The PDC extensions continue

After the PDC extensions of the Detroit Tigers and the West Michigan WhiteCaps and the Minnesota Twins and the Rochester RedWings, another Player Development Contract has been extended. The Chicago Cubs and the Eugene Emeralds have extended their cooperation.

The Major League club and its A-Short Season affiliate in the Northwest League extended their PDC with four years through the 2022 season. The cooperation between the two clubs is relatively young as the Cubs jumped ships from the Boise Hawks to the Emeralds in 2015. Before the Cubs affiliated with the Boise Hawks (also in the Northwest League), the Emeralds were also part of the Cubs’ organization for two seasons (1999-2000).

Traditionally, both parties exchanged pleasantries starting with Jason McLeoad, Senior vice President of Scouting and Player Development, who stated: “We started this partnership with the Eugene organization in 2015, and have really enjoyed seeing the work Allan Benavides and the Emeralds front office have done to help develop our young players both on and off the field. Additionally, Eugene continues to offer our players the best facilities to be found at the short-season level, and we are pleased this relationship will continue through at least the 2022 season.”

The aforementioned Alan Benavides, General Manager of the Eugene Emeralds said: ““We are incredibly excited to continue our relationship with the Cubs, as they have been tremendous in their support of our organization in Eugene. We have enjoyed unprecedented success in the past four seasons and look forward to even more in the near future.”

The history of the Eugene Emeralds dates back to 1955 when the team joined the Northwest League and won the championship without being affiliated. The first PDC was signed in 1959 with the San Francisco Giants. In 1969 the tenure in the Northwest League ended as the team was moved to the AAA Pacific Coast League where it stayed for five seasons before returning to the Northwest League in 1974. The Ems have been a member of the Northwest League ever since.