The Columbus Clippers (Class AAA; International League) and the Cleveland Indians announced a two-year extension to their player development contract (PDC), through the 2018 season.
“We are delighted to take this opportunity to add two more years to our relationship with the Cleveland Indians, taking us contractually through the 2018 season, at which time will mean we have been together for ten seasons since we moved to Huntington Park,” said Ken Schnacke, Clippers President & GM. “Everything about this relationship has been a grand slam; for the fans, for both franchises, and for both cities. We look forward to continuing this relationship and to seeing the Indians win a World Series Championship sometime in the near future.”
“The Indians are extremely excited to extend our relationship with the Columbus Clippers,” said Chris Antonetti, Indians President, Baseball Operations. “The resources their front office staff provides is always first-class, in addition to the state-of-the-art facility and passionate fan base. We look forward to the continued success of our partnership.”
“The Clippers create a Major League environment in Triple-A,” Carter Hawkins, Indians Director, Player Development. “Our players and staff love playing in Columbus and we can’t think of a better setting to develop our players as they make their transition to Cleveland. We could not be happier to extend our partnership and look forward to many more outstanding seasons at Huntington Park.”
This is the third extension of the team’s Player Development Contract affiliation deal, which began in 2009.
It continues a partnership with the Indians that has seen the Clippers send 112 players to Cleveland over the past seven seasons. During this time the Clippers have made the playoffs four times, have won three Governors’ Cups, and two Triple-A National Championships. In this same time period, Huntington Park has been named “Ballpark of the Year” five times.
You can view the current state of affiliations and player-development contracts here.