The consensus amongst baseball people is the Padres have the best minor league baseball system going right now. They have a boatload of talent en route to the big leagues but now it's going to take a slightly different route to get there.
The Friars have extended their player development contracts with the Tri City Dust Devils, Fort Wayne TinCaps, Lake Elsinore Storm, And El Paso Chihuahuas through the 2020 season. But their Double-A affiliate is moving from San Antonio, Texas to Amarillo, Texas.
It should be in Amarillo by morning.
OK not really, it’ll be there by April of 2019 in a brand new, $45 million facility. Amarillo Professional Baseball wanted to bring affiliated baseball back to the city for the first time in 37 years so they got a new stadium built.
By the way it was designed by Populous, the company that was contracted to design the new NFL stadiums that were never built in San Diego.
Like the San Antonio Missions did this team will play in the highly competitive Texas League. San Antonio is moving up a level to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League as the new home to the Milwaukee Brewers top affiliate.
Minor league ball clubs have a long history of choosing unique names and it looks like the Amarillo franchise will be no different. There is a fan vote going on to pick the name. Here are the five finalists:
Boot Scooters
Bronc Busters
Long Haulers
Sod Poodles
Jerky
Boot Scooters is a nod to Texas country music legends Brooks & Dunn. Sod Poodles is a regional term for prairie dogs. Jerky is interesting because then Sasquatch can be the mascot and that would be kind of awesome.
