Minors primer: What’s new as MiLB returns in 2021?
FILE - Tulsa Drillers Hueston Morrill waits for his name to be announced at the Double-A baseball team s game against the Frisco RoughRiders in Tulsa, Okla., in this Tuesday, June 30, 2020, file photo. Minor league teams across the country are set to open their seasons Tuesday, May 4, 2021, returning baseball to communities denied the old national pastime during the coronavirus pandemic. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP, File) Ian Maule
FILE - Players stand during the national anthem before the Rosemont Dogs played their baseball home-opener against the Milwaukee Milkmen at Impact Field in Rosemont, Ill., in this Tuesday, July 7, 2020, file photo. Minor league teams across the country are set to open their seasons Tuesday, May 4, 2021, returning baseball to communities denied the old national pastime during the coronavirus pandemic. (John Starks/Daily Herald, via AP, File) John Starks
Minors primer: What’s new as MiLB returns in 2021?
FILE - Tulsa Drillers Hueston Morrill waits for his name to be announced at the Double-A baseball team s game against the Frisco RoughRiders in Tulsa, Okla., in this Tuesday, June 30, 2020, file photo. Minor league teams across the country are set to open their seasons Tuesday, May 4, 2021, returning baseball to communities denied the old national pastime during the coronavirus pandemic. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP, File) Ian Maule
FILE - Players stand during the national anthem before the Rosemont Dogs played their baseball home-opener against the Milwaukee Milkmen at Impact Field in Rosemont, Ill., in this Tuesday, July 7, 2020, file photo. Minor league teams across the country are set to open their seasons Tuesday, May 4, 2021, returning baseball to communities denied the old national pastime during the coronavirus pandemic. (John Starks/Daily Herald, via AP, File) John Starks
Minor league teams across the country are set to open their seasons Tuesday, returning baseball to communities denied the old national pastime during the coronavirus pandemic. Capacities will differ by jurisdiction, but for most, it will be the first opportunity to see pro players in person since the entire 2020 season was canceled.
Of course, much has changed since the last affiliated games were played in 2019. There are fewer teams and leagues and Major League Baseball has introduced plans to use the minors as a testing ground for new rules that could improve pace of play or reduce player injuries.
Much will remain the same. Family-friendly prices, offbeat giveaways and outlandish team branding - more on those Trash Pandas below - remain key pillars of the minor league experience.
For a city so enamored of baseball, Corpus Christi has had terrible luck sustaining a minor league baseball team. And the 1976 Corpus Christi Sea Gulls were no exception.
In early March 1976 came the first talks of a Single-A franchise for the area. Advertising businessman Terry Ferrell announced his intention to create a local minor league team. A few weeks later the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues president announced the creation of the six-team Gulf States League consisting of the Corpus Christi Sea Gulls, the Rio Grande Valley White Wings, the Baton Rouge Cougars, the Beeville Bees, the Victoria Cowboys and the Seguin Toros.
Mar 11, 2021
Major League Baseball will experiment with several rule changes in the minor leagues this season, including an automated strike zone, restrictions on defensive positioning and larger bases.
The league said in a statement Friday the “changes being tested are designed to increase action on the basepaths, create more balls in play, improve the pace and length of games, and reduce player injuries.”
The league’s automatic ball-strike system will be used at some Low-A Southeast League games, the closest that computer umpires have come to the majors. ABS has already been used in the independent Atlantic League and the Arizona Fall League. It got mixed reviews from players, with complaints about how the TrackMan system grades breaking pitches down in the zone.