Minor League Baseball officialized what seemed obvious for weeks on Tuesday: The MiLB season was canceled due to the spread of the new coronavirus. Minor League Baseball made the announcement Tuesday afternoon. It is the first time in the organization’s 120-year history that it cancels an entire campaign.
“These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization, as it is the first time in our history that we have had a summer without playing minor league baseball,” MiLB President Pat O’Conner said in a statement. . “While this is a sad day for many, this announcement removes the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season and allows our teams to start planning an exciting 2021 season of affordable family entertainment.”
If you have or are wondering what that means for minor league teams and players, then consider this your lucky click. Below we have tried to answer five big questions related to the topic.
1. How will prospects receive instruction this year?
For most prospects, the answer is that they won’t, at least not how they’re used to it, and not just yet.
Many teams are including their best prospects as part of their 60-player pool, so they can be close to the club’s coaches and participate in intrasquad scrimmages and the like. There’s even a chance that some of them might be called up to the big leagues before they would have been otherwise.
Obviously, that’s not the same as having a minor league season, but given the circumstances, it’s the best teams can do.
2. Will there be any fall instruction or leagues?
Generally, teams have an after-season training league, where younger or inexperienced players come to the facility and work on their games. Similarly, the league tends to run the Arizona Fall League for players who are more advanced in their development.
While both structured events can still happen, a lot depends on what the situation is like across the country when it comes to COVID-19. Fall League could face a possible second wave of coronavirus infections, complicating matters.
3. What about winter leagues?
Again, it is primarily a wait and see situation. Presumably some players will make it to the Dominican Republic, Australia, and other popular winter ball destinations, but many things can change during a global pandemic.
4. Do teams keep paying their minor league players?
Most clubs have agreed to pay their minor leagues their weekly stipends of $ 400 at least until the end of July. There are some notable exceptions that have not agreed to do the same beyond the end of June.
According to underage advocates, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland, the Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees have yet to indicate their plans on that front.
Presumably most, if not all, of those teams will do the right thing.
5. What happens next with the minors?
Change. And a lot of it.
MLB is expected to get away with it, which would mean that more than 40 teams will lose their affiliate status. Minors would be realigned, with lower levels removed. The affiliates of the team and the league would be modified, and so on.
The exact parameters remain to be seen, but it is fair to write that the odds are that minors will not look like they did at the end of the 2019 season.
