Arizona Rookie League

[Captain Hook]

There are several different "rookie leagues" where MLB teams have affiliates. The largest of these is the Arizona Rookie League which will begin play on Sunday, June 21.



The eleven teams will play a 56 game schedule until league play ends on August 29. The rookie league teams are made up of players with less than two years experience, the majority would be players who signed late last year, players from the Dominican, other unassigned players from the minor league camp at spring training and a few of the early players from this years draft who sign and start at the bottom of the ladder (many of the first round picks would start at LowA or HiA leagues or in rare cases in AA).



If you are interested in reading about some of the players to put on your minor league radar or just want some stories about the league (and this includes players who might be rehabbing at ML complexes in Arizona.....does anyone still own Fausto?), you can use the link below. If you "subsribe" you will get an email each time I publish a new column so you know there is new information on the site.



http://www.examiner.com/x-14349-Arizona ... e-Examiner



One of the best features for new players in the Arizona Rookie League is that they are training and in most cases playing at the ML complexes where they have been or will be going to spring training for the next several years.



One big change in the AZL this year, is that all games will be at 7 PM (it gets a tad warm down here in the summer and they finally gave up on day games) and most will be in the spring training stadiums.



Here are the teams in the AZL this year:

Angels

Athletics

Brewers

Cubs

Dodgers

Giants

Indians

Mariners

Padres

Rangers

Royals





PVH