The California Winter League is an instructional showcase league for free agent baseball players who are looking to earn a professional contract before spring training begins. The league was created by Andrew Starke in 2010, and takes place in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

, at the

Palm Springs Stadium Palm Springs Stadium is a stadium in Palm Springs, California. It is primarily used for baseball. It used to be named Angels Stadium and was the home field of the Palm Springs Suns of the Western Baseball League in 1995 and 1996. Palm Springs S ...

complex which is a former spring training facility of the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Instructors

Each season, the California Winter League hires current MLB pro scouts and professional independent league managers to act as instructors during the CWL season. These instructors manage games, work to develop CWL players, and sign CWL players during their time at the CWL. Every year, roughly 40% of CWL players receive a professional contract offer. The league has a partnership agreement with the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

for scouting and player development.

Purpose

The purpose of the California Winter League is to provide coaching and an avenue for players to get noticed by scouts with the ultimate goal of signing a professional contract. Past players have signed with any of various

Independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball and is outside the Minor League Baseball clubs affiliated to it. The Northern League and Frontie ...

s and

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

organizations.

CWL teams

The league plays most games at

and some at

Palm Springs High School Palm Springs High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Palm Springs, California as part of the Palm Springs Unified School District. It was built in 1938 in an effort led by city pioneer Nellie Coffman. Athletics P ...

baseball field.

References

External links

California Winter League website
Professional sports leagues in the United States Winter baseball leagues Sports in Riverside County, California Palm Springs, California Independent baseball leagues in the United States Baseball leagues in California Sports leagues established in 2009 2009 establishments in California {{California-sport-stub