Royals reveal plans for reconstructed farm system
The Kansas City Royals announced changes to their minor league organization Wednesday, inviting four teams to be Royals affiliates in 2021 and bidding farewell to four clubs that had been part of their farm system.
The organization invited Omaha (Triple-A), Northwest Arkansas (Double-A), Quad Cities (High-A) and Columbia, SC (Low-A) to be its four affiliates in baseball’s newly structured minor league system. Omaha and Northwest Arkansas were already Royals affiliates; Quad Cities (Astros) and Columbia (Mets) had been in other organizations.
As part of Major League Baseball’s reorganization of the minor leagues, the four potential affiliates will be required to agree to MLB’s Player Development Licenses, a step that is expected to happen early in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Royals announced that their partnerships with four longtime affiliates — Wilmington (High-A), Lexington (Low-A), Idaho Falls (Rookie) and Burlington (Rookie) — have ended.
“Each one of these clubs has played an integral role in the success of our franchise and for that we cannot thank them enough for how they’ve taken care of our players,” said J.J. Picollo, Royals vice president and assistant general manager/player personnel. “Each stop along the minor league route, these clubs have literally been caretakers of our athletes while also providing the championship culture we strive for organizationally.”
