Klugh: Inside the Atlantic League, baseball’s laboratory
From Justin Klugh at The Hardball Times on March 27, 2019:
Welcome to the Atlantic League!
Here, from Somerset, Massachusetts to Sugar Land, Texas–home of the defending champs–players look to build the sample sizes that will earn them longer, better deals in other, affiliated leagues. The competition is more ferocious in an independent league like Atlantic League Professional Baseball, as it exists as a separate vein from Major League Baseball’s bloodstream, catching college players who didn’t get drafted on their way up, and former big leaguers looking to extend their careers on the way down.
It’s an outpost for baseball survivors, filling in the national baseball map in places where the sport’s major league platform is too expensive or far away. With the rosters always changing shape, and franchises rising and folding, there’s a lot of change in a league like the Atlantic League. But not baseball. Baseball never changes.
Read the full article here: https://tht.fangraphs.com/inside-baseballs-laboratory/
Originally published: March 29, 2019. Last Updated: March 29, 2019.