The Florida Complex League Blue Jays are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays , competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball . Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays . The team plays its home games in Dunedin, Florida , at the Bobby Mattick Training Center at Englebert Complex . The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball either as draftees or non-drafted free agents from the United States , Canada , Dominican Republic , Venezuela and other countries.
22-677: The team first competed in the Gulf Coast League (GCL) during 1981–1985 and 1991–1995. After being absent from the league from 1996 through 2006, the team returned to the GCL in 2007, replacing the Pulaski Blue Jays of the Appalachian League in the Blue Jays' farm system . The team won division titles in 1992 and 2015, but has yet to capture a league championship. Prior to the 2021 season,
44-662: A baseball team in Florida is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League ( FCL ) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League ( GCL ). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the lowest rung on the North American minor-league ladder. FCL teams play at
66-629: A direction (e.g. East, West) or a color (e.g. Blue, Orange). Some teams share stadiums with their club's Single-A affiliate in the Florida State League . Note that Single-A teams do use city names—for example the Tampa Tarpons , who also use the Yankees' spring training complex. After the Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals each fielded two teams as late as 1981, no franchise did so until
88-579: The Alexandria White Sox , Lafayette Browns , Lake Charles Creoles , Monroe Municipals , Opelousas Indians and Orange Hoo-Hoos . The 1926 Gulf Coast League was a four-team Class D level league. The league featured the Beeville Bees / Laredo Oilers (59–41), Corpus Christi Seahawks (43–58), Kingsville Jerseys / McAllen Palms / Mission Grapefruiters (46–52) and Victoria Rosebuds / Edinburg Bobcats (51–48) teams. The 1950–1953 version of
110-606: The New York Yankees in 2013. The Yankees were joined by the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies in fielding two teams in 2016 and 2018, respectively. As of the 2024 season, no major league clubs field more than one team in the FCL. Numbers in parentheses indicate a franchise's instance of winning the championship, after its first instance. Paul Snyder (baseball) Paul Luther Snyder (June 11, 1935 – November 30, 2023)
132-1034: The Triple-A level in 1963 with the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League — a season which also saw his debut as a minor league manager in the Braves' farm system. Snyder, however, was a strong hitter in his playing days, compiling a lifetime batting average of .318 during his seven-year active career. In his finest over-all campaign, 1962 with the Austin Senators of the Double-A Texas League , Snyder hit .312 with 19 home runs and 113 RBI in 132 games played. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed , stood 6'2" (1.9 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg). Snyder managed Braves' farm clubs and scouted for them between 1963 and 1972. In 1973, he joined
154-480: The 1990s through 2005 , including the 1995 world champions . He also served as a top assistant to John Schuerholz when he took over the Atlanta front office after the 1990 season and performed several key functions in the Braves' baseball operations department in addition to working as scouting or player development director. Snyder retired from the Braves after the 2007 season, which saw Schuerholz move upstairs to
176-444: The 2021 season, there is no league limit to how many players can be on an active roster, but no team can have more than three players with four or more years of minor-league experience. Major-league players on rehabilitation assignments may also appear in the league. Complex-based baseball leagues, which played before sparse crowds and often scheduled morning games to avoid the summer heat and afternoon thunderstorms, were adopted after
198-504: The 2024 season, both the Arizona Complex League and Florida Complex League seasons commence in early May and conclude in late July. As of 2022, four teams—three division winners and one wild card team—qualify for the playoffs seeded by winning percentage regardless of division standing, with seeds 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 playing in a single-game semi-final. A best-of-three series between the two semi-final winners follows to determine
220-525: The GCL hired Jen Pawol , the first female umpire in Minor League Baseball since 2007, and the first in the GCL since 1978. In 2017, the GCL hired another woman umpire, Emma Charlesworth-Seiler. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being canceled on June 30. Prior to the 2021 season, in continuation of MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues,
242-600: The Gulf Coast League featured the Brownsville Charros , Corpus Christi Aces , Galveston White Caps , Harlingen Capitals , Lake Charles Lakers , Laredo Apaches , Port Arthur Seahawks and Texas City Texans . The Crowley Millers , Jacksonville Jax , Lufkin / Leesville Angels played in the league in 1950. All three versions of the league operated around the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana . On June 21, 2016,
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#1732869991203264-692: The Gulf Coast League was renamed as the Florida Complex League (FCL). Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Manager Coaches 60-day injured list [REDACTED] 7-day injured list * On Toronto Blue Jays 40-man roster ~ Development list # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list † Temporarily inactive list Roster updated September 3, 2024 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • Florida Complex League → Toronto Blue Jays minor league players This article about
286-471: The MLB Braves went through a prolonged rebuilding process after winning the 1982 National League West Division championship, Snyder, by now scouting director, assisted general manager Bobby Cox in drafting and developing the talent base—players such as Tom Glavine , Steve Avery , David Justice , Jeff Blauser and Chipper Jones —that served as the foundation for the Braves' string of first-place teams of
308-593: The championship with a 36–23 record. The league added teams in Bradenton in 1965 and changed its name to the Florida Rookie League . The league adopted Gulf Coast League (GCL) naming for the 1966 season. It expanded to Florida's east coast in the 1990s. Historically, three separate leagues also used the Gulf Coast League name: a 1907–1908 Class D league, a 1926 Class D league and a 1950–1953 Class C (1950) and Class B League. The 1907 founding members were
330-596: The drastic shrinking of minor league baseball during the 1950s and 1960s. MLB teams needed an entry level to professional baseball for 18- and 19-year-old players graduating from high schools or signed from Latin America. They replaced Class C and Class D leagues as the lowest rung on the minor league ladder. The current league was founded in 1964 as the Sarasota Rookie League (SRL) with four teams playing in Sarasota . It
352-421: The league champion. Teams in the league are not referred to by their home city, but simply by their parent club's name. A prefix of FCL (previously GCL) is typically used to differentiate the team from its parent club and other farm teams with the same nickname. At times, a parent club has fielded two teams in the league at the same time, in which case a suffix has been added to each of those teams' names, such as
374-407: The minor league spring training complexes of their parent Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs and are owned by those parent clubs. Admission is not charged to FCL games, and no concessions are sold. Every Grapefruit League team fields at least one team in the league. Night games are commonly played in the spring training stadium, although games may also be played at the team's practice fields. As of
396-413: The team's front office as assistant minor league administrator before taking the reins of the Braves' farm department in 1977. Working with then-general managers Bill Lucas and John Mullen , Snyder was a major architect of the Braves' strong early 1980s teams under manager Joe Torre —despite having suffered a stroke at age 40 that required brain surgery and an extensive period of rehabilitation. When
418-576: The top 25 people in the game on the publication's 25th anniversary in 2006. Paul Luther Snyder was born in Dallastown, Pennsylvania on June 11, 1935. He spent his entire 50-year professional baseball career in the Braves' organization, signing with them as an outfielder and first baseman in 1958 when the team was still based in Milwaukee . As a player, Snyder never reached the Major Leagues, peaking at
440-564: The two US-based complex leagues were renamed, with the Gulf Coast League becoming the Florida Complex League (FCL). The league plays a 52- to 56-game season that that traditionally began in mid-June and concluded in late August. Following the relocation of the Atlanta Braves spring training complex in 2019, teams in the league were divided into three divisions: East , North , and South (down from four in 2018). Beginning with
462-627: Was an American front-office executive in Major League Baseball . He played an integral role in the rise and sustained dominance of the Atlanta Braves that began in 1991 and continued into the first decade of the 21st century, as the team's longtime amateur scouting director (1981–90; 1999–2000), assistant to the general manager (1991–95; 2001–06), and director of player development (1977–80; 1996–98). In recognition of Snyder's career accomplishments, Baseball America named him one of
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#1732869991203484-608: Was originally intended to be the Gulf Coast division of a statewide rookie league, with the eastern division Cocoa Rookie League based in Cocoa . However, the eastern and western teams never played each other. The SRL's four teams consisted of squads sponsored by the Chicago White Sox , Milwaukee Braves , New York Yankees , and St. Louis Cardinals . The SRL Braves , managed by Paul Snyder , future Atlanta farm system director, won
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