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Arizona Winter League Announced for 2009

July 11, 2008 - Golden Baseball League (GBL) News Release


(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.

More information for interested players, sponsors, and fans can be found at www.arizonawinterleague.com.

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