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GBOV · 06-20-2019, 09:12 AM

Season 2 (2020) in the books. Four more exhibition seasons before the major MLB merger that will take place before the 2025 season.

Some highlights: Both Full A and Short A affiliates were added for the expansion franchises. They now have AAA, A, Short A, and Rookie league affiliates (and international complexes). Next season (2021) will add AA and another Rookie league. 2022 will add one final A affiliate.

Once the merger occurs, the affiliates will be transferred into their corresponding MLB counterparts: AAA, AA, A+, A, Short A, Rookie, Rookie

The Richmond Virginians Rule 5 draft position players turned out to be excellent. To recap, in the 2019 Rule 5 draft, the Virginians selected 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (PIT), SS Jazz Chisolm (ARI), SS Andres Gimenez (NYM), Miguel Amaya (CHC), CF Estevan Florial (NYY), and SP Sixto Sanchez (MIA). all of these guys were scouted as 1.5-2.0 current/3.0 or better potential at the time of the draft. Knowing that Richmond was still 5 seasons away from playing games that really mattered, all of these guys were perfect prospects to let develop at my highest level club.

The results were mostly great. With the exception of Sixto Sanchez, who floundered to a 6.00+ era, and spent time on the DL, the other guys were great. Chisholm settled in as the everyday 2B by late May, and had a very good year. Amaya was the everyday backstop and hit great and played good D. Hayes and Florial were both Expansion League all-stars. Gimenez had a .330+ BA, a WAR 8+, and won league MVP.

Quite the foundation.

Richmond won 101 games and took the Eastern Division title, but was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Memphis Chicks, who boast a veteran squad of players with a lot of MLB experience. (The Expansion League has a 4 team playoff -- the 2 division champs, plus a wild card from each division).

The Memphis Chicks went on to win the Expansion League title, and then to somehow beat the World Series Champion Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2 in the 2nd annual Exhibition Series.

Richmond is starting to develop talent at its lower levels. We took Andrew Vaughn in the first round of the 2019 amateur draft. He batted .300 and had 12 homers in his 2019 Rookie League campaign, which was good enough to move him up to A ball for 2020, where he proceeded to hit 27 dingers and again batted right at .300. He was drafted as a 3B, but his future is at 1B. He's been moved there and will man 1B in AA ball in 2021. His ETA looks like 2022.

In the first round of the 2020 draft, we took hard throwing RHP Emerson Hancock. he projects as a top of the rotation starter, and played well in Short A ball as a rookie. He'll move up to full A in 2021, but I think we'll put him on a pitch count to keep his arm healthy. He only throws three pitches, but all three are high potential.

Our International system has produced a promising SS out of Venezuela who just turned 18 and will make his professional debut in A ball next year.

I'm comfortable with Richmond's young bats, the focus will be on finding pitching over the next season or two with the goal of having a team reaching their early prime years of 26-27 by 2025.

Overall, I would speculate that the MLBEL's top level is playing somewhere around the equivalent of MLB's AAA currently. All of the expansion teams are picking off the waiver wire daily to improve themselves, and signing MLB free agents.

06-20-2019, 09:12 AM	#3
GBOV Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2019 Posts: 13	Season 2 (2020) in the books. Four more exhibition seasons before the major MLB merger that will take place before the 2025 season. Some highlights: Both Full A and Short A affiliates were added for the expansion franchises. They now have AAA, A, Short A, and Rookie league affiliates (and international complexes). Next season (2021) will add AA and another Rookie league. 2022 will add one final A affiliate. Once the merger occurs, the affiliates will be transferred into their corresponding MLB counterparts: AAA, AA, A+, A, Short A, Rookie, Rookie The Richmond Virginians Rule 5 draft position players turned out to be excellent. To recap, in the 2019 Rule 5 draft, the Virginians selected 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (PIT), SS Jazz Chisolm (ARI), SS Andres Gimenez (NYM), Miguel Amaya (CHC), CF Estevan Florial (NYY), and SP Sixto Sanchez (MIA). all of these guys were scouted as 1.5-2.0 current/3.0 or better potential at the time of the draft. Knowing that Richmond was still 5 seasons away from playing games that really mattered, all of these guys were perfect prospects to let develop at my highest level club. The results were mostly great. With the exception of Sixto Sanchez, who floundered to a 6.00+ era, and spent time on the DL, the other guys were great. Chisholm settled in as the everyday 2B by late May, and had a very good year. Amaya was the everyday backstop and hit great and played good D. Hayes and Florial were both Expansion League all-stars. Gimenez had a .330+ BA, a WAR 8+, and won league MVP. Quite the foundation. Richmond won 101 games and took the Eastern Division title, but was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Memphis Chicks, who boast a veteran squad of players with a lot of MLB experience. (The Expansion League has a 4 team playoff -- the 2 division champs, plus a wild card from each division). The Memphis Chicks went on to win the Expansion League title, and then to somehow beat the World Series Champion Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2 in the 2nd annual Exhibition Series. Richmond is starting to develop talent at its lower levels. We took Andrew Vaughn in the first round of the 2019 amateur draft. He batted .300 and had 12 homers in his 2019 Rookie League campaign, which was good enough to move him up to A ball for 2020, where he proceeded to hit 27 dingers and again batted right at .300. He was drafted as a 3B, but his future is at 1B. He's been moved there and will man 1B in AA ball in 2021. His ETA looks like 2022. In the first round of the 2020 draft, we took hard throwing RHP Emerson Hancock. he projects as a top of the rotation starter, and played well in Short A ball as a rookie. He'll move up to full A in 2021, but I think we'll put him on a pitch count to keep his arm healthy. He only throws three pitches, but all three are high potential. Our International system has produced a promising SS out of Venezuela who just turned 18 and will make his professional debut in A ball next year. I'm comfortable with Richmond's young bats, the focus will be on finding pitching over the next season or two with the goal of having a team reaching their early prime years of 26-27 by 2025. Overall, I would speculate that the MLBEL's top level is playing somewhere around the equivalent of MLB's AAA currently. All of the expansion teams are picking off the waiver wire daily to improve themselves, and signing MLB free agents.