Triple-A Optimization: Ranking Every MLB Organization By Driving Distance To Its Triple-A Affiliate

When Major League Baseball formally took control of the minor leagues last fall, one of its stated goals was to better serve MLB organizations by reducing the amount of travel time between affiliates.

Because time is money, the diminished travel between minor league affiliates would translate to lower player development costs.

Of particular interest was shortening travel time between Triple-A affiliates and the major leagues, where promotions, demotions and rehab assignments are the most frequent and weighty.

In its restructured minor leagues, MLB improved or kept the same the distance between Triple-A affiliates and parent clubs for all 30 organizations.

Ten MLB clubs have their Triple-A affiliate located less than 100 miles from their major league home base. Another 12 clubs have their top affiliate within 500 miles of their major league headquarters.

Six MLB clubs partnered with new Triple-A affiliates. They are listed below, sorted by mileage saved by comparing old with new.

Organization	Triple-A Old	Triple-A New	Miles Saved
Nationals	Fresno, CA	Rochester, NY	2,412
Marlins	Wichita, KS	Jacksonville, FL	1,285
Twins	Rochester, NY	St. Paul, MN	999
Brewers	San Antonio, TX	Nashville, TN	718
Rangers	Nashville, TN	Round Rock, TX	495
Astros	Round Rock, TX	Sugar Land, TX	144

With their Triple-A affiliate changes, the Twins and Astros join the Braves and Mariners as organizations having their top affiliate in the same metropolitan area as the major league city. Those four clubs have the most convenient Triple-A affiliate arrangements.

The Twins added St. Paul as their Triple-A affiliate, and the Astros partnered with Sugar Land. Both of those clubs were formerly independent franchises.

The Dodgers kept their affiliation with Triple-A Oklahoma City, which is 1,330 miles from Dodger Stadium. Not only is that by far the largest physical distance between Triple-A affiliate and parent club, but the gap is 43% larger than the second-largest gap, which is the 754 miles between the White Sox and Triple-A Charlotte.

See full details below, which sorts organizations in ascending order of the driving distance between Triple-A affiliate and big league club.

Org	Triple-A	State	Miles
Twins	St. Paul	MN	12
Astros	Sugar Land	TX	22
Braves	Gwinnett	GA	36
Mariners	Tacoma	WA	36
Red Sox	Worcester	MA	44
Tigers	Toledo	OH	58
Phillies	Lehigh Valley	PA	69
Giants	Sacramento	CA	84
Reds	Louisville	KY	98
Blue Jays	Buffalo	NY	98
Org	Triple-A	State	Miles
Yankees	Scranton/W-B	PA	128
Indians	Columbus	OH	142
Rangers	Round Rock	TX	186
Royals	Omaha	NE	193
Orioles	Norfolk	VA	232
Mets	Syracuse	NY	264
Cardinals	Memphis	TN	284
Cubs	Iowa	IA	339
Marlins	Jacksonville	FL	345
Pirates	Indianapolis	IN	361
Org	Triple-A	State	Miles
Nationals	Rochester	NY	384
Rockies	Albuquerque	NM	452
Athletics	Las Vegas	NV	554
Brewers	Nashville	TN	568
Angels	Salt Lake	UT	682
Rays	Durham	NC	697
Padres	El Paso	TX	723
D-backs	Reno	NV	750
White Sox	Charlotte	NC	754
Dodgers	Oklahoma City	OK	1,330