Author Topic: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate  (Read 1202 times)

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Offline wj73

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Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Topic Start: November 21, 2020, 11:18:11 AM »

“In an email that was sent to season ticket holders, received by WDVM, the Hagerstown Suns say the Washington Nationals did not renew their affiliation with the ball club. In the email received by WDVM, it was noted that this would end 40 years of Hagerstown Suns baseball.”

https://www.localdvm.com/news/maryland/hagerstown/hagerstown-suns-did-not-have-their-affiliation-with-the-washington-nationals-renewed/

Offline machpost

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #1: November 21, 2020, 12:08:36 PM »
One rumor I've read somewhere is that the Nats will take over Frederick, and Baltimore will shift that affiliation to Aberdeen.

Offline DCFan

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #2: November 21, 2020, 12:19:41 PM »
It's sad to see this what with the drawdown of the minors by MLB. These small towns are playing musical chairs with each other to see who gets to keep playing baseball.

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #3: November 21, 2020, 01:15:29 PM »
It's sad to see this what with the drawdown of the minors by MLB. These small towns are playing musical chairs with each other to see who gets to keep playing baseball.
Was inevitable and now COVID has accelerated the closing of some franchises. Where is Bernie?

Offline DCFan

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #4: November 21, 2020, 02:29:00 PM »
Was inevitable and now COVID has accelerated the closing of some franchises. Where is Bernie?

Towns like Hagerstown that are losing their team will have to adapt, improvise and overcome if they want to keep playing baseball. Wilmington lost its minor league team years ago but they have a team in the Coastal Plain League which is the Carolina version of the Cape Cod League. College kids with wooden bats. Wilmingtonsharks.com

Offline Natsinpwc

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #5: November 21, 2020, 02:38:54 PM »
Towns like Hagerstown that are losing their team will have to adapt, improvise and overcome if they want to keep playing baseball. Wilmington lost its minor league team years ago but they have a team in the Coastal Plain League which is the Carolina version of the Cape Cod League. College kids with wooden bats. Wilmingtonsharks.com
Yea. They didn’t draw very much. Could not find 2019 but here are the 2018 attendance numbers for the league.

https://www.milb.com/south-atlantic/history/past-attendance

Offline DCFan

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #6: November 21, 2020, 02:53:47 PM »
Yea. They didn’t draw very much. Could not find 2019 but here are the 2018 attendance numbers for the league.

https://www.milb.com/south-atlantic/history/past-attendance


https://ballparkdigest.com/2019/08/12/2019-summer-collegiate-attendance-by-league/

I didn't realize that there were so many of these type of leagues.

Edit - I changed the link

Offline imref

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #7: November 21, 2020, 03:28:37 PM »
Wasn’t there speculation of eliminating low-a next year?

Offline machpost

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #8: November 21, 2020, 03:34:46 PM »
Wasn’t there speculation of eliminating low-a next year?

Just Short Season A, which is a certainty.

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #9: November 21, 2020, 06:33:01 PM »
“In an email that was sent to season ticket holders, received by WDVM, the Hagerstown Suns say the Washington Nationals did not renew their affiliation with the ball club. In the email received by WDVM, it was noted that this would end 40 years of Hagerstown Suns baseball.”

https://www.localdvm.com/news/maryland/hagerstown/hagerstown-suns-did-not-have-their-affiliation-with-the-washington-nationals-renewed/

It's  true that the Nationals didn't renew their agreement with Hagerstown,  but it's also true that the agreement between MLB and the  Minors was not renewed. So, a month ago,  there were no affiliation agreements anywhere.

I think Hagerstown is on the chopping block, but so is Frederick,  and about 40 other MILB teams as the plan is for each MLB team to have 4 and only 4 minor league teams. There were 162 teams in 2019, 2021 will have 120.

Offline MonsterUSMC

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #10: November 23, 2020, 01:57:08 PM »
One rumor I've read somewhere is that the Nats will take over Frederick, and Baltimore will shift that affiliation to Aberdeen.
What would they do with the Fred Nats?  Aren't both teams High A?

Offline machpost

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #11: November 24, 2020, 03:35:19 PM »
What would they do with the Fred Nats?  Aren't both teams High A?
One would simply be demoted to Low A, I suppose.

Offline MonsterUSMC

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #12: November 25, 2020, 10:54:11 AM »
One would simply be demoted to Low A, I suppose.
Yeah, makes sense.  I hope the Fred Nats remain the High A team.

Offline imref

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #13: November 25, 2020, 11:19:34 AM »
Yeah, makes sense.  I hope the Fred Nats remain the High A team.

The Potomac Nats sure looked like a low-A team in 2019. :)

Offline MonsterUSMC

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #14: December 03, 2020, 10:38:30 AM »
The Potomac Nats sure looked like a low-A team in 2019. :)
True.   :(

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #15: December 03, 2020, 01:00:42 PM »
One rumor I've read somewhere is that the Nats will take over Frederick, and Baltimore will shift that affiliation to Aberdeen.

Harry Grove Stadium is pretty nice - way nicer than Hagerstown. Don't know about the playing surface.

https://www.milb.com/frederick/ballpark/nymeo-field

Offline MonsterUSMC

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #16: December 22, 2020, 11:25:47 AM »
Now, it looks like Frederick wll be staying with the Os, but moving to the MLB Draft League.

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #17: December 24, 2020, 03:48:12 PM »
The MLB Draft League is for draft prospects and will not be affiliated with any single team.

Offline Count Walewski

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #18: December 25, 2020, 09:54:08 PM »
Hagerstown is where I first saw Juan Soto. I will never forget that.

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #19: December 25, 2020, 10:12:06 PM »
Hagerstown is where I first saw Juan Soto. I will never forget that.

Saw Harper play there too.

Offline Five Banners

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #20: December 25, 2020, 10:22:12 PM »
Saw Harper play there too.

Went up for his practice debut, the place was swamped

Offline MonsterUSMC

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Re: Hagerstown Suns No Longer A Nats Affiliate
« Reply #21: December 28, 2020, 01:55:45 PM »
The MLB Draft League is for draft prospects and will not be affiliated with any single team.
Gotcha.  I was just going off the chart posted.  Thanks for the clarification.