Mike Ashmore

Bridgewater

According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, the New Britain Bees are not expected to continue as an Atlantic League franchise in 2020.



Two league schedules for the upcoming season are said to exist, one with a 126-game slate, which would involve the Road Warriors returning for one season, and one with 140 games, which would include eight home teams.



Teams would have 72 home games in the first scenario, as was the case in 2018, and 70 in the latter.



The Rockland Boulders, currently a Can-Am League franchise based in New York state, are rumored to be that eighth team in that second scenario, but that, according to several sources from multiple franchises, is unlikely at this time, and the Road Warriors are expected to rejoin the league next season.



Atlantic League president Rick White declined to address those specifics, but did respond to some rumors surrounding them.



"There's a great deal of speculation about a Road Warriors team based on some of the challenges we have in one of our markets," White told MyCentralJersey.com in a one-on-one interview in Central Islip prior to Game 2 of the Championship Series.



"We're trying to resolve that as quickly and efficiently as we can. I will share with you that we are examining a whole variety of alternatives, but as days go by, they're rapidly dwindling. I think we're going to have some sort of resolution at the end of this week or early to mid-week next week, but we've got to get on with it. The calendar is not our friend right now, we have to publish schedules, and we have to move from there. We'll have it resolved soon one way or the other in my view."



The Road Warriors return would be a less than ideal situation for White and the Atlantic League. The last installment of that ballclub, which was used as a placeholder between the Bridgeport Bluefish folding after the 2017 season and the High Point Rockers joining prior to this year, was a comically bad 29-97 on the field and presents numerous logistical challenges off of it from both travel and financial standpoints.



It also further affects the perception of a league that has made strides with the Major League Baseball partnership, but may lose some of that perceived credibility with the return of a road team. That would seemingly not be an issue in 2021, with the addition of a franchise in Gastonia, North Carolina set to begin play for that season now having been confirmed by White.



"We're going to be the exclusive occupant of a new venue in Gastonia," he said. "Even if we go shorthanded next year, we know we're going to have that the year after. Moreover, we have enough conversations going on now that are viable pipeline, development conversations with other locations that we may have more than eight teams in 2021. If we expand, it's always going to be by two. So, the implications of that are quite significant, but I have reason to think that can be the case."



White declined comment on the future of the Bees franchise, the possibility of Rockland joining the league, or confirming that it would in fact be the Road Warriors on the schedule next season.



What he was more than willing to chat about, however, was the significance of having a travel partner for High Point with the addition of the Gastonia franchise in 2021; it's an approximately 90-minute drive between the two towns.



"That's critical for us," he said.



"We all know it's the longest bus ride in the league, and we believe in the health and welfare of our players, we want that to be positive. This will make scheduling easier, this will make road trips much easier. Instead of having to worry about gateway cities, we can have a three (games in one city)-four (games in the other) situation where we're flipping back and forth between those two. We also think, because of the proximity of those two teams, we'll be creating a rivalry similar to what we have with Somerset and Long Island. They're about that same distance apart."



Less ideal is that the league has been unable to do this in Texas, where the Sugar Land franchise has remained a geographical outlier since its inception.



"The irony is that Texas is such a high-growth state, you would think it would be simple to find a community that wanted an Atlantic League team," White said.



"There are no shortage of communities that would like to have a team, but none that have the wherewithal to finance a ballpark. We continue to look, but over the last three years, I've probably made, conservatively, eighteen to two dozen community visits. We have some things in the pipeline, but if they're viable, they're very early in the pipeline."



MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PARTNERSHIP SET FOR YEAR TWO



The Atlantic League enjoyed unprecedented exposure this season thanks to their partnership with Major League Baseball, that much is inarguable.



The independent circuit garnered national headlines all year long with the implementation of experimental rules, but mostly for the use of an automated balls and strikes (ABS) system that many lazy outlets simply labeled as "robot umpires."



That partnership, which is a three-year agreement, is expected to extend to next season.



"On balance, I'm very happy (with the partnership)," White said. "But, the devil is in the details, and I have to keep reminding our clubs and myself that tests, by definition, are subject to adjustment and change. I think the lessons we've learned this year are incredible valuable, particularly in the case of how we introduce rules changes and how we communicate those not only to clubs, but to players, coaches and managers specifically. With those where there's quite a bit of complexity, specifically ABS, we would have to say that the automatic balls and strikes is a very successful implementation and test. But that doesn't mitigate the fact that the communication program between the umpire and the system itself needs improvement."



Ask around, and that's putting it mildly. Ask more, and players might disagree with White's assessment that ABS -- not to mention other rule changes -- were successfully installed. To be blunt, some have made it clear they won't be returning to the league for the 2020 season.



"I don't hear from as many players as often as you do," White said. "I hear plenty from managers and coaches, but not from players. I'm aware that sentiment has been expressed, but the first thing I would share with players expressing that sentiment would be, this past season, we had an all-time record number of transfers. We've never had 59 players ever transferred out of this league. I don't think it's a coincidence that's because their Trackman statistics are being actively monitored by all of the (MLB) clubs.



"Second, the dynamic of this test is where people take a helicopter view -- meaning, they distance themselves from the emotion of it -- and they should sit there and ask where they're going to get more benefit. In a league where they aren't doing these tests? Or a league where they are? Perhaps players aren't aware that ABS is now a part of the Arizona Fall League, and I have reason to believe that ABS is going to be a part of affiliated minor league baseball next year, at least at some level in some capacity. Having said that, I think a player looking that would be well-served by asking if it's in his best interest to familiarize himself more not just with the system, but with the strike zone."



White acknowledged that MLB did make some adjustments to the zone that was called by Trackman throughout the season, specifically bringing the top of the zone down, but refuted claims by players that the zone that's called changes from ballpark to ballpark.



"There's been, quite frankly, gossip about the system," he said. "The Trackman strike zone doesn't change place by place or pitch by pitch. The communication system can. A lot of times this year, players and coaches were laboring under the impression that somehow, there would be a snapshot of the ball taken as it was released, and that through some sort of extrapolation they'd be calling that pitch a ball or strike before it even crossed the strike zone. That just isn't the case."



Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com