I am thrilled to be drafting or the Padres' 2018 Mock Draft. Last year's mock draft and real draft results are here.

As would be expected for a team that has been in a perpetual state of rebuild, the Padres have a highly regarded farm system. Bleacher Report had the Padres farm system ranked fourth in the Majors back in February, and John Horvath at Fox Sports ranked the Padres' farm system No. 1 overall. This website (Minor League Ball) had the Padres ranked 3rd this March, behind the Yankees and Braves. This is some heady territory.

According to Sickels' pre-season ranking, 8 of the Padres top 10 prospects are pitchers. This does not mean the Padres should not take a pitcher necessarily - there is a school of thought that says you can never have too many pitchers in the pipeline.

The Padres' bonus pool is $9.65 million - the Padres' No. 7 overall pick is slotted for $5,226,500. The compensation pick at No. 38 is $1,878,300. The Padres do not have a second round pick, but do draft in the third ($694,500) and fourth ($502,800) rounds.

Three position players likely to be around at No. 7 overall are South Alabama outfielder Travis Swaggerty, Kentucky outfielder Tristan Pompey and California HS shortstop Brice Turang. As an aside, I also like Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart but it would be quite an overdraft to take him at No. 7. As for pitchers, Ole Miss southpaw Ryan Rolison and Florida right-hander Jackson Kowar seem to be the best options among those likely to drop to No. 7.

But I'm totally open to suggestions.