First round completed in the minor's draft

Late last week the MDBL completed it's first and sandwich rounds and there were not too many surprises. With the first selection in the draft the Minneapolis Millers selected Geovany Soto. Entering the draft Soto was clearly the top prospect available and no one was surpised when Soto went first overall.



Soto is expected to move right into the Millers starting lineup next year as a catcher with Victor Martinez most likely moving to designated hitter.

Rounding out the top five in the draft was Aaron Crow to the Milwaukee Braves, Kyle Skipworth to the Oak Ridges Poss, Stephen Strasburg to the Yakima Bulls and Gordon Beckham to the Melbourne Beach Manatees.

The first surprise selection in the draft was most likely Ivan DeJesus by the Cambridge Porkers who stated "I think I am reaching here" just before making the selection.

A probable first in MDBL history was the selection of three Japanese players in the first round. Masahide Kobayashi was selected 11th overall by the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, Koji Uehara was selected four picks later and the Pittsburgh Crawfords closed out the sandwich round by selecting closer Kyuji Fujikawa.

The Oak Ridges Posse and Pittsburgh Crawfords each made the most selections, 4, in the round. The Posse used their four picks on Skipworth, Nick Blackburn, Juan Duran and Neftali Feliz. The Crawfords added Trevor Cahill, Chris Perez, Matt Joyce, and Fujikawa.