ATLANTIC (LEAGUE) EIGHT ONE HIGHLIGHT OF EARLY SPRING TRAINING GAMES

Major league spring training has an abundance of intriguing storylines for Independent Baseball fans this year regardless of anyone's favorite league, but it is difficult topping what the Atlantic Eight brings to the table.

I have dubbed it the Atlantic Eight because of the fact eight players who were in the Atlantic League either for a long spell or for a cup of coffee last season are in major league camps fulltime, which may never have been accomplished by any league since the Independent frenzy started back in 1993.

The American Association has been out-pacing the Atlantic League in the pure number of former players in the majors in some recent times, but the Atlantic goes out of its way to declare its players "major league ready", and the league's argument is very strong right now.

Veteran right-hander Rich Hill, who made an important foray into the Atlantic League (Long Island, NY) last summer on the way to sizzling as a starter at Boston in September then signing a $6.1 million contract with Oakland in the offseason, is the only one of the Atlantic Eight on a 40-man roster although he is far from standing alone in representing the newest group of Atlantic Leaguers vying for regular-season jobs.

Minnesota has the strongest contingent in raw numbers and possibly the other top candidates to make it to Opening Day with outfielder Joe Benson (Sugar Land, TX) and southpaw relievers Dan Runzler (Sugar Land) and Buddy Boshers (Somerset, NJ. World Champion Kansas City has comeback-minded righty Chien-Ming Wang (Southern Maryland), Atlanta has Sugar Land lefty Hunter Cervenka, righty Tim Stauffer (Sugar Land) is with Arizona and infielder Robert Andino (Somerset) is making his comeback bid with Miami. All technically carry the tag non-roster invitee at the moment.

Hill, being counted on in the Athletics' rotation, struggled in his first start by walking three, giving up two hits and a run while only retiring four batters. Stauffer has not pitched, at least in a regular Cactus League game, but everyone else has put up decent numbers in the early going (through Monday). Boshers and Runzler, at least one of whom could land in the Twins' bullpen, both have had two scoreless outings of an inning apiece and Benson, getting action nearly every day in the Grapefruit League so far, has gone 2-for-8 with a walk, double, RBI and run.

Wang, at Southern Maryland briefly while trying to get his career back on track, has now worked three scoreless innings for the Royals, giving up two hits and collecting two strikeouts. Cervenka has two scoreless frames while Andino has gone 2-for-7 plus two walks and has scored twice in four appearances.

One other 2015 Atlantic League pitcher, Long Island lefty Donnie Veal, has gotten into a Cactus League game, coming from Texas's minor league camp for at least one day. He was touched for two runs in an inning of work.

Aside from this Atlantic League contingent, attention should be given to two other Independent players who are trying to find their way onto the 25-man roster of the reigning World Series-champion Royals. First baseman Balbino Fuenmayor, the 2014 choice of Baseball America as Independent Player of the Year for his breakout season at Quebec in the Can-Am League, is seeing solid playing time and has gone 2-for-9 with one run batted in during five appearances. He also has played for Laredo, TX of the American Association and the Frontier League Greys. Outfielder Jose Martinez (Rockford, IL, Frontier League), new to the 40-man roster, is 4-for-9 after four appearances.

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INDY COUNT AT 50 PLAYERS AS MAJOR LEAGUE CAMPS SWING INTO ACTION

Fans of Independent Baseball are virtually guaranteed of an exciting lead-up to the major league season as well as to the Indy openers in April and May because another strong contingent of players who have spent time developing their talent in the non-affiliated leagues are wearing uniforms representing one of the 30 American and National League teams in spring training.

Records maintained exclusively by IndyBaseballChatter.com show exactly 50 onetime Independent players are official invitees to the camps spread throughout Arizona and Florida, with many of them totally dependent on the Indy leagues in order to get any momentum toward a big-league career and some using this route to rehab from an injury or develop new skills so they can re-energize their professional life. The 50-man contingent is evenly divided between 40-man roster players and non-roster invitees.

The Independent league graduates could take the field any given day as a unit since all positions are represented although, as usual, the top-heavy number–38 of the 50–are pitchers.

The complete roster, by position, with the major league team and the Independent affiliations in parenthesis. An asterisk indicates the player started his professional career in an Indy league while an “n” in front of the player indicates he is in spring training as a non-roster player competing to make a 25-man opening day roster.

Pitchers (38)–nTim Adleman, Cincinnati (New Jersey, Can-Am League, and El Paso and Lincoln, American Association); nDylan Axelrod, Miami (Windy City, Frontier League); nBuddy Boshers, Minnesota (Somerset, Atlantic League); nCraig Breslow, Miami (New Jersey, Northeast League); n*Greg Burke, Philadelphia (Atlantic City, Atlantic); nAngel Castro, Oakland (Lincoln); nHunter Cervenka, Atlanta (Sugar Land, Atlantic); n*Aaron Crow, Chicago-NL (Fort Worth, American Association); Steve Delabar, Toronto (Brockton, Can-Am, and Florence, Frontier); Jon Edwards, San Diego (San Angelo, North American League, and Alpine, Pecos League); Luis Garcia, Philadelphia (Newark, Can-Am); nJarrett Grube, Cleveland (Southern Maryland, Atlantic); Junior Guerra, Milwaukee (Wichita, American Association); Rich Hill, Oakland (Long Island, Atlantic); *Luke Hochevar, Kansas City (Fort Worth); John Holdzkom, Pittsburgh (Amarillo and Sioux City, American Association, and San Angelo, United League); n*James Hoyt, Houston (Wichita and Edinburg and Yuma, North American); Scott Kazmir, Los Angeles-NL (Sugar Land); nLogan Kensing, Detroit (Bridgeport, Atlantic); nBrandon Kintzler, Minnesota (St. Paul, American Association, and Winnipeg, Northern League); Vidal Nuno, Seattle (Washington, Frontier); *James Paxton, Seattle (Grand Prairie, American Association); nScott Rice, Arizona (York, Long Island, and Newark, Atlantic); *Tanner Roark, Washington (Southern Illinois, Frontier); Chaz Roe, Baltimore (Laredo, American Association); nDrew Rucinski, Chicago-NL (Rockford, Frontier); nDan Runzler, Minnesota (Sugar Land); *Tanner Scheppers, Texas (St. Paul); *Max Scherzer, Washington (Fort Worth); Bo Schultz, Toronto (Sioux Falls and Grand Prairie, American Association); nJoe Thatcher, Cleveland (River City, Frontier); *Ian Thomas, Los Angeles-NL (York and Winnipeg, Northern and American Association); nChien-Ming Wang, Kansas City (Southern Maryland); nChris Smith, Oakland (Sugar Land and Wichita); Josh Smoker, New York-NL (Rockford); nTim Stauffer, Arizona (Sugar Land); Tom Wilhelmsen, Texas (Tucson, Golden League); Brad Ziegler, Arizona (Schaumburg, Northern).

Catchers (2) – Rene Rivera, Tampa Bay (Camden, Atlantic); nEddy Rodriguez, New York-AL (Sioux Falls and El Paso, American Association).

Infielders (4) –nSS-2B Robert Andino, Miami (Somerset); *1B-OF Chris Colabello, Toronto (Worcester and Nashua, Can-Am), *2B-SS Stephen Drew, Washington (Camden); n1B-3B Balbino Fuenmayor, Kansas City (Quebec, Can-Am; Laredo, American Association; Frontier Greys, Frontier).

Outfielders (6) —nJoe Benson, Minnesota (Sugar Land); Jose Martinez, Kansas City (Rockford); *Daniel Nava, Los Angeles-AL (Chico, Golden); David Peralta, Arizona (Amarillo and Wichita and Rio Grande Valley, North American); nAntoan Richardson, Pittsburgh (Schaumburg); nOF-1B Reynaldo Rodriguez, Minnesota (Yuma, Golden).

Scheppers, Pat Misch Already Scratched

The list of former Independent players slated for major league camps lost one hopeful as spring training was opening because southpaw Pat Misch, a former major leaguer who divided last season between the Miami farm system and Taiwan with a two-game pit stop at Lancaster, PA of the Atlantic League (1-0, 1.80), was granted a release from his agreement with Milwaukee in order to pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan.

While Texas reliever Tanner Scheppers is considered one of the 50 Indy players in major league camps, the veteran, who started his pro career with the St. Paul (MN) Saints of the American Association, has been ruled out until as least the All-Star Break because of a new knee injury. He is returning to the Metroplex area for surgery.

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INDEPENDENT PLAYERS INVOLVED IN CARIBBEAN SERIES AND WBC

The Caribbean Series always signals excitement for various reasons.

Countries involved have so much passion for baseball, and the series, this year being contested in the Dominican Republic, also leads the Baseball World into a brand new season.

Independent Baseball fans should find considerable enjoyment since a nice number of its former (and sometimes current) players are getting additional exposure.

While we likely will miss a few players, here are some of the Independent players on the current 28-man rosters with their major league affiliation (if any) in parenthesis.

Dominican: OF Lew Ford, Long Island, Atlantic League.

Mexico: 1B Cyle Hankerd, Amarillo, American Association, and Southern Maryland, Atlantic League.

Puerto Rico: LHP Andrew Barbosa (New York-NL) Long Island; RHP Chris Smith (Toronto) Lake Erie, Traverse City and Washington, Frontier League, and White Sands, Pecos League.

Venezuela: RHP Omar Bencomo, Laredo and Wichita, American Association; RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Victoria, Golden League; RHP Marcus Walden (Minnesota), Lancaster, Atlantic League; OF Jose Martinez (Kansas City major league roster), Rockford, Frontier League; OF Teodoro Martinez, Rockford.

Cuba: None.

WBC QUALIFIER ALSO HAS INDY STARS

The first of four qualifying tournaments for next year's World Baseball Classic begins February 11 in Australia, and it also will have some Independent players. They include:

Australia: RHP Ryan Searle, Grand Prairie, American Association; C Allan de San Miguel, Southern Maryland, Atlantic League.

Philippines: 1B Angelo Songco (Los Angeles-NL), St. Paul, American Association.

South Africa: SS Anthony Phillips (Los Angeles-NL), St. Paul.

New Zealand rounds out this qualifier with only the championship team advancing to the WBC.

SPRING TRAINING COUNT UP TO 46

Former Atlantic League players Robert Andino of Somerset, an infielder, and LHP Pat Misch of Lancaster are the most recent additions among Independent players who have received invitations to major league spring training camps. Andino signed with Miami after the '15 season while Misch was inked by Milwaukee. We now can identify 46 former Independent players who will be in major league camps. We will post the entire roster before camps open.

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44 FORMER INDY PLAYERS DUE IN MAJOR LEAGUE CAMPS WITH MORE EXPECTED

With the joyful start of major league spring training only three weeks away, it is time to get serious in tracking former stars of the Independent leagues who are now involved (or recently have been) with any of the 30 American or National League organizations.

Non-roster invitations are coming in at a good pace now, and we can report that 44 players who have been in Independent leagues are already ticketed for major league camps. Twenty-five of them are on 40-man rosters and the other 19 are invitees. The latter number almost certainly will grow, and it is possible more roster slots may be taken in the near future because steady major leaguers Craig Breslow, Aaron Crow and Jerome Williams still are free agents.

This is the only place where baseball people and fans are likely to get the entire roster of these two groups. We will post it before pitchers and catchers start camp.

60 Free Agents

Player personnel bosses will likely want to peruse our list of 60 onetime Independent players who have become free agents since last season and have not re-signed although a few of these people likely will retire, turn to coaching or are injured. The complete list maintained by the Independent Baseball Insider follows:

Right-Handed Pitchers (19): Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Derek Blacksher, Brian Broderick, Zach Cooper, Aaron Crow, Charles Fisher, Parker Frazier, Mark Hamburger, Jeff Howell, Chad James, Kenn Kasparek, Mike Lee, Marcel Prado, Edwin Quirarte, Mike Recchia, Cody Satterwhite, Robert Stock, Dakota Watts, Jerome Williams.
Left-Handed Pitchers (13): Andrew Albers, Mike Antonini, Sean Bierman, Craig Breslow, Matt Bywater, Aaron Dott, Trevor Lubking, Ronan Pacheco, Jhonathan Ramos, Dustin Richardson, Greg Smith, Caleb Thielbar, Fabian Williamson.
Catchers (6): Brandon Bantz, Jose Gil, Jose Gonzalez, Ralph Henriquez, Ryan Ortiz, J.T. Wise.
Infielders (14): Brock Bond, Brooks Conrad, Chris Curley, Allan De San Miguel, Jonathan Galvez, Luis Hernandez, Kevin Howard, Michael Johnson, Daniel Mayora, Brock Peterson, Jonathan Roof, Nate Samson, Hainley Statia, Justin Toole.
Outfielders (8): Jeremy Barfield, Brian Burgamy, Jose Constanza, Robert Garner, Teodoro Martinez, Burt Reynolds, Trayvon Robinson, David Sappelt.

We welcome any adjustments to this list, with the suggestion that those comments be sent to this writer at RWirz@aol.com.

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CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY FOR 11 INDEPENDENT PLAYERS IN FORM OF MAJOR LEAGUE SPRING TRAINING INVITATIONS

While it has become customary for at least a couple dozen players who have been in Independent leagues recently to receive non-roster invitations to major league spring training camps, the early pace of these opportunities is something I cannot remember in my writing about the unaffiliated leagues since 2003.

No less than 11 such spring training invitations have crossed this desk in the last two weeks, with many more virtually certain to come when organizations start releasing their full roster of invitees in January and early February. With 23 former Indy players, including seven who started out in the unaffiliated leagues, currently on 40-man rosters, this means we know of 34 players with Indy experience who will report to major league camps.

Free agents Craig Breslow, Aaron Crow, Stephen Drew, Scott Kazmir and Jerome Williams will almost surely be added along with quite a few players who are on Triple-A rosters or still are minor league free agents.

The most impressive announcements among the invitees at this point probably are left-handed pitchers Dan Runzler and Buddy Boshers since both finished the '15 season in the Atlantic League. Minnesota signed this pair as the Twins seek left-handed bullpen help. Runzler pitched at Sugar Land, TX and Boshers was with Atlantic League champion Somerset, NJ. Another southpaw, Rich Hill, who pitched briefly for Long Island, NY in the Atlantic League last season, signed at $6 million contract with Oakland earlier in the fall. He is on the major league roster.

The other non-roster invitees we know of so far, including their position, organization and their Independent teams: RHP Tim Adleman, Cincinnati (New Jersey, Can-Am League; El Paso, TX and Lincoln, NE, American Association); RHP Dylan Axelrod, Miami (Windy City, Crestwood, IL, Frontier League); OF Joe Benson, Minnesota (Sugar Land); RHP Greg Burke, Philadelphia (Atlantic City, NJ, Atlantic League); RHP Jarrett Grube, Cleveland (Southern Maryland, Atlantic); RHP Logan Kensing, Detroit (Bridgeport, CT, Atlantic); RHP Brandon Kintzler, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN, American Association, and Winnipeg, Northern League); 1B-OF Reynaldo Rodriguez, Minnesota (Yuma, AZ, Golden League); LHP Joe Thatcher, Cleveland (River City, O'Fallon, MO, Frontier).

NEARLY 100 SIGNED OUT OF INDEPENDENT LEAGUES

Should anyone believe signings by major league organizations out of Independent leagues have diminished of late, they should think again. Records maintained by www.IndyBaseballChatter.com show 82 of these signings just since the end of last spring training, and that only includes players currently in major league systems and those who became free agents at the end of the season. Other players were signed in this span of time and later released.

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