The remaking of minor league baseball continued Monday when Major League Baseball announced the formation of the MLB Draft League – a league established to give draft-eligible players a chance to display their talents prior to the annual amateur draft.
The league is expected to feature six teams and five of those teams were announced Monday, including one with a direct connection to the Pirates. That team is the West Virginia Black Bears, which had been part of the Class A short-season New York-Penn League.
The Black Bears will be joined in the new venture by the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the State College Spikes, the Trenton Thunder and the Williamsport Crosscutters.