Michigan Miracle Mock Draft

With the "soft opening" of the eMLB 2011 draft set to begin on Monday it's time for the Michigan Miracles to weigh in with their version of the first round.

1.1 South Texas Heat--Roy Halladay--With Berg resigned to being in the 2012 Lottery I have 5 reasons why he won't take Fielder and place a 5 yr on him. Those reasons are HanRam, Mauer, Howard, Reyes, Tex. Any of those 5 players Berg may decide is a better option for his open 5 yr. Top shelf SP may be a better option this season. Plus Berg told me he was taking Halladay...he wouldn't lie to me.....would he??

1.2 Mid Michigan Tigers--Keith will take a long look at available options once Halladay is taken off the board but Utley just makes too much sense here to pass up.

1.3 Charlotte Orios--Tim Lincecum--With Utley gone Chris will pair Lincecum with the recently acquired Justin Verlander. Quite a combination.

1.4 San Antonio Fire Ants--Prince Fielder--Sankey gets his wish and grabs Fielder while explaining to Butler why he will have to DH this year. There is an awful lot of offense stabled in the Fire Ant camp this preseason.

1.5 Olivet Killer Eagles--Matt Kemp--The first of Larry's 3 first rounders turns out to be the best OF in the draft. After a down year where he couldn't get out of Torre's doghouse, Kemp looks to thrive playing for Donny Baseball.

1.6 Arizona Desert Swarm--Jayson Werth--The best OF available IMO takes his skills out west. I look for a big year from Werth in 2011.

1.7 Flying Squirrels--Jimmy Rollins--Completing a very balanced offense the Squirrels will now have to begin looking for some pitching from here on out.

1.8 Hackensack Bulls--CC Sabathia--Ben said he wanted to build his team up with pitching and stated he wanted CC. Well here he is. Wainwright, Lester, Sabathia. Wow. Good luck Texas Division. Wait a minute.....that's me...Damn It!!

1.9 Olivet Keller Eagles--Adam Dunn--Really a no brainer here. Big numbers going to a team that can really use him.

1.10 Rochester Red Sox--Matt Latos--Not a tough choice between Latos and Buchholz. Nice grab at 1.10

1.11 Rochester Red Sox--Derek Jeter--Rich may be a homer but taking Buchholz would be foolish here IMO. It may hurt his clicker finger putting Jeter into the lineup each week but with a bounceback year he will soon learn to live with it.

1.12 Flying Squirrels--Clayton Kershaw--Adam takes a great pitcher with his second pick in this round With his offense already in the fold, a solid pitcher to toe the rubber makes a lot of sense.

1.13 Olivet Killer Eagles--Heath Bell--The best RP on the board comes off and packs his bags for Southern Michigan. Nice haul for Larry with Kemp, Dunn and now Bell. This teams looks a lot better already.

1.14 South Texas Heat--Kendry Morales--After passing on Cecil at 1.1 Berg is all smiles after finding that Morales is still available. When questioned on the subject Berg admits that since the Heat is looking at cutting costs this year the team just couldn't justify the amount of food that would have to be available in the clubhouse just to feed Fielder.

1.15 Dallas Redbirds--Pedro Alvarez--After making very little noise during the Winter Meetings, Doyle chooses Pedro Alvarez with his first round pick. Sounds like a North Texas pick but this kid had an excellent September and is an up and comer. Time will tell.

1.16 Hackensack Bulls--Mariano Rivera--The only question now is when will the next closer get taken? Two great Yankees will be moving to Hackensack. Both CC and Rivera will be checking out MapQuest to find out where the hell Hackensack is.

That's my take on the first round, comments are always appreciated. Thanks to Hoyle for spotting a glaring error so I could fix it before too many of you saw it. Of course we all remember last year when I got every pick correct in round one so when all of these turn out correct as well it should come as no surprise to anyone. All right, maybe I got a couple of them right last year. It's always fun to put this together and gives me a little better feel as to the players I may be selecting in round 2. Good luck to all and let the games begin.