2019 season opens for Phillies rookie-level Williamsport Crosscutters

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Historic Bowman Field again hosts the Crosscutters for 2019

The Philadelphia Phillies short-season affiliates in the New York-Penn League, the Williamsport Crosscutters, will begin play for the 2019 season tonight (Friday) at historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Phillies minor league affiliates at the Triple-A (Lehigh Valley), Double-A (Reading), High-A (Clearwater), and Low-A (Lakewood) levels have been competing for more than two months now.

The NY-Penn League season starts in mid-June, with many team rosters featuring players selected in the most recent MLB Draft who have signed a contract with the big-league organization. Those recent draftees have until July 12 to sign, but most are under contract well before that point.

New York–Penn League teams may have no more than three players on their active lists that have four or more years of prior combined MLB/MiLB service time, with the exception of position players changing roles to become pitchers and vice versa.

The NY-P is one of three such rookie-level leagues set to get underway. The Northwest League also opens play on Friday night, with eight teams located in the Northwestern United States and in Canada. On Tuesday the Pioneer League, with eight teams located in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S., will get to begin play in their 2019 season.

Rhys Hoskins began his pro career playing in 70 games with the Crosscutters back in the summer of 2014, right after the Phillies had made him their 5th round draft pick.

There will be 14 teams making up the 2019 New York-Penn League, with Williamsport taking part in their 13th year as a Phillies affiliate. Prior to that, the City of Williamport, located approximately 130 miles northwest of Philly, hosted a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate for eight seasons from 1999-2006, and a Chicago Cubs affiliate for five seasons from 1994-98.

The 14 NY-P teams are split among three divisions: McNamara (4), Stedler (4), and Pinckney (6), with Williamsport having finished in last place in the standings (32-44) a year ago.

Ex-Phil Schilling a Witch Hunt Victim

By now, most people are aware that former Phillies 1990's pitching ace Curt Schilling was recently suspended from his gig covering the Little League World Series for ESPN, and removed for a week from his Sunday Night Baseball broadcast on the network.

What most are unaware of is the true reason: a "witch hunt" mentality which saw his actual actions distorted completely by the numerous people who dislike his outspokenness and his politics.

Now the rest of this post is going to deal with difficult topics like "math" and "truth", so if you have a rough time with either of those, or prefer your "sports" in the tame realm of scores and trades and such, you might want to just move along.

But if you genuinely care about why it is important that you NOT blindly follow the anti-Schillites, not allow yourself to take part in this partisan witch hunt, then please, read on.

Let's first address what actually happened to cause the suspension. Schilling was accused of making, or more appropriately sharing, an "anti-Muslim" statement.

He was further charged by some with comparing Muslims to Nazis. Some never actually state what it is specifically that he said or shared, just that whatever it was, was "offensive" in some way.

Here is the specific post that caused all of the uproar, unfiltered:

Parenting Advice: Get Your Kids Into Sports

Facts have been emerging that are showing what many have suspected for years: all things being equal otherwise, if a kid plays sports, he or she will earn more money, stay in school longer, and be more engaged in civic life. '

The American' magazine recently highlighted this theory in their "Little League, Huge Effect" article. 

One of their main points is that almost all of life in a capitalist society involves some form of competition, and young athletes learn the formula for success in a market-based system. 

You can wish that wasn't so, you can point to some examples of non-athletes making it big, you can fight the numbers in your head. But the fact is, kids who play sports learn teamwork, learn competition, learn how to harness their emotions, interact live with other kids and adults, and in general get a tremendous start on life. 

We are not just talking about the best athletes, the stars or even the starters on a team. We are talking about every kid who becomes actively engaged in athletics.