Former Pirates affiliate in West Virginia one of founding members of MLB Draft League

A former Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate is one of the five founding members of the MLB Draft League, a summer league announced Monday to focus on providing exposure to draft-eligible college prospects.

The West Virginia Black Bears, the Pirates’ Class A short-season affiliate since 2015, joins the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, State College Spikes, Trenton Thunder and Williamsport Crosscutters as teams that will play a 68-game season next summer. MLB is moving its draft to July so it can be showcased as part of the All-Star break.

“The new format affirms MLB’s commitment to the region and assures that the communities of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Jersey will continue to host high-caliber baseball and future Major Leaguers for years to come,” MLB said in a statement.

?#WVBlackBears retain affiliation with @MLB, become founding member of new Major League Baseball Draft League! https://t.co/3cmTL77kT5 pic.twitter.com/CLLWYoNyIc

— WV Black Bears (@WVBlackBears) November 30, 2020

The Black Bears are based in Granville, W.Va., and have shared Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown with West Virginia University since it opened in 2015. West Virginia politicians and university officials supported the move, with WVU athletic director Shane Lyons calling the building of Monongalia County Ballpark “one of the most successful projects for the Morgantown community in the last 10 years.”

“The ballpark continues to provide dividends to our local economy as it was one of the driving forces in the decision to bring a Major League Baseball Draft League team to Morgantown,” Lyons said in a statement. “The future stars of baseball and even potential Hall of Famers will get their start in Morgantown and how great that will be for our community. It will be special for fans one day to see baseball professionals shine in the major leagues and be able to say they saw him play in Morgantown.”

The Black Bears, Scrappers, Spikes and Crosscutters all were members of the New York-Penn League. The Spikes (2007-12) and Crosscutters (1999-2006) preceded the Black Bears as a Pirates affiliate. Mahoning Valley was affiliated with Cleveland, State College with St. Louis, Trenton with the New York Yankees and Williamsport with Philadelphia.

The MLB Draft League is part of baseball’s proposed minor league contraction from 160 to 120 teams, as the sport looks to cut costs after its agreement with minor-league teams expired on Nov. 2. Under the proposal, each team will have four minor-league teams, plus a team at their spring-training complex.

The Pirates have affiliates in Triple-A Indianapolis, Double-A Altoona, Class A-advanced Bradenton and Class A Greensboro.

MLB already came to an agreement for the Appalachian League, which includes the former Pirates rookie league team in Bristol (Va.), to convert to a 54-game wooden bat summer league for rising college freshmen and sophomores that will compete with the Cape Cod League to become the destination for top prospects.