The Vermont Lake Monsters (Short Season A; NY-Penn League) and Oakland A’s will continue their affiliation through 2020, the result of a two-year player development contract (PDC) extension.
The two-year agreement assures that the Lake Monsters will continue as Oakland’s short-season Single-A New York-Penn League affiliate for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, the ninth and 10th years of the partnership between the two teams. Vermont’s affiliation with the Athletics began in 2011 when the Lake Monsters won the first of their two Stedler Division titles (also won division last season).
“The Lake Monsters are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Oakland Athletics,” Vermont Lake Monsters General Manager Joe Doud said. “There are not enough positive things we can say about the A’s and they are a great organization to be affiliated with. We look forward to continuing to be one of the first steps in Professional Baseball for their players as they begin their path to become Major Leaguers.”
Since becoming the New York-Penn League affiliate of the Athletics, 22 former Lake Monsters have made their way through the Minors and reached the Major Leagues. 17 of those 22 “Major League Monsters” are currently, or have been, on a MLB roster during the 2018 season.
You can read more about the current state of affiliations on our Affiliate Dance page. We expect a number of affiliations to be renewed in coming weeks, but there are always intriguing openings at every level of baseball. As you can see on the Affiliate Dance page, MLB and MiLB teams can renew their existing affiliations at any point. At the end of the 2018 season, teams can file to search new affiliation options, so there’s always a shuffle of sorts at the end of the year.