[ayaghmour2]

I didn't take anyone in the minor league portion of the draft and didn't lose anyone either. The independent league draft is up next and honestly much harder. I pick 15th, so I have to find someone good enough to be worth picking, but also not good enough to get taken early. Honestly, this draft might have won us a championship, as we picked first in the first independent draft. The Gothams picked behind us, but had the unfortunate event of choosing the same player as us, a young lefty named Jim Crawford. Since we had the worst record, we got priority, and two years later Crawford won us a championship while the Gothams couldn't buy a win when Jim Lonardo wasn't on the mound. I'm not too sure how many players like Crawford have been taken, but the Independent leagues have a few decent players that can help a big league team now or in the future.

We also had all the guys I wanted from the draft to sign. Here's a list of those signings, their round, and bonus:

1st Round: LF Ed Reyes ($9,000)
2nd Round: 1B Leo Mitchell ($3,200)
2nd Round: SP John Hartz ($2,700)
3rd Round: 2B Homer Ray ($7,000)
4th Round: CF Roy Moore ($3,100)
9th Round: LF Bud Taylor ($900)
13th Round: CF Les Powers ($1,300)

Here is an updated Top 30 Prospect list:
1. CF Joe Johnson (16th Overall): 1st
2. SP Tom Barrell (41st Overall): 3rd
3. SP Mel Leonard (52nd Overall): New
4. C Joe Rainbow (61st Overall): New
5. SP Bill Ross (84th Overall): New
6. SP George DeForest (86th Overall): 2nd
7. LF Ed Reyes (93rd Overall): New
8. 1B Jim Hatfield (123rd Overall): 15th
9. C Claude Ramsey (124th Overall): New
10. RF Ed Rhoden (126th Overall): 12th
11. CF Buck Waldrop (133rd Overall): 25th
12. 3B Tom Spitzer (134th Overall): 18th
13. SP John Hartz (142nd Overall): New
14. 1B Leo Mitchell (148th Overall): New
15. LF Billy Marshall (149th Overall): 9th
16. 2B Elmer Hutchins (171st Overall): 16th
17. CF Roy Moore (221st Overall): New
18. 1B Jim Fisher (228th Overall): 21st
19. 2B John Banks (233rd Overall): New
20. SS Charlie Reed (235th Overall): New
21. 2B Homer Ray (236th Overall): New
22. CL Don Grossman (251st Overall): New
23. SP Frank Pratt (272nd Overall): New
24. SP Art Black (290th Overall): 11th
25. CF Tom Thomas (298th Overall): 19th
26. SP Fred Collins (300th Overall): New
27. SP Chet Peacock (302nd Overall): New
28. SP Mike Murphy (316th Overall): 20th
29. SP Billy LeBeau (336th Overall): New
30. SP Joe King (354th Overall): 23rd

I also realized I forgot to recap the AI picks from the draft, so hopefully I'll be able to get to that before the weekend so I can start top prospect reports over the weekend.