MiLB

Officially no Minor League Baseball in 2020

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On Tuesday, Minor League Baseball (MiLB) announced that there will officially not be a 2020 season. Although this was highly speculated and comes to no surprise, it’s disappointing nonetheless.

Teams don’t have enough money or resources to successfully complete a shortened season. Minor League teams rely heavily on ticket sales, and a 2020 season would sink most teams.

This hurts the development for many prospects. They won’t have any organized way of playing and developing the way they should, especially for players in lower levels.

Players in higher levels and highly rated prospects may have a better chance to develop, at least a little bit. With the resumption of the Major League season, teams are allowed to house up to 60 players in their “summer camp”. This is similar to spring training except at home stadiums with no games.

Major League rosters will have up to 30 players in the regular season, meaning 30 or so players from “summer camp” won’t be on the roster. A few will be on a “taxi squad” for IL stints, but the rest will be done with any type of organized baseball. This isn’t the development needed for a whole season, but it’s better than nothing for those players. They will at least get to face Major Leaguers in their own organization.

The cancelation of the 2020 Minor League season is yet another unfortunate impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s especially disappointing for the teams who are on the verge of elimination. They won’t have an official “farewell” from the sport.

Hopefully come next spring, coronavirus will have a vaccine. We can’t return to a full normalcy unless there’s a vaccine, meaning that there won’t be Minor League Baseball until there is one.

MLB: Hundreds of minor leaguers being released amid pandemic

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Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball teams are releasing hundreds of minor leaguers. This is because many owners don’t want to pay minor league salaries and releasing them to save money.

This is disheartening and brutal for so many players with so much yet to come. The releases could be the end of many players’ careers before they even had a shot to prove themselves.

Many teams like the Dodgers and Mets are paying all minor leaguers through June, while organizations like the Marlins and Padres are paying players through August. The Reds and Royals have even announced that they will pay their minor leaguers all season.

Unfortunately, the Athletics announced that their minor leaguers would no longer be paid after May 31st. That’s almost just as bad as being released since you aren’t making money either way.

Right now, the MLB is in negotiations with the Players Association about the fate of the 2020 season. The players are working on a counter-proposal to the MLB that will include around 110 games with prorated salaries. The Players Association turned down the original proposal due to the lack of pay, with some players seeing 80% pay cuts.

All sides want to see a baseball season happen, but they can’t get on the same page about how it will happen. The players already agreed to prorated salaries, but it’s again the owners who are afraid to lose money for one season. What they fail to realize is how quickly they would make back all the lost money.

Hopefully, more teams will follow the lead of the Reds and Royals and will pay their minor leaguers all year. Additionally, the MLB and the Players Association need to strike a deal soon. If not, we may never see baseball in 2020.

 

With the Focus Being on MLB’s Return, What About MiLB?

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Fans of the Yankees and Mets are itching for the return of professional baseball. The Mets have a chance (on paper) of being a legitimate Wild Card threat in the National League, and the Yankees are the perennial favorites for the title, which would be their first in 11 years. With South Korea baseball and Bundesliga soccer providing a clear path for baseball to realize the Arizona plan (provided MLB can get enough COVID-19 test kits throughout the shortened season. And it will be a shortened season), we are dying to find out if and when the 2020 season will get underway.

But there’s a key component that’s being left out of this “Should, and when can MLB come back in 2020?” What about the minor leagues? No one is talking about bringing the minor league season back.

Frazier, Garcia, Abreu, Estrada Can’t All be on the Big League Club

Players get hurt. With Aaron Judge’s rib, he could be ready, he also may not be ready should baseball restart. He’s as injury prone as Yankee fans assume Stanton is, he’s as injury prone as Gary Sanchez is, some of our pitchers will have sore elbows, shoulders, and backs throughout the season. So IF the MLB rosters have to dip into their minor leagues, how will we know that these players are in playing condition? How will we know if these players are healthy? How do these players clear the quarantine precautions that will undoubtedly be in place to protect the big league club? And will these players be tested as regularly as their big league counterparts?

Now, the presence that minor leaguers have on their teams later in the season will be drastically reduced from 40 down to 28 just before the playoffs (which I think is much needed as we don’t need to see the Yankees and Mets go through 20 pitchers a game in the last week of the season just to see who they have in the minor leagues). But seeing what minor leaguers can do, how they can handle the big league environment is a key component in a young player’s development and the team building for their future. How do you do that when the minor league season is canceled while monitoring the health of major AND minor league ballplayers?

And Then There’s the Economy…

There’s been a very big focus on reopening the economy after all of these stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the virus. Without going on a political tangent about rallies being held in New York, and the armed militia’s presence at the statehouse in Michigan, we all know how important having sports is for our local and state economies. Minor league seasons don’t make as much money as their big league counterpoints, but the presence that teams like the Coney Island Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, and the Hudson Valley Renegades up in the Hudson Valley have for their communities is a much needed seasonal boon. Should the minor league season be canceled, and the Yankees and Mets play out their seasons in Arizona, the already economically depressed tri-state area would be hurt even more for longer.

If you restart the major league baseball season, considering so many more players are in the minor leagues, we need to have a concrete plan for the minors as well, especially the important role they play throughout the course of a regular season.

Report: 2020 minor-league season to be canceled

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Joe Doyle of SB Nation has reported that agents have been notified that there will not be a 2020 minor-league baseball season.

Major League rosters will be expanded for the condensed season, and that there will be a developmental league based at spring training sites for minor leaguers. It’s unclear whether the developmental league will include all minor-leaguers or only those at higher levels of ball.

It’s not clear at this time about how minor-leaguers will be paid, nor how the developmental league will work.

Right now, the MLB is finalizing a plan to resume spring training in a few weeks for a late June return. The rumored plan is to have three divisions of 10 teams and to play as many games as possible in each team’s home ballpark. Doing this reduces travel and maximizes the schedule.

The schedule is likely to have around 100 games and a possibility of weekly doubleheaders. Players represented by the agents told Doyle that they are “expecting to report in the next three weeks.”

Right now, most parts of Florida and some parts of Arizona are relaxing stay-at-home orders and beginning to reopen. These are the locations where spring training facilities are located.

Doyle also said that an agent told him that the “MLB is clearly following in the footsteps of the NBA in making this happen. They plan on doing so while following social distancing guidelines.”

The NBA facilities are reopening on May 8th in areas where stay-at-home restrictions are being relaxed.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for more information.

MLB and MiLB nearing deal to cut 42 minor league teams

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Sources tell Baseball America that the MLB and the MiLB are nearing a deal to cut 42 minor league baseball teams. The deal will reduce the number of affiliated teams from 160 to 120, with two independent teams entering affiliated ball.

The MiLB will need to reorganize and relocate a lot of team affiliates and leagues. Four AA teams will be cut, including the Mets affiliate in Binghamton, New York. Four high-A teams will be eliminated, six low-A teams, 11 short-season teams, and 17 rookie ball teams.

Each organization will have four teams in four different levels of minor league ball. It sounds like rookie-ball and A-short season ball will merge into rookie-leagues based at spring training sites. A-short season teams were mainly comprised of recent draft picks, and the season would start in June each year.

Teams eliminated (per Baseball America):

Rookie ball:

Billings Mustangs
Bluefield Blue Jays
Bristol Pirates
Burlington Royals
Danville Braves
Elizabethton Twins
Grand Junction Rockies
Great Falls Voyagers
Greeneville Reds
Idaho Falls Chukars
Johnson City Cardinals
Kingsport Mets
Missoula Osprey
Ogden Raptors
Orem Owlz
Princeton Rays
Rocky Mountain Vibes

A-short:

Auburn Doubledays
Batavia Muckdogs
Connecticut Tigers
Lowell Spinners
Mahoning Valley Scrappers
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
State College Spikes
Staten Island Yankees
Tri-City Dust Devils
Vermont Lake Monsters
Williamsport Crosscutters

Low-A:

Beloit Snappers
Burlington Bees
Clinton LumberKings
Lexington Legends
Hagerstown Suns
West Virginia Power

High-A:

Lancaster JetHawks
Daytona Tortugas
Florida Fire Frogs
Frederick Keys

AA:

Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Chattanooga Lookouts
Erie SeaWolves
Jackson Generals

Teams added:

St. Paul Saints                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Sugar Land Skeeters

 

The report doesn’t state which level of ball the two new teams will be at.

New York Yankees: Mid-Season Update on 2019 First Round Draft Pick, Anthony Volpe

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New York Yankees, Anthony Volpe

Back in June, with the 30th pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, the New York Yankees selected, Anthony Volpe, a shortstop from the Delbarton School, in Morristown, New Jersey.

According to MLB.com, Volpe was ranked as the number 52 overall prospect by Baseball America, and 63rd by MLB pipeline. He signed a contract worth over $2.365 million (USA Today). In his first press conference, Volpe described his dream of playing for the Yankees. He said he is the kind of player that plays with a lot of energy, grit, and intelligence. Volpe is looking to build his all-around game, to be an elite player, in the Bronx, in the near future.

A Closer Look on how Volpe’s First Season is going so far

After the draft, Volpe reported to the Pulaski Yankees, the Rookie Appalachian Baseball League team, affiliated with the New York Yankees. Unfortunately, he has not lived up to his expectations yet. He is batting .215, with two home runs, 11 RBIs, and 6 stolen bases in 34 games (MiLB.com ). Although, he only has nine errors and a .934 fielding percentage. The hitting may not be there but the defense seems to be the best part of his game.

There is no need to panic, he is only 18 years old. It is very difficult to be a breakout star right out of high school. Especially, the New York Yankees have had very good drafts in recent years and seem to only have to reload and never rebuild on talent.

Expect Volpe to make more of an impact next year once he gets used to the pace and standard of the game at the next level. He said himself he is a hard worker and do not be surprised if he comes back faster and stronger next year. The Yankees truly got a steal in this year’s draft and fans should be excited to see what he can bring to the table in the future.