BRONX, N.Y. — As we told you on Friday, the New York Yankees have shifted some of their minor-league affiliates. This comes as Major League Baseball restructures its developmental alignment.
Hey @Yankees fans,
Follow your newest affiliates at @SOMPatriots and @HVRenegades pic.twitter.com/VVidYSDW71
— Minor League Promos (@MiLBPromos) November 7, 2020
According to the Yankees, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders will remain the organization’s Triple-A club for a fifteenth year in 2021. The club severed its 18-year relationship with the Double-A Trenton Thunder. In 2021 they will team with the Somerset Patriots in Bridgewater, N.J., as their Double-A affiliate. The Patriots were previously part of the independent Atlantic League.
Moving down the chain, gone are the short-season-A New York – Pennsylvania League (NYPL) Staten Island Yankees, Advanced Rookie League Appalachian League Pulaski Yankees, and South Atlantic League Long-A Charleston RiverDogs.
In 2021, in the new High-A, the Yankees will partner with the Hudson Valley Renegades, a former Tampa Bay Rays affiliate in the NYPL, in Fishkill, N.Y. The Yankees’ Tampa affiliate will shift from High Single-A to Low Single-A. The High-A club in Hudson Valley will be full-season.
According to various reports, the organization had some qualms about the facilities in Trenton and Staten Island, along with waning attendance in Staten Island as well.
Long story short, the Yankees (along with the rest of the industry) are consolidating their minor-league talent in a restructuring which also takes into consideration the facilities and proximity to Yankee Stadium.
More on the new full-season affiliates: pic.twitter.com/QeUm04KKgR
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) November 7, 2020
