YORK, Pa. — This time of year is when the York Revolution and Lancaster Barnstormers, of the Atlantic League start, start to land the bulk of their rosters for the upcoming season.
"In the last ten days it's probably picked-up, probably double it," recalled Barnstormers Manager Ross Peeples. "I don't know if we got into February and guys are starting to see that they don't have jobs with affiliated teams, so they're trying to reach out a little bit more."
"I already have 20 players signed," said Revolution skipper Mark Mason. "I'm a little ahead of schedule this year, but the pool was actually a little better this year."
Affiliated minor league teams like the Harrisburg Senators will take the diamond as scheduled this year, but the lockout still leaves some questions about how it will impact our area teams and their rosters for the upcoming season.
"The guys that ended the season on the 40-man roster, and a lot of those guys are Triple-A call-ups at the end, they're locked out. They're not going to be able to go back to their Triple-A affiliate, so what I've heard from talking to some people in the major league organizations, they may be backfilling those affiliates with our (Atlantic League) players."
One report says that the MLB wants to cut down the size of minor league rosters, which could expand the pool of players for the Atlantic League in the future.
"Ever since COVID hit, the last couple of years teams have pretty much, if you want to say, hoarded players. If they cut roster spots, whether it's two, three, however many they cut per roster, I definitely think it makes a bigger pool for us," said Peeples.
Until they head out of the clubhouse in April, York and Lancaster will keep tabs on the MLB talks, but the sooner it ends, the better.
"Building the team is the funnest part to me," added Peeples. "It's not always about the players to a point, it's all about the fit."
"I've come to the philosophy over the years that I'm going to try to sign the best team I can in the offseason before spring training releases happen," said Mason.