NHR: West Virginia Power Out of the Sally League

[wvkeeper(HN)]

Looks like West Virginia will have zero minor league baseball teams next year.

West Virginia Power evidently have quietly announced to season ticket holders that they are not one of the teams that will have a place in the reorganization of minor league baseball.

 

[herdfan429]

Looks like West Virginia will have zero minor league baseball teams next year.

West Virginia Power evidently have quietly announced to season ticket holders that they are not one of the teams that will have a place in the reorganization of minor league baseball.

Hasn’t that been known for a while?

 

[Herdmeister]

Hasn’t that been known for a while?

Yes. We found that out nearly a year ago. Morgantown was slated to keep their team, however. I believe that is the only WV minor league team with a MLB affiliation

 

[HuntersvilleHerd]

Anyone know why is this happening to the Power? First Pittsburgh dumps them and now this... the facility is relatively new and seems fine, so what is it? Travel logistics to CRW? Ownership issues? Attendance? (I don’t get the feeling parent clubs really care too much about attendance... that’s more for local ownership. Seems parent club cares strictly about player development issues.) Thanks.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Anyone know why is this happening to the Power? First Pittsburgh dumps them and now this... the facility is relatively new and seems fine, so what is it? Travel logistics to CRW? Ownership issues? Attendance? (I don’t get the feeling parent clubs really care too much about attendance... that’s more for local ownership. Seems parent club cares strictly about player development issues.) Thanks.

MLB is cutting 40 plus teams from their minor league system.

A lot of independent wooden bat league teams will start popping up.

 

[oldeherd]

Wonder how much this lessens the chances of Huntington getting any kind of "professional" baseball team when the MU baseball stadium opens in 2025? . . . . 2030? . . . . 2035? . . . ??

 

[GreenDuke]

Less than zero?

 

[herdfan429]

Wonder how much this lessens the chances of Huntington getting any kind of "professional" baseball team when the MU baseball stadium opens in 2025? . . . . 2030? . . . . 2035? . . . ??

Huntington was never going to get a professional team

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Huntington will get a short season independent team. That was the plan all along

 

[herdalicious]

Attendance at Power games has been on a steady slide since the park was built.

In 2003, the APP was the hottest outdoor bar in town, where thousands would come out on a Tuesday or Thursday just for the drink specials, barely even paying attention to the game. It was the place to see and be seen, and there were typically more people standing on the concourse than seated in the stands.

Then came Live on the Levee, which started the relaxation of outdoor drinking prohibitions at other locales all across town. Attendance sagged, the beer specials were dialed down, and slowly it became less and less of a place to go.

If Charleston no longer has baseball, that's bad news for maybe about 500 people. No one else really cares, and that's why its happening I guess.

 

[The Real SamC]

This has been known for some time, although this is the first time the hucksters who own the Power have admitted the fact, they were telling people all was well as recently as last month.

The new minor league system will move the draft to after the College World Series and then take the players to the spring training sites for a late summer and early fall work out, rather than straight into the rookie leagues, which have been eliminated. They would then start actual play the following April.

Each team will now have 2 A teams and 1 AA and 1 AAA team, with the teams arranged as much as possible in a geographic zone related to the big club. Far less players under contract. QPQ is that the players that remain will make significantly more money and get health insurance.

You will see two types of new leagues spring up. One is a "college wooden bat league" which Beckley has had such a team for several years. The former rookie league teams in Princeton and Bluefield are becoming this. Play over the summer break. Players must be on a college roster and be returning to school or the next season. The other is "independent league" or a "dream league". Chillicothe has such a team. Undrafted players, of which there will be far more as the draft is being cut by two-thirds, playing semi-pro ball. Proponents cite the one out 100000 that make it back to pro ball through these leagues, but its mostly kids that are fooling themselves, and eventually need to grow up and get a real job.

AFAIK Morgantown was on the list to move up for its rookie league team to being the Pirates #2 A league team, but WVU management said it had never been asked about leasing the ballpark April-September (rookie league is June-September) and was uninterested in sharing during the college season.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Attendance at Power games has been on a steady slide since the park was built.

In 2003, the APP was the hottest outdoor bar in town, where thousands would come out on a Tuesday or Thursday just for the drink specials, barely even paying attention to the game. It was the place to see and be seen, and there were typically more people standing on the concourse than seated in the stands.

Then came Live on the Levee, which started the relaxation of outdoor drinking prohibitions at other locales all across town. Attendance sagged, the beer specials were dialed down, and slowly it became less and less of a place to go.

If Charleston no longer has baseball, that's bad news for maybe about 500 people. No one else really cares, and that's why its happening I guess.

The Power attendance was basically propped up by the school day games, when they gave away thousands of tickets

 

[The Real SamC]

And baseball has slowly begun to announce the official plan, with the whole deal announced within about 10 days. The first two parts seem to resolve this state's role in the new system.

The Appalachian League, which includes Bluefield and Princeton, will become a "junior wooden bat college league". Players will be rising college freshmen and sophomores. This will be different from the current college wooden bat leagues, which mostly do not restrict themselves by class year.

Morgantown's promotion to Class A ball is off. It will instead be a part of something called the "MLB Draft League" a six team league (one team's location was not announced) for players who are eligible to be drafted in that year's MLB draft. Seems sort of a baseball variation on the NFL Combine.