Well, so much for the conventional wisdom: the Milwaukee Brewers will continue as parent of the San Antonio Missions (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), after the former Colorado Springs Sky Sox move for the 2019 season.
“We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Elmore Sports Group and relocate our Triple-A team to San Antonio,” said Brewers GM David Stearns. “San Antonio provides one of the premier Minor League markets in the country and offers our players a quality player development environment. We look forward to many future Brewers making their final Minor League stop at Wolff Stadium.”
The affiliation extends for two years, through 2020.
The Missions join the Pacific Coast League after previously playing in the Double-A Texas League. The team plays their home games at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium.
“We are very excited to be working with the Milwaukee Brewers,” said Missions President Burl Yarbrough. “With our promotion to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, they will be terrific partners as we begin a new era of Missions baseball in 2019. The Brewers were in town last week to see our facility and discuss our renovation plans for the clubhouse and batting cages. After meeting with them and seeing their excitement for San Antonio, we feel the Brewers were the best fit for us. The Brewers have one of the top farm systems in baseball and we look forward to helping them put many more players into Major League Baseball.”
This marks the second time that the Brewers have had a player development contract with the franchise. San Antonio served as the Brewers Double-A affiliate in 1972.
After Oakland and Las Vegas signed a new affiliation deal yesterday, there are four open affiliations at Triple-A. The New York Mets purchased the Syracuse Chiefs (Class AAA; International League) and are expected to shift affiliation there. The Nashville Sounds and the Fresno Grizzlies will be seeking new MLB partners from Texas and Washington.
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, we’re now at the point where MLB and MiLB teams can search for new affiliation options, so there’s always a shuffle of sorts at the end of the season.