By Julia Bertino
Dec 10, 2020
The Quad Cities River Bandits are among 11 other Midwest League teams moving up one level of play.
Major League Baseball made the announcement Wednesday that the River Bandits have been promoted from Single-A to Advanced-A baseball. This puts the players just below Double-A and one step closer to the major leagues.
The River Bandits announced the team has been invited to become the Advanced-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Within the next two weeks, the team will receive a long-term Player Development License from MLB. The Bandits’ agreement with the Royals will last at least five years. Bleacher Report lists the Royals as having one of the Top Ten farm systems in baseball.
The Clinton Lumberkings and the Burlington Bees were among the 40 teams dropped as professional affiliates as Major League Baseball went through with its plan to cut to 120 farm teams. The two Iowa-based teams joined Kane County (Ill.) as Midwest League towns to lose their affiliations. The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits survived in the Midwest League, which will shift from low Class A to high Class A under the restructuring. Cedar Rapids will remain affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, and Quad Cities becomes a Kansas City Royals affiliate.