Independent Baseball Chatter – by Bob Wirz
What a jump!
A record 57 players who have been in one or more Independent Baseball leagues are among those in–or heading to–major league spring training camps.
, which has been tracking Indy players for years, has identified 40 pitchers and 17 position players who are on 40-man rosters (27) or are non-roster invitees (30), a jump from the previous count of 52 two years ago. Â Fifty players were in a similar group last year.
Forty-five players, another record, played in major league games last season.
American Association alumni in MLB Spring Training
- RHP (El Paso ’12, Lincoln ’12) – Cincinnati
- RHP Derek Eitel (Wichita ’15) – Washington
- RHP (Wichita ’11, ’13) – Milwaukee
- RHP (Wichita ’12) – Houston
- RHP (St. Paul ’09) – Minnesota
- LHP (Grand Prairie ’10) – Seattle
- OF David Peralta (Wichita ’12, Amarillo ’13) – Arizona
- C (El Paso ’09, Sioux Falls ’10) – Minnesota
- RHP (Laredo ’12) – Atlanta
- RHP (St. Paul ’09) – Texas
- RHP (Fort Worth ’07) – Washington
- RHP (Grand Prairie ’11) – Toronto
- RHP (Wichita ’13) – Oakland
- LHP (St. Paul ’11, ’16) – Miami
