EXPRESS ENDING AFFILIATION WITH RANGERS; ARE ASTROS NEXT?
Central Texas baseball fans, ready to swap your red and blue gear for navy and orange attire?
On Monday, the Round Rock Express released a statement announcing the club’s intention to affiliate to another major league franchise, ending its seven-year relationship with the Texas Rangers.
“The relationship that we’ve developed, both professionally and personally, with the Texas Rangers over the last eight years has truly been an honor for our organization,” Express President Chris Almendarez said in the statement.
The club has been the Triple-A affiliate of the Rangers since 2011.
In May, the American-Statesman reported the player development contract with the Rangers would expire at the end of the 2018 season and all indications were the Express would hitch up to the Houston Astros in 2019.
At that time, though, Express CEO Reese Ryan said the club would evaluate its options at the end of the season.
“We’ll finish this season, evaluate where we are and make a decision,” he said at the time. “We’ll be allowed to negotiate with our current partner and anybody else we want to entertain an offer from in September.
“We’ve had an excellent relationship with the Rangers. It’s no secret that my brother and dad are both affiliated with the Astros, and they’re coming off a World Series championship. That’s all exciting. But I have to do what’s in the best interest of my fans.”
On Sunday, the Fresno Grizzlies, the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate for 2018, announced the franchise would seek a new major league team to align with for 2019.
With Round Rock looking for a major league club and Houston seeking a new Triple-A partner, all that’s left at this point to make an Express-Astros affiliation official is an announcement from the major league franchise.
“I think fans, media, people within baseball realize my family owns Round Rock, it’s the closest stadium to Minute Maid Park in affiliated baseball and we had a 10-year history that was really good,” Astros President of Business Operations Reid Ryan told the Houston Chronicle on Sunday. “It makes all the sense in the world.”
An official announcement is expected “later in the week,” Reid Ryan told the Chronicle.
The Express came within one victory of the 2015 Pacific Coast League championship, finishing with a 78-66 overall record.
In eight seasons aligned with the Rangers, the club posted a 579-560 overall record.
In 2018, despite suffering through a last-place season, the club posted an average home attendance of 8,842, second-most in minor league baseball.