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Parent clubs of all three Rich Baseball Operations' minor league teams advance to MLB postseason

Royals, Blue Jays finish 1-2 in American League Pirates to host National League Wild Card game on Wednesday
By Naturals PR Department
October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015 -The Major League parent clubs of all three Rich Baseball Operations' owned minor league teams have advanced on to the most exciting postseason in all of sports.

The Kansas City Royals (parent of the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals) and Toronto Blue Jays (parent of the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons) will field many former RBO players in their pursuits of a World Series Champion, while the NY-Penn League champion West Virginia Black Bears will be pulling for their MLB parent club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the National League.

"Being part of a winning culture is such a vital piece to not only the development of young minor league prospects, but also the entertainment value Rich Baseball Operations wants to provide all their fans in Buffalo, Northwest Arkansas and West Virginia," said Jonathan Dandes, President or Rich Baseball Operations. "Being affiliated with such great organizations gives our fans the ability to follow their favorite players as they graduate and perform on baseball's greatest stage."

Plenty of former Naturals fueled the Royals to the franchise's most wins (95) since Kansas City won 97 games in 1980, a year they went to the World Series and fell the Phillies. At season's end, 17 of the 37 players on the Royals' expanded roster had played in Northwest Arkansas in their careers. The core of Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez were all Naturals before they combined to hit 61 of Kansas City's 139 home runs this year. Two years removed from being the Naturals' Pitcher of the Year, Yordano Ventura led Kansas City with 13 wins and 156 strikeouts.

Toronto, meanwhile, has benefited from the close proximately of their Triple-A affiliate, RBO's Buffalo Bisons. Nearly half of the runs scored by the Blue Jays' high-powered offense came from former Bisons. Chris Colabello, Ryan Goins and Ezequiel Carrera were all on Buffalo's Opening Day roster in 2015, while Kevin Pillar dominated in the International League over the past two seasons before his breakout campaign with the Blue Jays in 2015. Former Bisons pitchers also accounted for 53 or Toronto's 93 victories this season, with 40 coming from the combination of former Herd hurlers R.A. Dickey, Marcus Stroman, Drew Hutchison, Aaron Sanchez and Liam Hendriks.

About Rich Baseball Operations

Rich Baseball Operations is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rich Products Corporation and is comprised of the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons (Blue Jays affiliate), the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals affiliate) and the short-season West Virginia Black Bears (Pirates affiliate).

-RBO-