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Newsletters>
Arizona Winter League Announced for 2009
July 11, 2008
Premiere US Winter League to Return With 6 Teams in the
Southwest
(Dublin, CA. July 11, 2008) The Arizona Winter League
(AWL), a professional instructional baseball league is set
to play its third season in the southwest, once again
headquartered in Yuma, Arizona, from January 26th to March
1st of 2009. The six team developmental league will be
administered by the independent professional Golden
Baseball League (GBL) and will be staffed with instructors
and managers from the GBL summer season that has resulted
in over 70 GBL players signing with major league
organizations over the last three seasons. In addition,
instructors and coaches representing most of the major
independent leagues, foreign leagues, and major league
organizations will also be working with the players.
Serving as a developmental league for pro players seeking
professional contracts for 2008, or players already under
contract that want to have a headstart on their competition
and be seen early by scouts, the AWL has had over 130
players from it rosters signed by professional teams., Last
year over 80 players left the AWL with professional
contracts. Players have gone to the Golden League, the
Atlantic League, the Northern League, the American
Association, the United League, the Frontier League, the
Continental League, the New York State League, European
Leagues, the Mexican League, and a number to major league
organizations including the San Francisco Giants, Kansas
City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los
Angeles Dodgers. One alumni of the 2007 Arizona Winter
League, Sergio Romo, is now pitching in the big leagues
with San Francisco.
“The first two years of the AWL were a tremendous success
for the players and were very well supported by the fans of
Yuma, Blythe, Palm Springs and the business community,"
said David Kaval, CEO of the Golden Baseball League. “ We
look forward to continuing to grow this league and provide
winter-time family entertainment and career development
opportunities for players throughout the southwest.”
Arizona Winter League games will be held at the Ray Kroc
Complex and Desert Sun Stadium in Yuma and also in Blythe,
CA and Palm Springs, where a 21-game season with playoffs
and a Championship Game at the conclusion. The six teams of
22-25 man rosters will be made up of professional
free-agents, professional players under contract using this
as a development/instructional opportunity to get ready for
the 2008 summer season, and collegiate players that were
overlooked in the 2008 MLB amateur draft. Instructors will
be ex-major leaguers who currently coach or manage
professional teams such as Mike Marshall, Les Lancaster,
Cory Snyder, Jeffrey Leonard, Brent Bowers, Garry Templeton
and others. At the conclusion of the league, a minimum of
the top 20 players that are free agents will be signed to
GBL and many other leagues will also participate in signing
players. Last six independent leagues signed players at the
AWL to 2008 contracts. In 2007 there were 51 AWL players
that left with pro contracts, the number grew in 2008 to
83.
Leading the week of spring training will be Nick Belmonte,
Boston Red Sox scout, who is also considered the top
independent player procurement consultant in independent
baseball and placed over 120 players in 2008 with
professional teams. In addition, scouts from major league
organizations and most of the independent leagues will be
evaluating players or be part of the instructional staff
and will sign players for those leagues as well. Also
participating will be scouting bureaus and agents from
Europe, Mexico, and Japan looking to source players.
“This is a great opportunity for players to improve and
demonstrate their skills and receive contracts for the 2009
GBL season and a number of other U.S. and international
professional leagues,” said AWL Commissioner Kevin Outcalt.
“In addition to playing for these managers with a chance to
be signed, we have already been contacted by major league
organizations that plan to scout the league as they have
done the last two seasons. Like the GBL, the AWL will
actively market our top players to MLB teams and we plan to
duplicate the success of player placement we have had in
the summer.”
Players will have approximately one week of spring training
before the teams are drafted and the opening night game
kicks off the season. Games will be run with full minor
league activities including game day promotions, fan
giveaways, entertainment acts, mascots, full concessions,
etc. All statistics will be reported to the league’s
official statistician, Howe SportsData.
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