Today Major League Baseball formally invited 119 minor league teams to formally become affiliates in one of the most anticipated (and in some corners, dreaded) days of the offseason. This is the latest development in a dramatic contraction and re-alignment of the minor leagues, and it left the Atlanta Braves with a new affiliate.
The Augusta Greenjackets, presumably of the low-A South Atlantic League (league assignments have yet to be announced), will be the Atlanta Braves newest affiliate franchise. A member of the South Atlanta League since 1995, the Greenjackets had been an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants since 2005 and had been the formative stomping grounds for what would be a strong homegrown core of players on a Giants team that won three World Series titles in the 2010-14 time period.
The Greenjackets opened brand new SRP Park in 2018 in North Augusta and it has been lauded as one of the best minor league ballparks for fan experience, winning the 2018 Ballpark of the Year award from Ballpark Digest. The stadium is located alongside the Savannah River in the middle of a growing mixed-use development.
Adding Augusta to the affiliate roster was made possible by the Rome Braves moving up from the low-A South Atlantic League to high-A, presumably as part of the new Mid-Atlantic League. The Rome Braves are wholly owned by the Atlanta Braves themselves so was in little danger of being contracted or switching affiliations, and the team and Floyd County signed a new 5-year lease extension for State Mutual Stadium that is not set to expire until 2025, so there is also no chance of the team moving in the near future, though Rome’s location does make it somewhat of an awkward fit geographically with the rest of the Mid-Atlantic League.
The AA Mississippi Braves and the AAA Gwinnett Stripers, both also wholly-owned by the Atlanta Braves, will remain affiliated as well.
If not for all of the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on baseball in 2020, the biggest storyline of the last summer for the sport likely would have been the takeover and radical realignment of minor league baseball by MLB. With the Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) — the legal framework of the association between Major League Baseball and the minor leagues that form the affiliate system — coming to an end as of September 31, 2020, MLB in February informed their minor league partners of their intention to contract the number of affiliates from 162 down to 120. This contraction would primarily effect the short-season leagues, such as the Appalachian League, home of the Danville Braves. In September it was announced that the Appalachian League would convert to a collegiate summer wooden-bat league, ending their affiliation with major league clubs, and the Braves announced the end of their affiliation with Danville.
The announcement of the invitations sent out was bad news for eleven franchises, who are now facing the prospect of existing without major league affiliation. This includes the two-time reigning South Atlantic League champion Lexington Legends and the former Braves Florida State League high-A affiliate Florida Fire Frogs.
Surely, Rome will be in the Carolina League. Travel to the Mid-Atlantic teams would be monstrous.
Hey Jack, thanks for reading.
League assignments haven’t been released yet, but it’s looking like either there will be a 12-team Mid-Atlantic League with a north/south division alignment, or essentially the same set-up with a 6-team Carolina League that has interleague play with the Mid-Atlantic anyway.
Either way, you are right that travel won’t be great.