It’s Ben Palmer's turn to detail his round-by-round thoughts as we continue our coverage of the Pitcher List 2018 Mock Draft. Let’s do it.
To read the analysis of other teams in the draft, head to our Mock Draft hub page here.
Round 1: Paul Goldschmidt (1B, Arizona Diamondbacks) – Why did I pick Paul Goldschmidt over Jose Altuve? That's a good question, and if I'm being perfectly honest, looking back on the pick, it might've been a better idea to go with Altuve, but I'm not overly upset about it. Here's why: Both Goldschmidt and Altuve will give me good power and steals, it's just I chose the guy with great power and good steals as opposed to the guy with good power and great steals. This is just me, but I'm someone who likes to go power-heavy on my teams more than anything. I think power hitters, while they might lose you average, will gain you home runs, runs, and RBIs. Yes, speed guys often get you runs and steals, but I think you can manufacture steals with your speed-and-little-else kind of guys. Plus, if you end up with a Billy Hamilton type, you're basically set in the steals category. Anyways, that's why I went with Goldy, I decided I valued power over speed and figured the average was essentially a wash (because I think Altuve's average will regress a bit next year). If you think I should've done Altuve over Goldschmidt, I don't blame you, that's not a hill I'm gonna die on.
