denver at #17 takes Peter Conley, the middie from Duke! #18 – Dallas Rattlers takes John Sexton of Notre Dame Third Round #19 – Boston takes Will Sands, the attackman from Bucknell #20 – Atlanta takes Austin Sims the middie from Princeton #21 – Charlotte takes Morgan Cheek the attackman from Harvard #22 – Ohio takes Christian Mazzone, the middie from Rutgers #23 – Dallas takes Chris Keating, the defender from Yale The Launch are up at #24 Jake Miller from Denver – Defense Brown Bio Denver #25 – takes Foster Huggens, the defender from Loyola Boston #26 – takes Tom Kennedy, middie from Bryant New York #27 – takes Troy Reh, the defender from Albany Fourth Round LSN is not showing these right now so we will update you here on the whole draft after it is over and we will continue to tweet the Launch picks and any other Florida connection on our Twitter feed, FloridaLX