Great Falls is no longer a White Sox affiliate after minor league restructuring

The Great Falls Voyagers have been affiliated with the White Sox since 2003, but that has come to an end.

As part of the long expected restructuring of Minor League Baseball, Major League Baseball announced that the Pioneer League will be a partner league beginning in 2021. All eight teams, including the Voyagers, will shift from being an advanced rookie league to being an independent league of sorts. The league will fall under the MLB umbrella and MLB will initially fund operating expenses, but players will not be affiliated with MLB organizations. The full structure of the league is still unknown, including how Pioneer League players could join MLB organizations.

We must say one more huge thank you to the @whitesox. We could not have asked for a better partner. The players and staff were a part of our community and made Great Falls a better place. While our partnership changes, The White Sox will always be a part of our Voyager family. pic.twitter.com/Dz4FhjDk1z

— Great Falls Voyagers (@gfvoyagers) December 1, 2020

The Pioneer League is the third league to reformat for 2021. The Appalachian League, which the White Sox had an affiliate in Bristol, Tenn., from 1995-2013, is switching from rookie ball to a collegiate wood-bat league. A chunk of teams, mostly from the Short-Season A ball New York-Penn League, will also comprise a draft league.

More shifting is to come, but for now we know the White Sox are down to one rookie level affiliate. The White Sox have an Arizona League affiliate that plays at the team’s spring training complex. This will alter how the White Sox, and all organizations, approach development at the rookie ball level. The White Sox sent more experienced draft picks to Great Falls. High school picks and younger foreign players often went to Arizona. The gap from Arizona to Low-A Kannapolis had been more significant than Great Falls to Kannapolis, but the Arizona League may get more older prospects now.

The Voyagers, which took that name in 2008 after being called the Great Falls White Sox, were one of the more successful teams in the organization. Half the Pioneer League’s eight teams make the playoffs, but the Voyagers made the postseason 11 times from 2007-2019. They also won the league championship in 2011 and 2018. 

The Pioneer League’s shift was one of the most expected moves from Minor League Baseball’s restructuring. Changes are expected in full season leagues as well, but those are less clear for now. For starters, the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League are moving to that newly formed draft league. No White Sox affiliates are in consideration for anything that drastic, but teams and leagues could shift levels. On top of all this, there’s still uncertainty about the state of the pandemic come the 2021 minor league season.

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