Wild Things look forward to return as league has vacancy
Observer-Reporter
Exterior of Consol Energy Park in North Franklin Township, Home of the Wild Things minor league baseball team
Observer-Reporter
Players from the Washington Wild Things stand for the national anthem prior to a game.
The Washington Wild Things expect to be playing Frontier League baseball again in 2021.
The teams that will be joining them, and who will be the opponents in their division, remain mysteries as the independent league currently has 15 franchises, which is an unworkable odd number.
But times are changing rapidly on the minor-league baseball landscape.
Major League Baseball announced last year its plan to eliminate most of its short-season leagues and several Class A and Class AA teams as part of a restructuring of the minor leagues. At about the same time, the Frontier League announced it was merging with the Can-Am League to form the largest independent league in the country.
The Frontier League added two Can-Am teams located in Canada, one in New York and two in New Jersey.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and shut down the 2020 seasons before they started.
Recently, the Frontier League announced the addition of Ottawa as its 15th franchise. Ottawa is a former Can-Am League city.
Meanwhile, MLB revealed the major changes to the minor leagues for 2021. The rookie level Appalachian League will become a college wood bat circuit and the Pioneer League will be an independent league. Four teams from the New York-Penn League, including State College and Morgantown, W.Va., will join with Trenton, N.J., and Frederick, Md., to form the Draft League, a summer league for top prospects who are draft eligible. Several minor-league teams were not invited to leagues for 2021.
In all, 43 minor-league teams have been dropped. Nineteen still have not joined a league for 2021.
And the Frontier League has its vacancy light shining.
“The Frontier League has to find a fit for us both geographically and operationally,” Wild Things president and general manager Tony Buccilli said. “I expect that you could see a potential team in January of 2021. We have 15 teams and we have the option of adding a travel team, which we’ve done in the past, but I don’t think you want to resort to that.
“Morgantown would have been a geographical fit and a natural rivalry for us, but they chose the Draft League. I guess Charleston, W.Va., is still an option.”
Charleston was a Seattle Mariners affiliate in the Class A South Atlantic League, but was not invited back for 2021.
Some other cities left without minor league baseball for 2021 that could be a fit in the Frontier League map are former Class A Midwest League members Clinton (Iowa), Burlington (Iowa) and Kane County (Ill.), along with Lexington (Ky.), Jackson (Tenn.), Hagerstown (Md.) and about a half dozen former New York-Penn League spots.
Representatives in Clinton and Jackson have been in contact with the Frontier League, according to newspaper reports. Lexington might have the inside track because it ran a league for several weeks last summer with the Frontier League team in Florence, Ky.
Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee told the Observer-Reporter in October he would not limit the search for a 16th franchise to a specific geographical area.
“We’re looking for a place that is a geographical fit. It could be in the east or it could be in the midwest,” Lee said. “In the past, when we’ve gone into markets that used to have minor-league baseball, those teams weren’t doing well and relocated. This is not like that. It’s a unique situation.”
Regardless of where the 16th franchise will be located, Buccilli said the changes in the minor leagues will impact the Frontier League, though they might not be noticeable on the field.
“I don’t think our level of play changes too much,” Buccilli said. “There is such a surplus of undrafted college seniors that we couldn’t do anything with because we didn’t have a roster spot open. I would get 10 to 15 emails per day from undrafted college seniors looking for a place to play. There’s definitely going to be a fallout of additional players who no longer have a spot in a short-season league. Those players will be available for Frontier League teams.”
Buccilli said the development of coronavirus vaccines is a sign Frontier League baseball could be played again in May.
“It will be good to get back to a normal routine,” he said. “We can get back to selling advertising and doing things we typically do in an offseason. But right now, we don’t even know how many games will be on the schedule. I’m assuming it will be 96 again, but until we have a schedule. … My expectation is that we’ll have some clarity and a schedule in January.”