By Marty Gordon
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) final overhaul for Minor League Baseball has been announced, and it includes reclassifying the Salem club from High-A to Low-A ball.
Salem will remain a Red Sox affiliate, but Pulaski lost the Yankees when the Appalachian League was downgraded from a rookie short season to a college wooden bat league.
Details are still out on how the change in classifications will affect the Sox. A new Player Development License (PDL) was signed last week, and the Salem franchise is owned and operated by the big-league team so the re-up came as no surprise.
The PDL replaces a previous agreement between MLB and minor league baseball teams that expired in October. If a full season is played in 2021, the schedule will include a 132-game schedule for A, 138 for AA and 144 games for AAA.
The changes also eliminated some teams around the country including longtime Carolina League members Fredrick and Hagerstown.
In addition to Pulaski, the New York Yankees eliminated nearby Staten Island, a Single-A affiliate. The team said it would shut down operations completely for the time being. The Staten Island ownership has filed a lawsuit against the Yankees to hold them accountable to a written agreement with the club.
The overall plan lowers the total of minor league teams from 160 5o 120. The change caused every MLB team to re-evaluate and streamline its minor league operation. The Yankees reduced its locations from 10 to six.
Twenty-seven games will be played at Pulaski’s Calfee Park as part of the new wooden bat league that will feature seniors in high school and freshmen from college. League play will begin on June 3 and continue through August 7.
On a side note, the Calfee trolley was vandalized this past week, and Calfee Park officials are offering a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the individual and/or individuals responsible for the incident.
