To come into possession of the No. 1 overall pick in a snake draft can be both a blessing and a curse. OK, who am I kidding? It IS a blessing and a curse. For our Pitcher List staff mock draft, that double-edged fate befell me. I was grateful for the simulated exercise, though. I had to be hyper-aware of the possibility that a coveted guy at a certain position wouldn't be available during my next go-around, something that is especially true in a 13-teamer. As such, I discovered that the format made me act way less myopically. I was forced to view the entire pool of talent available now and make medium-term decisions, arguably more so than anyone else in the league. Focusing only on what stud I could snag now with no thoughtful regard for future picks—since I wouldn't be able to pick for another 25 selections—could have been detrimental at best. Even though I believe it's a little easier on the nerves to be in the 5-9 range of a typical draft order, I think I learned to adapt to what being atop the sequence entails. It's not an easy task to lead off, but it can be manipulated into an advantageous spot if you scout it right.
I'm going to break down each of my selections by round below. Feel free to comment with your thoughts or questions on my decisions.
To read the analysis of other teams in the draft, head to our Mock Draft hub page here.
Round 1, Pick 1: Mike Trout (OF, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). This should require no elaboration whatsoever...but that wouldn't be any fun. Baseball's best offensive weapon unfortunately missed significant time last season after injuring a thumb ligament while stealing a base. In the likely event that he remains healthy in the coming year, the Angels would love to use him as much as they had the previous four seasons, a span across which he played in 158 games on average. In 2018 play, if he is able to replicate the pace at which he was producing during his 114 games in 2017, Trout could feasibly steal 30 bases, hit 45 homers, amass 127 RBI and come awful close to scoring 100 runs. Trout's potential to dominate the 2018 competition in fantasy with his cross-category versatility when healthy should go unquestioned. In a world where accomplishing a FanGraphs' Off(ense) rating of 45 is considered excellent, just process the fact that Trout rated a 54.9 in spite of the injury-shortened campaign. Shohei Ohtani dominated offseason headlines by picking the Angels, but he's going to be decisively overshadowed by his mighty teammate in fantasy. Let's move on.
