BY JEFFREY LUTZ, The Wichita Eagle-
There will be no first-round draft picks, no top prospects, no big-money players.
Independent baseball, by definition, is starkly different from affiliated ball, in which a major-league organization focuses its efforts first on developing players and second on winning.
Billy Butler and Alex Gordon, former top Kansas City Royals prospects who made stops in Wichita with the now-departed Wranglers, won't be roaming Lawrence-Dumont Stadium this summer.
But independent baseball offers its own redeeming qualities. The Wingnuts, playing their first season in the American Association, start the regular season at home Wednesday against Sioux City.
"Very few of them have given up on the dream (of playing in the majors), but there are lot of guys in indy ball who love baseball," said J.J. Cooper, who covers independent leagues for Baseball America.
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