PRFSC November 2016 Meeting Minutes - FireFrogs

The Florida Firefrogs are the newest professional baseball team that will start playing in Kissimmee in April 2017. They are a minor league professional baseball team that will play in the . The Florida State League is classified as a High A minor league which places it about the fourth step from the bottom on the minor league path to the major leagues with only two levels above it on the baseball ladder. To put things into perspective there are 30 teams having rosters of 25 players each who have reached the top of their profession. 750 players. There are about 160 teams having rosters of 25 players each or about 4,000 players who are trying to secure one of those top major league spots at any given point in time.

The Fire frogs are named after the Coqui Frog which is a frog species uniquely native to Puerto Rico that can only survive on the island and also in the Hawaiian Island. The frog is noted for the very loud mating call which the males make in search of their sought after females. The name was chosen to reflect on the competitiveness of the Puerto Rican population living in the Kissimmee/Poinciana area.

The Firefrogs will play starting in April 2017 in the located off 192 near the Florida Turnpike where the used to play . They are affiliated with the Atlanta Braves major league baseball team. The Atlanta Braves have historically been known as one of the more successful teams in major league baseball who are now recognized as having one of the better minor league baseball organizations developing the young major league baseball players of tomorrow. Of the top 30 players in the Braves organization as many as 9 players, predominately pitchers should end up playing for the Firefrogs this season. These players made up the core of the low A Braves minor league team that won the league championship at their level last season.

The Florida State League is noted for its great pitching and the pitching staff of the Firefrogs promises to be one of the best. The road for a player to reach the major leagues is a hard one with much competition along the way. As previously mentioned there are approximately 4,000 professional minor league baseball players competing to occupy 750 major league roster slots. While the signing bonuses for young baseball prospects can range from the thousands to millions of dollars the pay scale and life on a minor league ballplayer is hard work. Kids start in the lower minor leagues at the ages of 18 to 22 depending on whether they played college baseball and typically draw a monthly paycheck of $1,100 to $1,200 per month. For a typical 6 month minor league baseball season including spring training that totals $6,600 to $7,200 per year. These kids are playing the game for the love of it and for the once in a lifetime opportunity to someday make it to the major leagues. The typical player playing for the Firefrogs will be between the ages of 20 to 26 and will draw a monthly paycheck ranging between $1,300 to $1,500 per month.

The meeting spent a fair amount of time looking at the top 30 players identified on the web site by the Braves as their top prospects and trying to identify how many and which players may end up playing for the Firefrogs this season. Of the top 30 players 9 were identified as being potentially playing for the Firefrogs this season. This should make for a very interesting season.

The remainder of the meeting was spent discussing from a business aspect the plans to promote the Firefrog as a family friendly entertainment option for people living in the Poinciana and Kissimmee area this upcoming summer baseball season. It is suggested that fans check out the Firefrogs website http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t503 to get the latest information about this exciting team coming to play baseball in the Poinciana/Kissimmee area this summer.