Tag Archives: independent league

Independent Ball

Desert League Announces Open Tryout Dates

Leave a comment

The newly formed Desert League has announced open tryouts for the 92 roster spots (23 per team) available this upcoming season.

desert league logo

Baseball is a child’s game. Played by both children and adults who can’t let go of their children’s game. As Jim Bouton said, “You spend your life gripping a baseball and in the end you discover it’s the other way around.”

For $60 you can see if you still carry the dream and are good enough to realize it. For just three Jacksons you can take a chance that you are good enough to make money playing baseball.

The newest independent baseball league in the country and the ONLY league that is scheduled to play during the Fall and Winter will be holding tryouts to see if you can keep your dreams alive.

The Desert Baseball League is headquartered in Yuma and will play this September in Yuma, San Luis, Somerton and Imperial County, California. The players will be paid and insured. But most importantly they will move from southern Arizona to professional leagues in the US and Mexico and begin their journey up the baseball ladder.

So put down your baseball cards and pick up your glove and meet coaches and staff of the Desert League of Professional Baseball in Superior that Tuesday afternoon and see if you have what it takes to make your Field of Dreams possible. As they say, you can’t get a hit if you don’t swing the bat.

Go to www.desertleague.com to register and get more information.

Currently, their website lists three different tryouts as well as the dates for their open training camp.

Tryouts

Mountain View, California

Register: https://desertleague.regfox.com/san-jose-desert-league-tryout

WHEN: June 5, 2016

WHERE:  Mountain View High School

3535 Truman Ave,  Mountain View, CA 94040

SCHEDULE:

9 AM – noon: Evaluations
1 PM – 3 PM: Live game

$60 tryout fee in advance/$75 day of tryout

Superior, Arizona

Register: https://desertleague.regfox.com/superior-arizona-try-out

WHEN: June 21, 2016

WHERE: Superior Jr/Sr High School

SCHEDULE:

Noon – 2 PM: Evaluations
2 PM – 4 PM: Live game

$60 tryout fee in advance/$75 day of tryout

Riverside, California

Register: https://desertleague.regfox.com/desert-league-riverside-tryout

WHEN: July 17, 2016

WHERE: La Sierra University

4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, CA 92505

SCHEDULE:

9 AM- Noon: Evaluations
Noon – 2 PM: Live game

$60 tryout fee in advance/$80 day of tryout

Interested players should register for our open training camp scheduled for September 15-20 in Chandler. There are just 92 roster spots (23 per team) available this season.

Players unable to attend the Desert League training camp may contact the league for information on other tryout options.

Independent Ball

Want to Play in the Pecos League? You May Be Banned

21 Comments

pecos

If you’re a prospective independent league player, don’t be shocked if you’re banned from playing in the Pecos League.

Although there’s been a rule against winter league participation for the last few years, more and more players are emailing me complaining or confused about not being eligible for the Pecos League. This is mainly because the rule isn’t actually listed anywhere that is easily accessible to players looking for information.

In fact, their tryout page says that “any player who is not currently under contract with another Professional Baseball Team may tryout.” However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

In September of 2014, the Pecos League put out a press release that warned players about playing in any winter league that was not affiliated with the Pecos.

9/4/2014– The Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs will not accept players from any winter league. This list includes (California Winter League, Arizona Winter League, Myrtle Beach Winter and Texas Winter League). These leagues are setup to profit off of the players and if you think you are going to get signed out of one of these leagues you should look at the facts. Some of these leagues will get you in Spring Training with a team but you actually are hurting your chances of playing professional baseball by going to these leagues.

The Pecos League only signs players from its tryouts and its Pecos Spring League…

The Pecos League is the place for rookies with no prior professional experience to break in. The only developmental league that the Pecos League will consider players from is Pecos Spring League. There are no guarantees that you will make a team or a spring training spot. But you will have the highest percentage opportunity. If someone is attempting to take money from you for a winter league then it would be wise to ask them what jobs they have for you if you attend the league. Jobs are paying jobs not Spring Training Invites where you will be released.

As of this year, you can add the Puerto Rico Instructional Baseball League to this list of “banned” winter leagues as well. Players who participated in this league have been emailing the site to say that they were informed that they are no longer eligible to play in the Pecos.

The rules put in place ensure that all potential players must either:

What this really boils down to is… if you didn’t give the Pecos League any of your money over the off season, then they’re not willing to pay you $55 a week to play for them.

Is spending $1,250-$2,500 for the fall or spring league worth it?

You can do the math (the regular season runs for about 11 weeks)… but ultimately, it’s up to the players to decide if the potential exposure from playing and getting ABs or IPs is worth it to them.