Baseball at Bowman in 2021? Cutters’ Gabe Sinicropi says yes
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There will be Williamsport Crosscutters baseball in Williamsport in 2021, according to Cutters vice president of marketing and public relations Gabe Sinicropi. In what manner the baseball will be presented is still up in the air.
Of course, this all comes with the caveat that the COVID-19 pandemic is secure enough to allow for a baseball season and to allow for fans at the games.
"We'll be here and operating," said Sinicropi. "There will be Crosscutters baseball in 2021."
In what fashion the Cutters will exist next summer is still to be determined. Williamsport's Player Development Contract with the Philadelphia Phillies expired after this season. And although there have been no formal acknowledgments of its expiration by the Phillies, Sinicropi said he doesn't expect the PDC to be renewed.
The Crosscutters have been a minor league affiliate of the Phillies since 2007 when Philadelphia switched its New York-Penn League affiliation from Batavia to Williamsport. Since 2007, 64 former Crosscutters have played Major League Baseball.
Baseball America reported in late October that Major League Baseball was planning to switch the New York-Penn League to a summer college wood bat league, just as it had done with the Appalachian League, another short-season minor league league. Under the change, according to Baseball America, the New York-Penn League would become a destination summer college league for draft eligible college juniors and seniors preparing for the MLB draft, which is now scheduled for All-Star Game weekend in early July.
In another report by Baseball America, New York-Penn League teams had to indicate to Major League Baseball by Monday whether or not they would be participating in the summer wood bat league. Should the Crosscutters participate in the college summer league, it would not be affiliated with a specific Major League Baseball franchise, but would instead be affiliated with Major League Baseball itself.
In MLB's ongoing reorganization of its minor league affiliates, each MLB team is limited to just four minor league affiliates, plus a short-season complex team in either the Gulf Coast League or the Arizona League. The Crosscutters were the Phillies' lowest level domestic minor league team not at its complex in Clearwater, Florida. The four teams higher than Williamsport -- Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Clearwater Threshers, Reading Fightins and Lehigh Valley Ironpigs - are all at least partially owned by the Phillies.
"We've loved our relationship with the Phillies," Sinicropi said. "I don't want to speak for them, but I think I can safely say they've loved their relationship with us. But with the road map of what MLB is becoming and the changing, it necessitates that we part ways. It's a numbers game."
According to Baseball America, the summer college league would play a roughly 60-game schedule beginning in late May or early June, providing draft eligible players about 40 days of play between the end of their college season and the MLB Draft in early July. Under MLB's proposed plan, according to Baseball America, rising college freshmen would be routed to the Appalachian League for a summer wood bat season. The best sophomores in the country would go to the legendary Cape Cod League, which routinely draws the best college players in the country. And the top juniors and seniors would be assigned to New York-Penn League teams like the Crosscutters.
The list of teams who will participate in the New York-Penn League's proposed summer league is not yet complete, but should be finalized as Major League Baseball finishes its contraction of affiliated minor league teams, which will leave about 40 teams without affiliates. Those teams no longer affiliated with MLB teams will likely have the option to join the proposed summer college leagues.