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In a statement released today, the Indians announced changes to their minor league affiliates for 2021 and beyond.
As expected, the Columbus Clippers will remain as the Triple-A affiliate, and the Akron RubberDucks will handle Double-A duties. Going forward, however, the Lake County Captains will be the team’s High-A affiliate and the Lynchburg Hillcats have swapped places, now serving as the team’s Single-A club.
With last month’s announcement that the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers are no longer affiliated, that leaves the final tally as follows:
- Triple-A: Columbus Clippers
- Double-A: Akron RubberDucks
- High-A: Lake County Captains
- Single-A: Lynchburg Hillcats
They will also still have teams in the Arizona Rookie League and Dominican Summer Leagues.
The swap at the lower levels will allow the Captains — who are a cool 25 minutes away from Cleveland in Eastlake — to have higher-level prospects closer to home, as opposed to Virginia’s own Lynchburg Hillcats.
Following the announcement, each affiliate reacted to the news in their own unique way. The Hillcats and Captains had their own short messages about the news:
We got a rose! The Cleveland Indians have invited us to remain their Affliate. A match made on the Diamond. #TraditionRoarsOn #OurTribe #MILb120 pic.twitter.com/fMaenmn8jU
— Lynchburg Hillcats (@LynHillcats) December 9, 2020
BREAKING: Captains invited to become #Indians new Class-A Advanced affiliate
— Lake County Captains (@LCCaptains) December 9, 2020
Release ⤵️https://t.co/2P2p0CCo0k pic.twitter.com/Z39eqRA2Vn
The Clippers provided this nice image:
The Entourage is back. pic.twitter.com/Mmz22OkYnA
— Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) December 9, 2020
And RubberDucks ... well, never change. You are beautiful.
Thanks, @Indians.
— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) December 9, 2020
Cold beers are on us! pic.twitter.com/Xr4TqhASeV
SSSSSQQQQQQUUUUUAAAADDD!!! pic.twitter.com/kwG9EPUzuP
— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) December 9, 2020