YOUTH IS SERVED IN NEW LEAGUE
The last time the Low-A Southeast League took the field, it was called the Florida State League. And it was High-A. And it had 12 teams. And balls and strikes were called exclusively by humans.
All of that changed in 2021, a year after the pandemic wiped out the season and MLB realigned the minor leagues. Low-A Southeast lost two teams to contraction and served this season as a testing ground for the automated ball-strike system, which went through tweaks as the season went along.
A number of players stood head and shoulders above the rest. In the early going, that group included Tampa shortstop Anthony Volpe and Palm Beach third baseman Jordan Walker, first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Dunedin shortstop Orelvis Martinez mashed in the middle months, and Daytona shortstop Elly de la Cruz took the league by storm as soon as he arrived in mid July.
1. Anthony Volpe, SS
Tampa (Yankees)
AGE: 20. B-T: R-R. HT: 5-11. WT: 180. DRAFTED: HS—Morristown, N.J., 2019 (1st rd).
Volpe’s 2019 season—muted
