The fate of the 2020 Minor League Baseball season has been assumed for a while, but on Tuesday it became official. There will be no 2020 season in the minors.
Minor League Baseball’s board of trustees held a meeting on Tuesday, which was reported by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich on Monday. The result of that was the official cancellation of the season and a statement from Minor League Baseball:
The technicality is that MiLB teams and leagues are free to conduct seasons. In most cases they are not owned by Major League Baseball teams. However, MLB teams won’t be providing players to their minor league affiliates so MiLB won’t be having a season.
Following this, a number of teams released their own statements, including all five White Sox affiliates.
There will likely be far-reaching impacts from the lack of a 2020 minor league season. Not only will prospects miss a year of competitive professional baseball games, but the finances of clubs will be on life support in many cases.
JJ Cooper and Josh Norris of Baseball America had more info on teams’ plans for the rest of the year. For example, some teams are hosting collegiate summer league teams, some will rent out space in the ballpark and others will host various small-scale events.
There are also the longer-term implications of not having a 2020 season. On top of that, the likelihood that there will be 40 fewer affiliated teams in 2021 still lingers. White Sox rookie level affiliate Great Falls is one of the teams on the chopping block.
That will affect how many players teams like the White Sox will be able to have in the organization. Teenage prospects will likely be forced up to Low-A Kannapolis instead of playing another year of rookie ball. Players who were already older for their levels to begin with may not get another chance to prove themselves. For example, a college senior drafted in 2019 could be 23 or 24 heading into the 2021 season without any experience above rookie ball. When spots are going to be tight, players like that could be at risk of losing their jobs.
Spots on the White Sox taxi squad are available. That only covers 16 players on top of the 44 players they are bringing to Summer Camp. Summer Camp is slated to start later this week.
There could still be two extended versions of the Arizona Fall League, one in Arizona and one in Florida. There are no firm details or guarantees of that happening yet.
FutureSox has learned that the White Sox had a video call with their minor leaguers on Tuesday to inform them on what’s next. Minor leaguers will not be allowed to sign with independent leagues unless they are released by their parent organization. For now, players have more or less been told to stay home.
The White Sox informed players they will be paid their weekly stipends through the end of July. In a typical season, they are not paid in the offseason so if the White Sox get them through August they will have paid their minor leaguers through the duration of a normal season.
Dan Santaromita and James Fox contributed to this report.
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