PHILADELPHIA — Phillies officials are pushing back on recent claims made by disgruntled minor leaguers and an advocacy group that the organization didn’t try as hard as it could to find non-hotel accommodations for players in their home cities this season.
Although the Phillies conceded that players are living in hotels at every level of the farm system, they maintain that the arrangement is necessary because of the limited availability of apartment-style housing, particularly in the greater Reading (Double-A), Lakewood, N.J. (high A), and Clearwater, Fla. (low A) areas.
Three minor leaguers who spoke to The Philadelphia Inquirer but requested anonymity to avoid repercussions said several players at multiple levels of the farm system have conducted independent online searches that turned up apartment-style housing. Team officials countered that the quantity of available properties doesn’t satisfy 30-plus players at each of their four full-season affiliates, and the Phillies are unwilling to put some players in apartments and others in hotels.
