The Lynchburg Hillcats are pleased to announce that in the 2010 season they will serve as the Advanced-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The move became official when the Florida State League owners approved the Pittsburgh Pirates bid to purchase Cincinnati's High-A club in Sarasota, Fla.With this approval, the Pirates have taken over control of the Reds Advanced-A team, and are relocating the club to Bradenton, Fla. Pittsburgh already has their Spring Training facility and Gulf Coast League team in Bradenton as part of Pirate City.
Cincinnati will move its High-A team to Lynchburg to replace the Pirates, who had called City Stadium their Advanced-A home since 1995. The Reds will be just the second team to use the moniker of Hillcats, which was formed when the Pirates began their affiliation. Cincinnati will assume responsibility of the final year of a two-year contract that Pittsburgh signed before the start of the 2009 season.
"We are excited about this opportunity to bring the Cincinnati Reds organization to Lynchburg," said Hillcats General Manager Paul Sunwall. "We look forward to forming a relationship with the Reds and bringing our fans baseball from a first class organization."
The Pirates brought Lynchburg three Carolina League championships during their affiliation (1997, 2002, 2009). This past season the Hillcats captured the Carolina League crown to give Lynchburg their sixth league title.
"The Pittsburgh Pirates organization was a pleasure to work with over the years," Sunwall said. "We thoroughly enjoyed our time as part of the Pirates' system and are looking forward to tracking the progress of their organization and our former players."
• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...
• Digg this story
• Add to Del.icio.us
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
