After being pushed out of affiliated baseball when Major League Baseball reorganized the minor leagues in 2020, the Frederick Keys will again be a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles in 2026.
Team owner Attain Sports announced on Friday that the Keys would become the High-A South Atlantic League affiliate of the Orioles, essentially swapping franchises with the Aberdeen (Md.) Ironbirds, who will be in the MLB Draft League.
The Keys had been the Advanced-A Carolina League affiliate of the Orioles from 1989, when the franchise came to Frederick, Md., from Hagerstown, Md. until the 2020 reorganization, when the organization joined the MLB Draft League upon being told that they were one of the 43 teams that had been cut out of affiliated baseball.
The Keys play at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium, a 5,400-seat ballpark built in 1989. The State of Maryland spent $40 million on improvements to Harry Grove Stadium in hopes of getting affiliated baseball to return to Frederick, Maryland’s fourth-most populous municipality.
The Aberdeen Ironbirds, who moved from Utica, N.Y. to Maryland in 2002, were originally the Short Season Class-A affiliate of the Orioles before moving to High-A when the minor leagues reorganized four years ago. Attain Sports, which owns the Ironbirds as well as the Keys, and Aberdeen city officials had been at odds over the lease for Ripken Stadium, the team’s home ballpark. The Baltimore Banner reported the team has a lease in Aberdeen through the end of the 2026 season.
Photo: Dennis Kasumba warms up for the team’s baseball game against the Trenton Thunder, Tuesday, July 4, 2023, in Trenton, N.J. Kasumba, from Uganda, dreams of reaching the major leagues someday. The 19-year-old catcher had a chance to play for the Frederick Keys of the MLB Draft League this past month. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
