Major League Baseball Adds Frontier League And American Association As ‘Partner Leagues’

Major League Baseball announced this week it will add both the Frontier League and the American Association
AHA
as designated Partner Leagues. The two independent baseball leagues will join the Atlantic League in MLB’s attempt to broaden its reach across baseball in the United States and Canada.

The two leagues will collaborate with MLB on, “initiatives to provide organized baseball to communities throughout the United States and Canada,” according to a MLB press release.

In 2019, MLB used the Atlantic League to test out a variety of initiatives including an automated ball-strike system, limiting defensive shifts and eliminating mound visits. While the full details of what MLB’s agreement with the Frontier League and American Association entails remain unreleased, the American Association publicly stated it will not be Rob Manfred’s experimental lab.

“The American Association will remain autonomous,” American Association commissioner Joshua Schaub said on Twitter. “It has not agreed to any rule changes. We will continue to be a league that plays with a priority to win games and provide opportunities for our players. More info to come on MLB deal.”

The 15-team Frontier League furthers MLB’s network not only domestically, but in Canada as well, with three of the Frontier League’s teams residing north of the border. Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee embraced the opportunity to extend its brand as the league nears its 30th anniversary.

“The Frontier League is honored to become a Partner League with Major League Baseball,” Lee said in a statement released by MLB. “This partnership will be beneficial in growing our great game of Baseball in all of our United States and Canadian markets. Our teams and fans will all be excited to see the League grow in years to come. The Frontier League began in 1993, to have a relationship with Major League Baseball, is one of the greatest moments in League history.”

Mike Ashmore, Courier News beat writer for the Atlantic League’s Somerset Patriots, regards the partnerships as a stabilizing force in an industry that has been considerably shaken from the COVID-related play stoppage.

“In terms of actual operations, I think it’ll be minimal,” Ashmore said via e-mail. “There’s language within the agreement that encourages the partner independent leagues to try to take in any MiLB teams that end up getting booted out by this whole reorganization, but that was going to happen regardless. If nothing else, whether it be perception or reality, it provides some stability for a side of the game — the independent side — that hasn’t had much of it at all for the last year or so.”

These Partner League associations come on the heels of MLB’s expiring agreement with the affiliated National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. The NAPBL, more commonly known as Minor League Baseball, is facing contraction as MLB negotiates a new Professional Baseball Agreement. The proposed changes include cutting 40 teams, as well as moving their offices from Florida to New York. If the minor leagues significantly consolidate, these Partner Leagues could be a haven for the hundreds of ballplayers suddenly looking for a team to call home.