Hudson Valley Renegades Confirm Major Changes With Yankees

The Yankees are moving to the Hudson Valley.

On Friday, Baseball America reported the New York Yankees are moving a minor league team to the Hudson Valley. The reports stated Dutchess Stadium in Wappinger Falls will be the new home of the Yankees Class A affiliate. Hudson Valley Post reached out to the Hudson Valley Renegades on Friday about the rumors, but team officials did not respond.

On Saturday, the New York Yankees confirmed changes to their minor league affiliation structure, announcing the club's High Single-A minor league team will now call the Hudson Valley home.

"The determination was made that Hudson Valley would be best for our players, especially given the long term and tremendously beneficial relationship we have had with Marvin Goldklang, who is a longstanding partner and associate of the Steinbrenner family and the Yankees," the New York Yankees wrote in a press release.

The Yankees also confirmed the team will continue to be called the Hudson Valley Renegades and play its home games at Dutchess Stadium, in 2021. With this change, the Hudson Valley will get to enjoy its first full minor league season.

While the Renegades have not responded to our request for a comment, the team did share the Yankees press release on the team's official Twitter account. In a separate tweet, the Renegades shared the photo you see above with the caption, "For our new fans.... The Dutch!"

“Restructuring our minor league affiliations — especially with the additions of Somerset and Hudson Valley — gives us greater continuity to streamline and improve the development of our minor league system,” Yankees Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Cashman said. “The relationships we have formed with all of our teams will allow for a more consistent application of training with similarly aligned facilities in terms of structure, quality and ease of travel. We are confident that these changes will greatly benefit our players and Yankees fans for many years to come."

The Hudson Valley Renegades were most recently a New York–Penn League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The changes are a result of the expiration of the Professional Baseball Agreement between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball and the creation of the Prospect Development Pipeline, officials say With this restructuring, the number of affiliated minor league teams will be contracted from 160 to 120, with many previously affiliated Short-Season and Rookie Level minor league teams being absorbed into the Prospect Development Pipeline.