About a week ago, I started into my first mock draft of the season thanks to Jason Collette of Dock Of The Rays. This draft was a slow AL-Only (8 hours between picks) mock draft that consisted of 12 teams and 23 rounds hosted by Couch Managers. Below are the requirements for each position. The utility player could be anything (with the exception of a pitcher) and a DH was not required. The pitcher slots could also be either a starting pitcher or a relief pitcher.

I'm not going to review each pick because that would just be boring and I'll doubt you read about every single pick in every round, but I will cover the highlights of the first five rounds. If you are interested, the table below allows you to view each pick by the round. With the draft taking place during the winter hot stove, some players were switching leagues and being taken by owners when they should of been excluded (OF Mike Cameron was drafted in the 19th round and would have been drafted way earlier). With that said, you may see some very strange picks and those should be scratched from your memory.

The first four picks are pretty self explanatory and reasonable, no real questions here. I had the 5th pick overall (team name sacksjacked) and I decided to go with OF Carl Crawford. A mistake by me for taking Crawford over 3B Evan Longoria? Several owners may say so, but I've always been a speed guy and because it's a stat category where many players lack, it becomes very valuable.

The 9th pick overall was OF Jason Bay by owner Collin Hager (theroundtable) of Elmhurst Pub Roundtable. People of the fantasy baseball world keep saying that Bay is overrated, but his numbers say otherwise. If anything, Bay may have been taken a few picks too early, but the pick isn't totally absurd. Bay could end up with any team and if rumors are true about him signing with an AL West team, he's a solid number three hitter who can produce a ton of points.

The 10th pick was SS Derek Jeter who went earlier than I expected, but owner Donny Samson now has a stud shortstop and can move on with filling other positions. The 11th pick overall was from owner Joel Henard of the Fantasy Insiders and his selection was 2B Aaron Hill. The Hill pick is risky this early, especially with plenty of power hitters still on the board.

Drafted in the final slot of the first round was OF Grady Sizemore, who I thought was a steal. Sizmore had the injuries last year and let a lot of owners down, but is expected to be fully healthy next season. With Grady producing his "normal" stud numbers, owner chata makes this pick a good one.

Halfway through the second round, the draft had a hiccup and owner Alex Walsh (ajwalsh08) was assigned OF Jacoby Ellsbury by accident. I really wanted Ellsbury (really a speed freak for my teams) and offered to draft a player Walsh wanted so we could make a trade. The request was for 2B Brian Roberts, so I made the pick and then swapped it for Jacoby.

I made the Ellsbury/Roberts deal after my target for the second round was taken. I really had my eyes on RHP Felix Hernandez, but he was taken quickly by owner Scott Gilroy (jintman). I decided not to chase another pitcher because I've never been a fan of drafting pitchers high as I feel I just end up chasing after strikeouts and wins, but I really wanted to take a chance on King Felix..it just didn't work out.

With the 9th pick in the second round, owner Jesse Spector of the Touching Base Blog on NYDailyNews.com selected OF Curtis Granderson. Granderson will be a hot item come draft time next season, especially with the move to Yankee Stadium.

Ray Flowers of Baseball Guys selected OF Ichiro Suzuki with the very next pick after Granderson. Can't go wrong with Ichiro, especially on a much improved Mariners team. If anything, Ichiro may have been taken too late. Oh well.

Slugger OF/2B Ben Zobrist was taken by Jason Collette with the 11th pick in the second round. Zobrist doesn't show signs of slowing down next season and I have no problem with his draft position. Along with a speedy team, I really like guys with multiple position eligibility and Zobrist definitely has that.

Closing out the second round with the 24th pick overall, owner Dan Wade of the Twins Most Valuable Blog took 2B Dustin Pedroia. Although Pedroia didn't have an "MVP" season in 2009, you're still getting one of the best 2B in the AL, who can hit for power and average.

With my selection in the third round, I took 3B Michael Young from the Texas Rangers. Young is still very high on my list because of previous seasons. I liked him last year and I really like him heading into next season.

Another great pick in the third round came from owner Paul Sporer (pjs24) of Baseball By Paul when he selected OF/DH Adam Lind. Lind is player who I liked heading into 2009 and when he had a "breakout" season with 35 HR, it sealed the deal. While I'll be curious to see if the RBI totals hit over 100 again, the power and great average are here to stay.

Because many of you love C Matt Wieters, I'll have you know that he was drafted with the 1st pick in the fourth round (third catcher overall).

Some other notable picks of the fourth and fifth rounds which I thought were excellent: OF Shin-Soo Choo, 1B Billy Butler and SS Alexi Ramirez (all in the fourth round) and 3B/2B Gordon Beckham, RHP Jake Peavy and OF B.J. Upton in the fifth round.

Overall, I find my team to be very fast, but lacking power. My outfielders have a mixture of power and speed, but I'm curious to see how OF Jermaine Dye and OF Magglio Ordonez bounce back next season. I'm sure they will get plenty of at-bats, but will they find success? My starting infield is a group of young guys who have the potential to succeed, but I run into the issue of little power. With regards to pitching, I mentioned earlier that I've never been a huge fan of spending high picks on pitching, but that I would rather piece a few low round picks with a few waiver-wire picks. Everyone has their own strategy with regards to pitchers and draft picks, but you have to go with what wins you a championship. My catching situation is just awful...that's really all I can say, but with very little depth, you can't expect to find much value after the top guys are drafted.

I'm a firm believer in practice makes perfect and that's why it's great to get your drafting/ranking work in during the offseason. Heading into drafts next spring with very little practice could cost you later in the season. Not only is it great prep-work for next year, but it's a lot of fun talking baseball with everyone.

Let me know your comments, complaints, opinions and praises. Who do you think had the best draft?