Last summer, rumblings came out of Mississippi: To folks working for the Double-A Mississippi Braves, it seemed the club’s days in Pearl might be numbered. The rumor, at the time, was that Columbus perhaps would house one of the Braves’ affiliates in the future.
The rumors were true.
On Tuesday, the Mississippi Braves announced that 2024 would be their final season. In 2025, the Braves’ Double-A affiliate will relocate to Columbus.
“We want to thank Pearl, the surrounding Jackson community and the State of Mississippi for the incredible support for the franchise over the past 19 years,” the Mississippi Braves said in a statement. “We have loved creating memories with you at Trustmark Park and we look forward to bringing you an amazing 2024 season.”
The Mississippi Braves, who are owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings, said they are hopeful this won’t be the end of professional baseball in Pearl and added their organization will “support any efforts to bring a team to Trustmark Park in the future.”
In 2025, the Braves’ four main affiliates – Low-A Augusta, High-A Rome, Double-A Columbus and Triple-A Gwinnett – all will be within three hours of Truist Park, give or take, which should at least simplify logistics for the big-league club. (Three of those four affiliates will play in Georgia. The Augusta GreenJackets’ ballpark is actually in South Carolina.)
Still, this is a blow to the Jackson, Mississippi, community, which will lose a minor-league team.
Toward the end of December, the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer reported that the Columbus Council voted unanimously to discuss financing for a $50 million bond issue to upgrade the ballpark in hopes of bringing in a minor-league team. The outlet also reported that the city had been in negotiations with Diamond Baseball Holdings.
Last summer, word trickled out that Mississippi might be losing its minor-league team. At that point, the process wasn’t finalized.
Now it is official.
Many of the Braves’ key players passed through Pearl at one time or another. Years ago, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Max Fried played there. More recently, Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II were there.
In 2024, the Mississippi Braves, who have been the Braves’ Double-A affiliate since 2005, will celebrate their 20th season at Trustmark Park throughout their 69-game home schedule.
