Braves Affiliates, Minor League Structure Officially Announced
The new Minor League Baseball was officially unveiled Friday, giving everyone a picture of what leagues and divisions will look like going forward.
Nothing was particularly surprising about the announcement or the new structure of the leagues. Details have been reported for months as MLB worked to finalize everything. The deadline for minor league teams to sign PDL licenses and remain affiliates was Wednesday, and no signing issues were expected, which meant the timing of Friday’s announcement was pretty much on schedule.
The next step is posting schedules for the teams. I’ve been told that should come in the next week or two.
I’m operating under the assumption that ballparks will be open to fans right away, because it defeats the purpose of having a minor league season in parks if fans can’t attend. Affiliates make their money off selling tickets and hot dogs. I’ve been told that teams will operate according to guidelines set by entities like the CDC, respective states and MLB. We’ve already seen patchwork guidelines in other sports, with some states allowing 25% capacity or so. A Division I baseball program near me is selling tickets in sets of two or four, with each set spaced out, which seems like a possibility for the minors.
PDL licenses cover the next 10 years, so no longer will there be musical chairs for affiliates and parent clubs. As I’ve written before, a big reason for the restructuring, including eliminating short-season A-ball, is efficiency in player development and less travel between teams. Many of those teams, like those in the Appalachian League, will remain teams but without pro affiliation, now hosting draft-hopeful players in development leagues and summer wood-bat college guys. The minors now consists of Triple-A, Double-A, High-A and Low-A, along with the traditional complex ball at spring training sites.
MLB announced salary increases for minor league players ranging from 38-72% for the 2021 season. It also boasts a focus on more modernized facilities and improved amenities, which basically means more oversight from parent clubs. Many of the minor league teams were already doing a good job of maintaining modern facilities.
Triple-A is now broken down into East and West leagues. Gwinnett is in the Southeast Division of Triple-A East. Division opponents are Charlotte, Durham, Jacksonville, Memphis, Nashville and Norfolk.
Double-A is now broken down into Central, Northeast and South leagues. Mississippi is in the Southern Division of Double-A South along with Biloxi, Montgomery and Pensacola. The entire South league is very centralized, also including Birmingham, Chattanooga, Rocket City and Tennessee.
High-A replaces what was technically called Class-A Advanced and is broken down into Central, East and West leagues. Rome is in High-A East and the Southern Division with Asheville, Bowling Green, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory and Winston-Salem. This is the one I was most interested about, because Rome is in an awkward geographical position as an A-ball team. They will be making a lot of trips East, and it’s not a quick ride to any of them, but this is probably the best outcome if you’re going to make them jump to High-A.
Low-A is now broken down into East, Southeast and West divisions. Augusta, the new Braves affiliate, is in the East league and Southern Division with Charleston, Columbia and Myrtle Beach. This one was easy to figure out, because it creates a South Carolina division with teams in very close proximity. Even some of the teams outside of this division are nearby, like Carolina, Down East, Fayetteville and Kannapolis.
Don’t worry about trying to remember the many directional names of the leagues; they are placeholders and are expected to change.
Because of the more centralized leagues and no more Florida affiliate, Braves fans in the Southeast should be thrilled if they want to see prospects in the future. Whether playing at home or on the road, a Braves affiliate will be nearby pretty much every night or at least every month or two. Even in Florida, complex ball will remain, and of course spring training.