Tom Haudricourt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Brewers announced their new Class AAA affiliate Tuesday morning and it's not the one many had speculated.

The Brewers announced a two-year player development deal with San Antonio, a new Class AAA franchise in the Pacific Coast League. That franchise was transferred from Colorado Springs, so the Brewers actually are working with the same ownership group.

“We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Elmore Sports Group and relocate our Triple-A team to San Antonio,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said. “San Antonio provides one of the premier minor-league markets in the country and offers our players a quality player development environment.

"We look forward to many future Brewers making their final minor league stop at Wolff Stadium.”

With the news late last year that the Colorado Springs franchise would relocate to San Antonio, which had been a Class AA market, the assumption was that the Texas Rangers would be affiliated with the Missions. The Rangers had been affiliated with Round Rock, Texas, but Houston moved its Class AAA club there from Fresno, Calif.

Accordingly, many figured the Brewers would be headed for Fresno. There were three teams without Class AAA affiliates (Milwaukee, Texas and Washington) and three open markets (Fresno, Nashville and San Antonio). Oakland announced Monday it was relocating its Class AAA affiliate from Nashville to Las Vegas.

But the Brewers have worked for years with the Elmore Sports Group, both in Colorado Springs and the rookie Helena, Montana, team. That Helena team will now relocate to Colorado Springs and continue playing in the Frontier League as a Brewers affiliate.

Stearns said the relationship with the Elmore family was important in working out an agreement in San Antonio.

"It's been a great relationship with the Elmore group we had in Colorado Springs," Stearns said. "We know that group very well. We had an opportunity to go to San Antonio last week, see the facility, what changes and renovations they are going to make, and we were impressed.

"The ownership group is responsible for the renovations but they were nice enough to take our feedback, take our input as to what we recommended they do. It will be clubhouses, (batting) cages, a lot of the player facilities.

"We think it's a great market for our Triple-A affiliate. We think it's a great final stop before players come here to Milwaukee. So, we're excited to continue that relationship with the Elmore Sports Group and forge a new partnership with the city of San Antonio."

Wolff Municipal Stadium is an older facility not quite up to Class AAA standards but renovations will be made in preparation for the 2019 season, including new clubhouses. Stearns said he was satisfied with the proposed improvements and, in particular, said the actual playing surface impressed him.

"The playing surface is outstanding, so from a development standpoint we think this fits very well," Stearns said. "We always look at development as priority No. 1. Geographical location is important as well, and in this case we're staying in the Central Time Zone.

"It's a relatively big market with lots of flights, in and out, regardless of where we are (playing) around the country. The intraleague travel will be much better because there are bus trips to a couple of other Triple-A affiliates. It's fairly centrally located and easy to get players to our big-league team. We're excited to have our guys play there for the foreseeable future."

It was no secret that the Brewers were less than thrilled with the playing environment at Colorado Springs, particularly in regard to developing pitchers. Beyond the high altitude and light air, weather conditions often were challenging, including wind, rain, and early in the season, more than occasional snow.

With that hitter-friendly venue in mind, Brewers manager Craig Counsell joked, "The pitchers (who have been in Colorado Springs) are high-fiving each other in there."

With the affiliation in San Antonio, Stearns said he is quite satisfied with how the farm system is set up now, with Class AA Biloxi, high Class A Carolina (a franchise the Brewers own) and low Class A Wisconsin, just two hours up the highway in Appleton.

"Really, top to bottom now, we're really pleased with our affiliate structure," Stearns said. "Having our advanced rookie team move to Colorado Springs, that becomes the top advanced rookie facility in baseball."