Minor League Baseball is getting hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ESPN reported that hundreds of minor leaguers were released Thursday, and that hundreds more cuts are likely to follow in the coming weeks.
It's also possible the 2020 minor league season doesn't happen at all. Regardless, teams are looking for ways to trim costs, and one place that's being impacted is minor league rosters.
Get the latest news and analysis on all of your teams from NBC Sports Boston by downloading the My Teams App
The Boston Red Sox have become the latest Major League Baseball team to announce the release of minor leaguers. Here's the list of players from Friday's announcement:
Pitchers : Matthew Gorst (RHP), Alex Demchak (LHP), Dylan Thompson (RHP), Robbie Baker (RHP), Chris Machamer (RHP), Connor Berry (RHP), Eddie Jimenez (RHP), Kelvin Sanchez (LHP), Zach Schneider (RHP), and Mason Duke (RHP)
Catchers: Joe DeCarlo, Samuel Miranda, and Breiner Licona
Boston Red Sox
Find the latest Boston Red Sox news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
Infielders: Nick Lovullo, Juremi Profar, Korby Batesole, Andre Colon, and Nilo Rijo
Outfielders: Edgar Corcino, Keith Curcio, Trenton Kemp, and Marino Campana
Here's a list of other MLB teams making these kinds of cuts.
One of the many unfortunate aspects of this development is that a lot of the players around the league who are being released might never play professional baseball again.
Several major league players are going into their own pocket to financially assist minor leaguers, including former Red Sox pitcher David Price, who's giving $1,000 of his own money to each Los Angeles Dodgers minor leaguer in June.
It's still possible the 2020 MLB season will happen in some form. Both the league and MLBPA reportedly have been discussing and negotiating on several different issues, but there's been no public agreement on a return proposal at this time.
