HOUSTON — The Houston Astros have reached an agreement that is a big deal for baseball in Sugar Land.
Editor's note: the video in this story is from Oct. 2020 and reports on player Alex Bregman donating iPads to schools in Katy.
The team announced Friday they will move their Triple A franchise from Round Rock to Sugar Land and, as part of the agreement with MLB and the City of Sugar Land, they will also acquire majority ownership of the Sugar Land Skeeters.
While Friday’s announcement makes earlier reports official, the deal won’t close until the end of 2020.
“The club will play in the Pacific Coast League and will continue to operate and play games at Constellation Field in Sugar Land,” the Astros stated in a morning press release.
The news was also announced on the official Facebook page for the Skeeters and was met with mostly positive reaction.
Because of the Sugar Land deal, the Astros will own their Single A (Fayetteville), Double A (Corpus Christi) and Triple A affiliates.
"We are excited to bring Triple A baseball to Sugar Land, which is a great city with great fans," said Astros Owner and Chairman Jim Crane. "We look forward to partnering with the City of Sugar Land’s great leadership to reinvest into the ballpark to make it one of the best Triple A facilities in the country.”
“We are excited to partner with the Astros and Jim Crane to bring Triple A baseball to Sugar Land," current Skeeters owners Bob and Marcie Zlotnik stated. “We are grateful for all the support that the city, its leadership, business community and fans have shown the Skeeters over the past nine years.”
The team will play at Constellation Field, which opened in 2012. It is located only 22 miles from Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros play.
Round Rock Express released the following statement:
The Round Rock Express would like to thank the Houston Astros organization for 12 years of affiliation partnership, including the last two as the club’s Triple-A affiliate. Round Rock served as Houston’s Double-A club from our founding in 2000 through 2004 then transitioned to the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate from 2005-2010 and again from 2019-2020.
During our momentous 20th season in 2019, the Express posted an 84-56 record and returned to the Pacific Coast League playoffs for the first time since 2015. With historic performances from the likes of Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez and many others, we were proud to provide the training ground for the next wave of Astros stars.
Round Rock, Texas is the best Minor League Baseball city in America and we cannot wait to provide the exceptional gameday experience that Central Texas baseball fans have come to expect at Dell Diamond in 2021. We look forward to the conclusion of negotiations between Major and Minor League Baseball in the coming weeks and are excited to start our next chapter of Triple-A Baseball in Round Rock with a new affiliate. Additional information is expected to be announced soon.