Baseball in the United States the Atlanta Braves' affiliates except the Carolina Mudcats. Minor League teams that are owned directly by the major league Club do not have PDCs with each other and are not part of the reaffiliation shuffles that occur every other year. A special minor league is the Arizona Fall League. It operates outside the Minor League Baseball hierarchy and is owned by MLB as a whole; teams generally assign prospects from the AAA and AA classes to the league's six teams. Today, 19 affiliated minor baseball leagues operate with 246 member clubs in large, medium, and small towns, as well as
Independent baseball league Independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization located in the United States and Canada that is not operated in conjunction with either a Major League Baseball team or an affiliated Minor League Baseball team. Being independent allows teams to be located close to major league teams without their consent. Such leagues have been around for many years and were once known as "outlaw leagues" due to their position outside the rules of affiliated minor league baseball. The Northern League and Frontier League both started play in 1993, and the Northern League's success paved the way