Not too formal

Ever wonder about a replacement for Hawaii Winter Baseball? Wonder No more...except maybe about a name.

Clubs form informal fall league
Farm directors create opportunity for non-AFL prospects

With Hawaii Winter Baseball no longer an option to send young Minor Leaguers this fall and a proposed "Junior Arizona Fall League" likely a year away, a group of farm directors took matters into their hands to provide a good development opportunity for their players.

Eight teams with facilities located largely in the West Valley of Phoenix have come together to form an unofficial co-op league to give some of their players an additional chance to compete. It's so informal, it doesn't really have an accepted name, with some calling it the "Advanced Instructional League," others calling it the "Arizona Parallel League."

AIL? APL? The Parallel? Need something that would fit on a t-shirt.

"The day it was announced there wasn't going to be a junior league -- we had been counting on it -- that day, I started calling the other farm directors," said Royals assistant general manager for scouting and player development, J.J. Picollo, whom many give credit to for driving this effort. "We threw out some ideas to the directors, but it's a very loose format."

In general, here's how it works. Games will take place in four complexes where instructional league play was already occurring: Surprise, Peoria and the two new facilities in Glendale and Goodyear. In each case, two teams share the complex and will feed players into a shared team. In Surprise, the Royals and Rangers are partners; in Peoria, it's the Padres and Mariners; Cincinnati and Cleveland share the Goodyear team, with the Dodgers and White Sox over in Glendale.

I don't see anything to indicate that the Brewers will or will not be participating, but here are some potential players, with a brief opening caveat...

Rosters are far from official and league-wide stats will not be kept, but those who decide to check it out might see Indians first-round pick Alex White, Mariners outfielder Greg Halman or their second-round pick Rich Poythress and Padres infielder Matt Antonelli or outfielder Jaff Decker. Dodger fans might get a glimpse of Midwest League MVP Dee Gordon and perhaps slugging oufielder Kyle Russell.