The Wilmington Blue Rocks (High A; Carolina League) and the Kansas City Royals announced a two-year extension to their player development contract (PDC), through the 2020 season.
“We are very happy to announce the extension of our PDC with the Wilmington Blue Rocks,” said Royals Vice President/Assistant General Manager-Player Personnel J.J. Picollo. “We have always coveted our relationship with the Blue Rocks and are very appreciative of the efforts of Dave Heller (President and CEO, Main Street Baseball and Blue Rocks’ Managing Partner), General Manager Andrew Layman and everyone on the Blue Rocks’ staff, their fans, the Delaware Stadium Corporation and the state of Delaware through the years. The Blue Rocks have been a great partner and they continue to make Frawley Stadium a great place for our players to develop.”
“The Blue Rocks are very proud to be affiliated with one of the finest organizations in all of baseball, the Kansas City Royals,” said Blue Rocks’ Managing Partner Dave Heller. “From Dayton Moore, J.J. Picollo, and Scott Sharp right on down, the Royals’ baseball operations team is first-rate; they are great people who do things the right way. I am delighted the Blue Rocks will be continuing our relationship with the Royals and remaining a part of the Royals’ family for another two years.”
A member of the Carolina League, Wilmington has served as a Royals’ Single-A affiliate since 2007. The Blue Rocks also served as a Kansas City affiliate from 1993-2004, winning league championships four times (1994, ’96, ’98 and ’99). This year’s squad finished the season at 68-72 overall, with a 37-33 mark in the second half.
You can read more about the current state of affiliations on our Affiliate Dance page. We expect a number of player development contracts to be renewed in the coming week, 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 through this coming weekend. After that, teams can file to search new affiliation options, so there’s always a shuffle of sorts at the end of the season.