Baseball America early next year will shift from a biweekly publication to a monthly one and also create a new digitally based vertical around softball coverage, the latest in a series of changes by new owner Alliance Baseball LLC. The company, which involves investors in the Triple-A PCL Omaha Storm Chasers, Double-A Eastern League Richmond Flying Squirrels and Southern League Montgomery Biscuits, purchased the North Carolina-based Baseball America early last year from The Enthusiast Network. Since then, Baseball America has amplified its coverage of minor league and amateur baseball, moved to a more visually oriented layout for its print title and website, and greatly heightened a digital content business that has seen online paid subscribers nearly triple to more than 7,500 while maintaining print circulation at around 25,000. Baseball America’s social media extensions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have also seen double-digit percentage growth since the new owners arrived. The latest changes will see Baseball America move from 24 issues per year of about 36 pages each to 12 issues annually at 68 to 72 pages each. The move will see the print title focus more on in-depth and long-form coverage while also seeking to heighten its more real-time digital content such as player rankings and exclusive prospect videos.
NEW VERTICAL: The publication also plans to create a new digital content vertical for softball it will call Softball America. The new standalone website will focus heavily on the college and amateur softball landscapes, which are growing, but like many parts of amateur baseball are not extensively covered by mainstream sports media. “A big push for us has been to make what we do more consumable to all our audiences and package it better,” said Baseball America Editor & Publisher B.J. Schecter. “And in doing so, this also helps us get younger and more relevant to the next generation.” The shifts for Baseball America arrive as minor league player development has never been more of a priority among MLB clubs, and the publication is essentially unrivaled in its in-depth coverage of that space. As such, it remains a go-to resource for scouts and other player development personnel in the game, with an increasing profile also among the general public. “We’re still looking to be a megaphone for the players,” said Alliance Baseball CEO Gary Green. “Minor League Baseball has done a great job selling the fan experience, the hot dogs, sumo wrestlers between innings, and so forth. But we think we can do a better job spotlighting that the talent and helping identify who that next Aaron Judge is going to be.”
