There won’t be any more last-minute drives down from Syracuse to D.C. for minor leaguers who are called up from the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, with the New York Mets now housing their top minor league prospects in upstate New York. Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo & Co. in the front office in D.C. reached a player development deal with the Fresno Grizzlies, shifting their top affiliate to the West Coast when the game of musical minor league chairs left that as the only viable option.
While that is a significant change, not much else will be all that different in the Nationals’ Minor League system in 2019.