Two Teams Moving From California League to Carolina League for 2017

It was announced today that Bakersfield and High Desert will be leaving the California League and franchises will be added in Fayetteville, NC (most likely) and Kinston, NC.  There has been discussion about this for years and it has finally happened.  They won’t officially say that Fayetteville is getting a team, but they are working towards build a new stadium to open in 2019.  The question there is where the team will play for the next two years.  The Astros have been looking into the Fayetteville market.  The Rangers will own the Kinston franchise which will play in Grainger Stadium starting in 2017.  The Mariners were in High Desert, but I’ve read that they will buy a majority stake in the Modesto Nuts to become their affiliate next year, but that announcement needs to wait until September.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html