48 It’s been 20 months since a Phillies minor-league affiliate has played a game, and Josh Bonifay will savor the moment Tuesday night from the scout seats at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, N.J. Bonifay, the Phillies’ director of player development, has spent the last year trying to push the team’s farm system forward through remote instruction and fundamental changes to the minors.
There were harsh realities along the way. Last week, the Phillies had to release almost 20 more players. MLB executed a hostile takeover of the minors and new stipulations capped every organization at 180 domestic farmhands to begin the 2021 season a figure that includes 40-man roster players on optional assignments.
How Your BlueClaws Experience Will Be Similar But Different In 21
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The Jersey Shore BlueClaws are Coming Back for 2021 ⚾
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Play ball: NJ minor league teams set to return after 2020 hiatus
Following a year in which the Major League Baseball schedule was sliced by more than 100 games, with no competitive Minor League games at all, the road to the Majors is opening back up again this spring, and New Jersey will play a key role.
It s going to be different for many reasons, most related to COVID-19, but also because the very landscape of New Jersey minor league baseball has shifted since 2019.
The New York Yankees have moved their AA affiliation (two steps away from MLB) from the Trenton Thunder, which had been a Yankee partner since 2003, to Bridgewater s Somerset Patriots, who ve been around since 1998 but were never before connected to a Major League team.
Play ball: NJ minor league teams set to return after 2020 hiatus
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