J.J. Cooper Interview

It is often left out of the discussion, but what about minor league baseball? What will happen to the hundreds of prospects in professional baseball who are all be affected by this pandemic.

Baseball America and analyst J.J. Cooper have covered the minor league portion of the pause in the baseball season extensively. They even suggested expanding the Arizona Fall League and include Florida in it this year to compensate for lost time by the prospects.

Major League season is the priority, and rightfully so. But what about the minor leagues.

It is very unlikely, however, that we will see a full or even truncated minor league season. Even if the clubs allowed their top four minor league teams to play some kind of season, that would be 120 teams that would need to be scheduled and play.

Major League teams need to have reinforcements for injuries, poor play, etc. There is talk there may be some sort of practice squad, where additional players could travel and be with the MLB teams for when they may be needed.

That does not answer the question of how the real prospects will be able to get at bats and innings to continue their development. You do not want prospects to have a gap on the back of their baseball card.

So, what will they do? Well, the decisions about the Major League season must be made first. Then they will have to decide how to filter through the player who could be used by the MLB teams and then what to do with the others.

Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper talks with Bill Shanks about the options that could be considered.

Here is the full interview with Cooper:

http://thesuperstations.com/the-bill-shanks-show-jj-cooper-interview-5-4-20/

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.