Hawaii Winter Baseball set for season

After five grueling months, the 2007 Minor League campaign has finally drawn to a close. But for many of the game's top prospects, it means a new season is ready to begin.

On Sept. 29, the Hawaii Winter Baseball League kicks off its 2007 schedule with a doubleheader at Waipahu's Hans L'Orange Park. The four-team developmental circuit -- playing its second consecutive season and seventh overall -- features prospects from 24 Major League clubs. The rosters are rounded out with Japanese players from the Nippon Professional Baseball League, which has seven of its 12 squads represented.

HWB's four teams are the Waikiki Beach Boys, West Oahu Canefires, North Shore Honu and Honolulu Sharks. Each club's roster is filled with notable prospects, but none will garner more attention than Honolulu catcher Matt Wieters. The Georgia Tech product was selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the fifth overall pick in this year's draft and will make his professional debut in the Aloha State after receiving a $6 million signing bonus.

Wieters is joined in Hawaii by four former first-round picks: RHP Daniel Bard (Red Sox, 2006), OF Ryan Harvey (Cubs, 2003), OF Jason Place (Red Sox, 2006) and RHP Brett Sinkbeil (Marlins, 2006).

The vast majority of Hawaii Winter Baseball participants have just finished playing a season in either low or high Class A. Some of last year's players are currently on big-league rosters, such as Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Nyjer Morgan and starting pitchers Rick Vanden Hurk of the Florida Marlins and Ian Kennedy of the New York Yankees.

At the other end of the spectrum, a handful of the league's competitors are returning for a second stint. Waikiki outfielder Cole Garner, a 22-year-old Colorado Rockies farmhand, is among them.

"This past season I was a switch-hitter for the first time, so my main reason for going back (to Hawaii) is just to see more pitching and get more at-bats," said Garner, a natural right-handed batter. "I know that last year, pitching dominated the league, so this will be a good challenge."

Garner already had grown accustomed to having Spanish-speaking players as teammates, but playing in Hawaii was the first time he played on a roster that included Japanese players.

"The Japanese guys can really play. Some of those guys are in the big leagues over there," said Garner, who is half-Japanese. "We all ended up meshing together really well and I still stay in contact with some of the guys I played with last year. A lot of them could speak English pretty well. I know some Japanese, but not enough yet for a full conversation.

"Obviously, we're all competitors, no matter what. Just because we're in Hawaii doesn't mean we're not going to take things seriously. Things definitely got intense last year. We made it to the championship game last year [against North Shore] and we were really pumped up about that. I felt that we had the best team, but unfortunately, we couldn't get it done."

As an area with both natural beauty and glitzy tourist attractions, Hawaii is revered as a premier vacation destination. For Garner, there was just one drawback of living there for more than a month.

"It is so expensive down there, it's just ridiculous," he said. "You go to the store for a gallon of milk and it's, like, 10 bucks. It ends up just being cheaper to eat out. I'm definitely looking forward to some Portuguese sausage and eggs."

The 40-game Hawaii Winter Baseball League runs through Sunday, Nov. 18. Games will be played every day, except Monday and Friday. A championship game featuring the winner of each two-team division is scheduled for Nov. 19.