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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;&lt;\\/span&gt;Readers&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nof Baseball America know we are always looking to uncover prospects,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwherever we can find them. So, naturally, we&amp;#8217;ve extended that search to&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthe independent leagues. The following is a list of players who stood&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nout for their potential to make it to&amp;#8211;or back to&amp;#8211;affiliated ball,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwith the potential to raise some eyebrows if they get the chance. The&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nopinions of independent league managers helped shape this effort.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;But&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nbefore beginning the list, a word of warning: Affiliated scouts do&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nscour the independent leagues for potential finds and snap a number up&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nquickly, so their aren&amp;#8217;t that many hidden gems. And the best finds are&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nusually more complementary players than top-notch regulars. an age&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ncutoff of 25 was instituted to focus the list on prospects with some&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nroom for projection.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Mike Bille, rhp, Evansville (Frontier) Age: 25. Ht: 6-2. Wt: 220&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Billie&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwas signed by the Marlins in 2005 as a nondrafted free agent out of Cal&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nPoly after missing nearly two seasons to Tommy John surgery while in&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ncollege. He was effective for short-season Jamestown, but was released&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nduring spring training this year. After signing with the Otters, Bille&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nshowed an 88-92 mph fastball that touched 93 with late movement and&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nbaffled league hitters. Bille throws a two-seamer and a cut fastball,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwith the latter offering serving as his out pitch. He also throws a&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nslider, but it&amp;#8217;s a get-me-over pitch at best. His command was excellent&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nearly in the season but wavered late.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Ian Church, of, Kalamazoo (Frontier). Age: 25. Ht: 5-10 Wt.: 178.&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Church,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nBaseball America&amp;#8217;s 2006 Independent Leagues Player of the Year showed&lt;br \\/&gt;\\noff his power this season, but he also runs pretty well, as evidenced&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nby his 6.8 seconds time in the 60-yard dash. He also played a solid&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ncenter field for the Kings, although some managers felt he&amp;#8217;d likely&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nhave to move to a corner spot&amp;#8211;probably left field&amp;#8211;in affiliated ball.&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nBecause of his size and build, few opposing managers thought of Church&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nas a middle of the lineup slugger, despite his hefty numbers, but his&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nexceptional bat speed makes him likely to hit for average with some&lt;br \\/&gt;\\npower in affiliated ball.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Travis Garcia, ss\\/3b, Chillicothe (Frontier) Age: 24 Ht: 6-2. Wt.: 205.&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Garcia,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthe Mets&amp;#8217; 21st-round pick in 2003, was released after two years in the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nsystem. Since coming to the Frontier League, he&amp;#8217;s shown a smooth swing,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\na quick first step and the league&amp;#8217;s best infield arm. Garcia split time&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nbetween shortstop and third base, but his chance at getting back to&lt;br \\/&gt;\\naffiliated ball rests with his ability to stay at shortstop. His&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nline-drive approach and gap power profile best there. Several managers&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nbelieved he had the defensive tools to stick at short if he went back&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nto affiliated ball.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Craig Hurba, c, Kansas City (Northern). Age: 25. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 225.&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Hurba,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwho turned 25 at the tail end of the Northern League season, impressed&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nmanagers with his power and a balanced swing that allows him to drive&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthe ball to all fields. Behind the plate he is a solid receiver, and&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nalthough his throwing motion is unorthodox&amp;#8211;with a sort of sidearm&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nsling&amp;#8211;he is both accurate and reasonably quick to second.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Cristian Mendoza, rhp, Quebec (Can-Am). Age: 24. Ht. 6-1 Wt: 200&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nYankees signed Mendoza out of Colombia in 1998. He spent five seasons&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nin their system, topping out at high Class A Tampa before being&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nreleased prior to the 2004 season. Mendoza piled up strikeouts in&lt;br \\/&gt;\\naffiliated ball but also struggled with his command. Since joining Les&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nCapitales, Mendoza has refined his control while featuring the same&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n92-94 mph heat. He also throws a solid slider and a split-finger&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfastball that serves as an out pitch. He can throw all three pitches&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfor strikes, though the fastball and split are clearly his best two&lt;br \\/&gt;\\npitches. Mendoza&amp;#8217;s split has good late movement, and he commands it&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nwell enough to feel comfortable throwing it with runners on, knowing&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthat he won&amp;#8217;t bounce it in the dirt. Mendoza&amp;#8217;s biggest problem may be&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ngetting a visa, a tough feat for Colombian players part of the reason&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nhe&amp;#8217;s pitched in Quebec the past two seasons.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Mike McTamney, rhp, Reno (Golden). Age: 23. Ht.: 6-1 Wt.: 190.&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;McTamney&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nsigned with the Golden League&amp;#8217;s Fullerton Flyers in 2005 after&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nfinishing his senior season at Wagner College. He had the best fastball&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nin the Golden League, touching 94 mph with a free and easy delivery.&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nHis secondary stuff is less impressive right now. He actually throws a&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nhard knuckleball in addition to a curveball, but the knuckler has&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nlittle potential. McTamney&amp;#8217;s curve is a slow, loopy pitch, though his&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nmanager Les Lancaster believes he has the arm action to throw a tighter&lt;br \\/&gt;\\ncurve or a slider with work.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Jimmy Mojica, ss, St. Joseph&amp;#8217;s (American Association). Age: 22. Ht.: 5-11. Wt.: 175.&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nAmerican Association rookie of the year was an independent league&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nrarity: a shortstop who stood out as much with his glove as at the&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nplate. Shortstop and catcher are the two toughest positions for indy&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nteams to fill, but Mojica, who signed with St. Joe&amp;#8217;s after starring at&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nKansas City Community College, showed solid range with the arm to make&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nthe play from the hole. He was clearly one of indy ball&amp;#8217;s most athletic&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nshortstops. Mojica also showed good speed, a knack for stealing bases&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nand a quick, line-drive bat.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-weight: bold;\\\"&gt;Chris Sidick, of, Washington (Frontier). Age: 23. Ht.: 5-9. Wt.: 185&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Sidick&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nmay be the best athlete in the indy leagues. He holds the NCAA Division&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nIII record for kick return yardage, having played safety, linebacker&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nand wide receiver at Division III Marietta (Ohio) College, where he was&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nalso an All-American outfielder. Thanks to plus speed, Sidick covers a&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nlot of ground in center field, and he&amp;#8217;s a threat on the bases. He was&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nsuccessful in 31 of 40 stolen base attempts and contributed 16 triples,&lt;br \\/&gt;\\na league record. Despite an unorthodox swing, Sidick showed good raw&lt;br \\/&gt;\\npower. &amp;#8220;He has explosive speed out of the box,&amp;#8221; Pohl said. &amp;#8220;He has very&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nraw baseball skills, and not a pretty swing, but he&amp;#8217;s strong and&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nexplosive.&amp;#8221;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2006-independent-leagues-top-prospects-2661/>