Today the 2020 American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays invited four communities to join with them as affiliates under Major League Baseball’s new player development structure, which begins in 2021.
The details of these invitations were provided via team press release:
The Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs were invited to become the Rays Low-A affiliate. Charleston served as Tampa Bay’s original Low-A affiliate from 1997 until 2004, and affiliated with the New York Yankees from 2005 until 2020. Among the many former Rays prospects who played for Charleston are James Shields, B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli.