Rockies' High-A affiliation shifting to Lancaster

The Colorado Rockies will field their High-A team in Lancaster, Calif., beginning next season.

The club hasn't made an official announcement, but as the lone Class-A Advanced city currently without an affiliate, it's a foregone conclusion that Lancaster will soon announce a player development contract with the Rox after the other remaining option -- the Carolina Mudcats -- came to an agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

Lancaster is a fitting destination for the Rockies. As we all know (because the ballpark has officially reached meme status), Coors Field is heavy on the offense; the JetHawks' ballpark, The Hangar, makes Coors look like Petco Park. The 4,600-seat park, built in 1996, surrendered 148 home runs through 54 games last season. By comparison, 57 (to that point) road games played by the JetHawks -- at the time, a Houston Astros affiliate (the Astros will move to the Carolina League -- specifically, Fayetteville, N.C.) -- saw just 83 combined homers. In all, 14.1 runs per game were scored at The Hangar through Aug. 5.

In short, get ready for a lot of inflated offensive numbers and some pitching lines that probably won't be as bad as they look. Where have we seen that before?