On Tuesday, Minor League Baseball (MiLB) announced that there will officially not be a 2020 season. Although this was highly speculated and comes to no surprise, it’s disappointing nonetheless.
Teams don’t have enough money or resources to successfully complete a shortened season. Minor League teams rely heavily on ticket sales, and a 2020 season would sink most teams.
This hurts the development for many prospects. They won’t have any organized way of playing and developing the way they should, especially for players in lower levels.
Players in higher levels and highly rated prospects may have a better chance to develop, at least a little bit. With the resumption of the Major League season, teams are allowed to house up to 60 players in their “summer camp”. This is similar to spring training except at home stadiums with no games.
Major League rosters will have up to 30 players in the regular season, meaning 30 or so players from “summer camp” won’t be on the roster. A few will be on a “taxi squad” for IL stints, but the rest will be done with any type of organized baseball. This isn’t the development needed for a whole season, but it’s better than nothing for those players. They will at least get to face Major Leaguers in their own organization.
The cancelation of the 2020 Minor League season is yet another unfortunate impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s especially disappointing for the teams who are on the verge of elimination. They won’t have an official “farewell” from the sport.
Hopefully come next spring, coronavirus will have a vaccine. We can’t return to a full normalcy unless there’s a vaccine, meaning that there won’t be Minor League Baseball until there is one.