Why is attendance declining in the New York-Penn League?

Attendance is declining at several New York-Penn League locations.

Here are the numbers for 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2010 (see link).

Any thoughts on why?

Team	2017 Average Home Attendance	2016 Average Home Attendance	2015 Average Home Attendance	2010 Average Home Attendance
Aberdeen IronBirds	3,964	4,031	4,216	6,548
Auburn Doubledays	1,281	1,427	1,408	1,535
Batavia Muckdogs	806	811	921	1,017
Brooklyn Cyclones	5,190	5,614	6,234	7,147
Connecticut Tigers	2,225	2,191	2,311	1,486
Hudson Valley Renegades	3,998	4,231	4,426	4,415
Lowell Spinners	3,516	3,782	3,796	5,446
Mahoning Valley Scrappers	2,997	2,632	3,002	3,015
State College Spikes	3,247	3,313	3,363	3,709
Staten Island Yankees	2,040	2,250	3,221	5,806
Tri-City ValleyCats	4,083	4,281	4,269	4,314
Vermont Lake Monsters	2,362	2,332	2,243	2,524
West Virginia Black Bears	2,029	2,188	2,265	see footnote*
Williamsport Crosscutters	1,797	1,727	1,780	1,774

*Jamestown Jammers averaged 1,213 fans in 2010. The franchise moved to Morgantown after the 2014 season.
Source: MiLB.com

Photo credits: MiLB.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball or the New York-Penn League

Several former West Virginia Black Bears released since end of 2017 season

Here is a list of former West Virgina Black Bears who have been released since the end of the 2017 season. Check back for updates.

Carlos Munoz

Yoandy Fernandez

Sandy Santos

• November 6, 2017       Carlos Munoz (declared free agency-Bradenton Marauders)
• November 13, 2017     Brandon Bingel
• November 17, 2017     Julio Del La Cruz
• November 17, 2017     Yoandy Fernandez
• November 17, 2017     Hector Garcia
• November 17, 2017     Sandy Santos
• February 13, 2018       Stephan Meyer (retired from West Virginia Power) 

Photo credits: MiLB.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball, the New York-Penn League, or the West Virginia Black Bears

Bradshaw returns as IronBirds Manager

The Aberdeen IronBirds coaching staff has been announced. Here is the information posted at the IronBirds website on February 9, 2018:

"Kevin Bradshaw enters his third season as manager of the Aberdeen IronBirds. 2018 marks his 29^th season in baseball as a coach or manager. Mark Hendrickson, a former Major League pitcher of 10 seasons, including three with the Orioles from 2009-11, returns for his second season as Pitching Coach at Aberdeen. Tim Raines, Jr. returns for his second season as Aberdeen's hitting coach. Ramon Sambo enters his second season as a Field Coach for Aberdeen. It is his 12^th overall year in the Orioles system. Gary Smith enters his first season as Athletic Trainer for Aberdeen, after holding the same position with the GCL Orioles last season. Chris Cecere will be the IronBirds Strength and Conditioning Coach."

The IronBirds open their 2018 on June 15 at home against the reigning New York-Penn League Champion Hudson Valley Renegades. Get ticket information here.

Photo credits: MiLB.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball or the New York-Penn League

Several Former West Virginia Black Bears at Pirates Spring Training

Several former West Virginia Black Bears will be in camp as the Pittsburgh Pirates start spring training this week.

Leading the way is 40-man roster pitcher Edgar Santana (2015). Non-roster pitchers in camp who pitched for the Black Bears are Dario Agrazal (2015) and Luis Escobar (2015-16).

Other former Black Bears who are non-roster invitees are catcher Christian Kelley and infielders Kevin Newman (2015) and Kevin Kramer (2015).

Players in camp who rehabbed with the Black Bears are pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas (2015) and outfielder Austin Meadows (2016, 2017).

Edgar Santana

Luis Escobar

This article was originally posted at Black Bears Tracker on February 13, 2018.

Photo credits: Milb.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball, the New York-Penn League, or the West Virginia Black Bears

Former WV Black Bears' Mitchell Tolman receives 50 game suspension

Photo from 2015 (MiLB.com)

According to a Tweet from Adam Berry, beat reporter for MLB.com and a Pittsburgh Gazette article by Elizabeth Bloom, former West Virgina Black Bears' prospect Mitchell Tolman has been suspended for 50 games for violation of the minor league drug policy. Tolman reportedly received a second positive test for a "drug of abuse".

Tolman was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh round of the 2015 Major League draft and played in 63 games for the New York-Penn League Champion Black Bears. He played for the West Virginia Power during the 2016 season and was assigned to the Bradenton Mauraders for most of the 2017 season before being promoted to the Eastern League Champion Altoona Curve late in the season.

YEAR	TEAM	LG	LEVEL	G	AB	R	H		2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB		SO	SB		AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2015	WV	NYP	A(Short)	63	224	32	68		16	4	0	23	33		38	2		.304	.407	.411	.817
2016	WV	SAL	A(Full)	119	434	65	115		20	1	8	48	71		68	10		.265	.370	.371	.741
2017	BRD	FSL	A(Adv)	115	415	66	111		19	3	9	62	58		85	14		.267	.364	.393	.756
2017	ALT	EAS	AA	3	9	1	2		1	0	1	5	0		2	0		.222	.200	.667	.867
2017	2 teams		Minors	118	424	67	113		20	3	10	67	58		87	14		.267	.360	.399	.759
Minors Career	4 teams		Minors	300	1082	164	296		56	8	18	138	162		193	26		.274	.374	.390	.764

Photo credit: Milb.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball, the New York-Penn League, or the West Virginia Black Bears

Several former West Virginia Black Bears on Street & Smith's Top Prospect List

America's baseball bible, Street and Smith's includes several former West Virginia Black Bears on their Pittsburgh Pirates' top 20 prospects list.

If you include prospects who have spent rehab assignments in Morgantown, eight of the twenty players on the list are former Black Bears.

The list includes:

#1   Mitch Keller (rehab 2017)
#3   Austin Meadows (rehab 2016, 2017)
#4   Ke'Bryan Hayes (2015)
#7   Kevin Kramer (2015)
#8   Kevin Newman (2015)
#11 Will Craig (2016)
#12  Luis Escobar (2015-16)
#18  Steve Alemais (2016)

 

Photo credit: Street and Smith's

Black Bears Tracker is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball, the New York-Penn League, or the West Virginia Black Bears

In search of Barbudos - my recent trip to Cuba

Back on January 23, I posted a tweet: “In Miami. Leaving for Cuba in the morning in search of Barbudos. Will be incommunicado for the next several days….”

If you are wondering, what is a Barbudo? It is a bearded revolutionary. The term was used to describe Cuban revolutionaries in the 1950s. Shortly after taking power, Fidel Castro played in a baseball exhibition with members of the 26 July Movement in uniforms with “Barbudos” across the front of their jerseys (rumors that he was scouted by MLB are untrue).

Barbudos

My wife and I had a very enjoyable trip to Cuba (our third visit), but I did not find any “Barbudos”. Cuba is in transition and soon they will have a new president. For the first time since 1959, a Castro will not be the leader of the Cuban government. That should be a good thing. But the embargo continues and current U.S. policies are having a chilling effect on travel to the island, thanks to Little Marco and the Donald.

Baseball is the national sport in Cuba and was introduced to the island in the 1860s by students returning from colleges in the United States.

Although we were unable to see any Cuban games live, I watched parts of a couple of the playoff games on television and saw Granma win the Cuban Championship over LaTunas. You can follow Cuban baseball at this link.

We arranged this trip through Roads Scholar and it is a good travel option to see the island and interact with the people of Cuba. We were able to walk the shoreline of the Bay of Pigs and visit the cities of Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and Santa Clara, in addition to my favorite city of Havana. Here are some photos from the trip. Enjoy….

Cienfuegos

Bay of Pigs

Hemingway's Boat (Pilar)

Havana

Cuban Capitol Building, Havana

Havana

Photo credits: newyorktimes.com; NY-Penn League News

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball or the New York-Penn League.

There will be minor league baseball in Batavia in 2018!

Great news. In case you missed it, there will be minor league baseball in Batavia, New York in 2018. The New York-Penn League will operate the team this season and have named long-time baseball man Dave Chase as general manager. Read more at the The Batavian and The Daily News.

Logo credit: MiLB.com

NY-Penn League News is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball or the New York-Penn League.