Angels announce two-year extension for Triple-A affiliate, will remain in Salt Lake through 2022

The Angels have extended the contract of their Triple-A affiliate, a partnership that dates back to before the organization won their first World Series.

From the Salt Lake Bees’ press release:

“Salt Lake City is a town that we really enjoy being in. It’s a great community and fan base,” Angels General Manager Billy Eppler said. “We are very comfortable with Marc Amicone, the entire front office and ownership group. To be able to extend this affiliation was important and frankly, an easy decision for us.”

“In 18 years of affiliation the Angels have not only supplied us with great players and coaches on the field, but also in our community,” said Bees President Marc Amicone. “We want to thank Billy Eppler and all of the Angels front office staff who make this affiliation so special.”

The Pacific Coast League, in which the Bees play, is notorious for being hitter-friendly and inflating traditional batting statistics due to the high-altitude at which stadiums are located. Such altitudes lead to quicker infields, leading to higher batting averages on balls in play which makes it more difficult to evaluate players than it would be in a context-neutral environment. Combined with an extreme pitcher-friendly environment in Mobile, the Angels’ upper-minors are opposite of one another, so the move is interesting.

Most player development is done by the time players enter Triple-A, though, and Salt Lake still trails behind Colorado Springs, Alburquerque, El Paso, and Las Vegas in hitter-friendliness.

That means this killer mascot will hang around for a while.