Giants will keep a minor-league team in San Jose

The Giants’ announcement Wednesday that they’ll have a minor league team in San Jose for the 33rd straight season doesn’t mean things will remain the same for their affiliate in the South Bay.

And we’re not talking about the possibility of having no fans or no weekly fireworks shows at newly named Excite Ballpark this spring.

For the first time in 33 years, the San Jose Giants will no longer be an Advanced Single-A affiliate. San Jose and all the California League members — including the A’s Stockton Ports squad — will become Low SingleA affiliates, a level where most team’s top prospects don’t ordinarily spend a lot of time playing.

The change is just part of a myriad of moves made in the aftermath of Major League Baseball’s overhauling of its minor league system to streamline its costs.

The good news for San Jose fans is that, considering there was no minor league baseball season last spring because of COVID-19, the Giants figure to have their 2020 first-round pick, catcher Patrick Bailey from North Carolina, and their thirdround pick, De La Salle High pitching star Kyle Harrison, spending some time in the South Bay this coming season.

The Giants’ new High SingleA team, in Eugene, Ore., is actually an old affiliate. The Eugene Emeralds were one of the Giants’ first minor league teams after they moved to San Francisco in 1958. Eugene, which had been partnering with the Cubs since 2015, won Baseball America’s franchise of the year award for short-season teams.

Also, for the sixth straight season the Sacramento River Cats will be the Giants’ Triple-A team.