Independent Professional Baseball

Here is a short video which shows clips from an independent professional minor league baseball open tryout from the Newark Bears, of the Can-Am League: http://vimeo.com/32982540 This may help those of you who want to make the jump to professional baseball in the independent leagues but may not yet have attended one of these tryouts. If you want [...] - 2 months ago

Andrew Starke, the president of the California Winter League, answers questions from members of the mailing list on the following topics: How to play international professional baseball Chances of an international player making a professional independent baseball team What it takes to become a bullpen catcher in the independent leagues The realities of older players trying to make an [...] - 5 months ago

Here is a rather unique interview which most people involved with the independent minor league baseball industry do not get to hear:  an interview with the owner/operator of a winter instructional and developmental league.  The interview is with Andrew from the California Winter League, and it covers information about professional independent minor league baseball tryouts, [...] - 14 months ago

One of the biggest problems facing prospective professional baseball players is the lack of knowledge of how to transition from the college game to the pro game, especially in the independent minor leagues.  There is a lot of confusion, so a new product was created to help players learn: how to find out about independent minor [...] - 24 months ago

If you are looking for independent minor league baseball tryouts in 2010 then be sure to join the tryout database which offers two things: Sending your information to independent baseball teams across all 8 leagues for open tryouts, private workouts, and other opportunities Sending you updates on independent baseball tryouts throughout 2010 You can join the database at [...] - 2 years ago

A few notes from the world of baseball transactions today since this is an off week for the Independent Baseball Insider which returns next week with a complete rundown of the unusually large contingent of Indy players headed to major league spring training camps. Justin Christian, one of the premier Indy names in recent years since he climbed all the way to the majors from a start in the Frontier League (River City, O'Fallon, MO), could not be blamed if he has a long face today. Only days before spring training, San Francisco designated the 31-year-old outfielder for assignment when it signed Ryan Theriot and Guillermo Mota and needed 40-man roster space. Christian, who debuted at River City in 2003 and also has played briefly at Southern Maryland (Waldorf) in the Atlantic League, is getting some nice support from certain Bay Area media because of the way he played the outfield and hit .255 in 18 games for the parent Giants late last season. What could happen is that some other team will claim Christian (although 40-man space is pretty sparse right now) or the Giants could re-sign him if he clears waivers and bring him right back as a non-roster player. This would give the speedster, who pilfered 54 bases in 137 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season (and three more with the Giants), a renewed opportunity to be a spare outfielder in San Francisco. Christian also has had 24 games with the New York Yankees during his career. LEFTY MIKE O'CONNOR GETS LOOK FROM YANKEES Veteran Mike O'Connor is the most recent pitcher to join the impressive list of Independent grads with major league spring training invitations. O'Connor, 31, will try to grab one of the left-handed relief jobs in the New York Yankees bullpen. He went 0-1, 2.70 in nine appearances for the New York Mets last season. O'Connor's Independent time was with Southern Maryland. He also has been in the majors with Washington, logging some time in both '06 and '08. BALTIMORE HAS STU POMERANZ We just discovered while pouring over some transactions that Stuart Pomeranz, who spent 2009 with the New Jersey Jackals (Little Falls) in the Can-Am League, has been signed to a minor league deal by Baltimore. While his Jackals numbers did not stand out (5-6, 6.50, mainly as a starter), he had 18 saves (1-6, 3.67 with 53 strikeouts in 49 innings over 51 relief appearances in Double-A in the Colorado organization two summers ago. The 6-foot-7 right-hander, only 27, got into three major league spring training games for the Los Angeles Dodgers one year ago (0-0, 3.86), but only worked in two games (at Class AA Chattanooga) during the regular season. One would have to guess he was injured. Baltimore has placed him on its Frederick, MD (Class A) roster, but with the Orioles' pitching needs it would not be a shock to see him appear in a major league spring training game or two. SUBSCRIBE TO THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER FOR 2012. Subscriptions to the Insider $48 from now through December, 2012. REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions

It had to feel good for the Newark (NJ) Bears to see that the Dominican Republic had won the Caribbean Series, which claims superiority over the opposition from Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico. Why, you ask? The manager of the Dominican team, which also was the host country, recently signed on as a coach for the Bears, who will play their second season in the Can-Am League this summer. He is a big name, too. Ken Oberkfell, who has been a major league coach or Triple-A manager for the last eight seasons, is so popular in the Dominican that he sometimes is referred to as "The Leones' magician", according to an elaborate feature story on MLB.com.. This comes about because of the way the 55-year-old has handled the reigns with Escogido, the country's representative in the Caribbean Series. He has now become the first manager ever to lead Escogido to two Caribbean Series titles. He did not even take over this season in the baseball-crazed country until Thanksgiving. The Dominican team won its first four games in the Caribbean Series, then lost its last two after the championship already was won. "Oberkfell is (the) type of manager the players love playing for," praised Escogido President Luis Manuel Bonetti in the MLB.com story. "He's the type of manager that lets them play. He doesn't put (on) any restrictions, and really understands the culture that we have here." Oddly enough, Oberkfell never played winter baseball along the path that saw him spend 16 seasons in the major leagues as a player. He got into 1,602 major league games, all but 41 of them in the National League. An infielder, he had a career average of .278 The Illinois native is returning to Independent Baseball for the first time since 1995-96 when he managed Mohawk Valley and Elmira, NY, in respective Northeast League seasons. He was bench coach for the New York Mets in 2008 and again last year. FORMER NEWARK OUTFIELDER TOP HITTER IN SERIES Another significant tie to Newark in the Caribbean Series was that of Dominican outfielder Pablo Ozuna, who led all hitters in the six-game set with a .421 average (8-for-19). He hit .294 in 119 at-bats for the Bears in 2010, their last season in the Atlantic League. The biggest surprise among all players with at least 10 at-bats was probably veteran infielder Edgardo Alfonzo of Venezuela. He had the fourth best average of .364 (4-for-11) in the pitching-dominated series. Listed at 38, the longtime major league standout infielder is not believed to have played baseball in the United States in the summer since 2008 except for 26 games and a .154 average for Newark in 2010. He played briefly at Bridgeport, CT in the Atlantic League in '06 and was in a combined 164 games for the Long Island (NY) Ducks in the same league in '07-08. Venezulan teammate Cesar Suarez, an outfielder who played for four different Indy teams in 2009-10, was right behind Alfonzo at .360 (9-for-25). We identified 29 players with Independent playing time on the four Caribbean Series rosters. SUBSCRIBE TO THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER FOR 2012. Subscriptions to the Insider $48 from now through December, 2012. REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions

What a busy start to the day, especially for the morning after subscribers got this week's Independent Baseball Insider column, but that is the way it goes with breaking news. Anyone who cares about Independent Baseball will want to follow the Caribbean Series for the next few days (especially if they can see the games on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3)since about 25 per cent of the players on the four teams are current or former Indy players. New Newark, NJ (Can-Am League) coach Ken Oberkfell is even managing the Dominican Republic entry. In fact, three of the four opening day starting pitchers in what turned out to be pitching-dominated games have Indy ties. The latest after the Insider was put to bed last night was southpaw Kris Johnson, who limited Mexico to three hits and an unearned run in five innings to get the host Dominicans off to a good start in a 2-1 win. Johnson pitched for the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones (American Association) much of last season after being released out of Triple-A with Boston. The 27-year-old has since signed with Pittsburgh, an organization that certainly can benefit from better pitching. Nelson Figueroa, whose latest bid for fulltime major league duty will come with Toronto this spring, continued his exceptional work in the afternoon, winning for Puerto Rico at the expense of another former Indy hurler, Seth Etherton, who started for Venezuela. Figueroa spent a little Indy time with the Long Island (NY) Ducks (Atlantic League) while Etherton was with Long Beach, CA in what was then the Golden League. I do not pretend to understand all of the roster qualifications, but Figueroa had pitched in the Dominican championship series for Escogido, that country's Caribbean Series representative. Figueroa has now won series games for three of the four countries. He had pitched for both the Dominican and Mexico in past years. "I'm back here because I want the chance to keep pitching in the big leagues," the right-hander told MLB.com. "I could be sitting somewhere in an office and dealing with rush hour traffic, but instead the stadium is my office and I come to work and get to play and have fun." NON-ROSTER COUNT UP TO 34 The Continental League is a thing of the past, but it cannot be forgotten because the latest Independent player to get a major league spring training invitation is left-hander Brandon Sisk, who started his pro career with Bay Area (Houston region) in that Texas-Louisiana-based circuit. Sisk will be with Kansas City after the 26-year-old put up a combined 7-3 record and 2.52 ERA for 41 relief outings in Classes AA and AAA last season. He is the 22nd pitcher to get a non-roster invitation from a major league club. Twelve position players bring the overall count to an impressive 34. SWEENEY RE-JOINS SEATTLE SYSTEM Veteran right-hander Brian Sweeney, on the Venezuelan roster for the Caribbean Series, has signed as a free agent with one of his former teams, the Seattle Mariners. It does not appear he will be an official non-roster invitee although it is a pretty good guess he will get some major league exposure this spring. Sweeney, 37, brings the long-departed Heartland League back to mind since he started his pro career in 1996 with Layayette, IN. He more recently trained with Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League and pitched one game for Somerset, NJ of the same league, both times then signing with major league organizations. He has pitched in the majors for San Diego and Seattle. LET'S HEAR IT FOR THIS NATIONALS HOPEFUL AND HIS CHEERLEADER FIANCE Okay, here is a Super Bowl story. Well, NFL saga, anyway. Another former Independent player to cheer for as he attempts to climb through the Washington Nationals farm system is right-handed pitcher Ben Graham. The onetime Wichita (KS) Wingnuts (American Association) hurler made some news late in the football season when he popped up at halftime of a Tennessee Titans game in a Santa Claus suit, took off his beard and proposed to cheerleader Janae Kram. She and her mates also were dressed in Christmas outfits. Guess what, the blond cutie said yes. SUBSCRIBE TO THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER FOR 2012. Subscriptions to the Insider $48 from now through December, 2012. REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions

I am anxious for the Caribbean Series to get started Thursday, not only because we might get to see some live baseball on TV and certainly to read about it, but because either current or former Independent players often pop up in key roles. For example, when the host Dominican Republic crowned its representative in what had to be a thrilling decision determined in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 9 in the championship series, onetime Can-Am hurler Raul Valdes turned in another outstanding start. The lefty, who had pitched for the New Jersey Jackals (Little Falls) and Nashua, NH, was not on the winning side, but he did more than his share for Aguilas. Valdes, who has gotten considerable major league exposure in recent years and is a non-roster invitee for the Phillies this spring training, allowed only one run in six innings, leaving with a 4-1 lead. He struck out seven, and finished the competition with a 1.15 earned run average. Valdes was 4-4, 5.19 for the Dominican League season, starting nine times in 11 appearances. Another former Indy hurler, Nelson Figueroa (Long Island, NY, Atlantic League), worked a scoreless eighth inning for champion Escogido, helping his team stay in the game. Figueroa will be in spring training with Toronto, bidding for a job with his fourth major league team since leaving the Ducks. How about this description of the Caribbean Series by Cleveland Manager Manny Acta: "Pandemonium", Acta told MLB.com."I've been part of it before, and it's a great opportunity for baseball. It's real competitive baseball, especially when it's played back home in the D.R." PASCUCCI GETS METS INVITE Valentino Pascucci, a power-hitting first baseman-designated hitter who got his first major league exposure in several years last September, will be back in major league camp with the New York Mets. Pascucci's Indy time was spent with the Camden (NJ) RiverSharks of the Atlantic League. It seems a bit strange with spring training almost here (hooray), but several Indy players have been among those cut loose by major league farm systems in recent days. How tough trying to catch on right now? All of them have been from the Class A or AA level. SUBSCRIBE TO THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER FOR 2012. Subscriptions to the Insider $48 from now through December, 2012. REQUEST A FREE WEEK OF THE INDEPENDENT BASEBALL INSIDER Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions