Ideally, we here at East Windup Chronicle would be filing reports about a trans-Pacific league. A reports on the Taipei Pirates/New York Yankees series has a nice ring to it.

For the time being we have Hawaiian Winter Baseball. While its not the Fukuoka Brewers and Busan Marlins facing off in a July series with national implications, it is a chance to keep tabs on some top prospects from both sides of the Pacific .

One only needs to look at the contributions of 2006 alumni Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain (chin pictured below), and to a lesser extent Rick van den Hurk and Nyjer Morgan, to see how close many of the players in HWB are to being major league ready.

Things kick off Sept. 29. Rosters were announced this week. Baseball America has a preview of the league, along with full rosters that includes all the players and their parent clubs.

We’ll have more closer to Sept. 29, but for now here are a few of the names that jump out:

Matt Wieters C Baltimore Orioles No. 5 overall this year is the most talked about catching prospect in years. Signed 10 minutes before the Aug. 15 deadline and netted $6 million signing bonus. Hawaii will be his pro debut.

Ryan Harvey OF Chicago Cubs 2005 3rd overall pick as a great arm, but hasn’t come around at the plate like the Cubs would like. Has been stuck in High A for most of two seasons and this year wound up with a .246/.269/.446 and a .715 OPS in 2007.

Takumi Kobe OF Chiba Lotte Marines #3 overall pick in 2007 draft projected by some as a five tool player not unlike Kosuke Fukudome.

Shingo Matsuzaki P Rakuten Eagles Drafted in the first round by the young team with hopes that he will be the future of the franchise.

Jared Lansford P Oakland A’s Son of Carney debuted in 2006 going 11-6/2.86 with 50 Ks in 18 starts before being out nearly all of 2007 following shoulder surgery.