After a year without professional baseball, including the meanest winter since Hector was a pup, it sure feels like baseball weather in Virginia’s capital city. Today (Thursday) in Bowie, Maryland, the Flying Squirrels will begin to write their history as Richmond’s team in the 12-team Eastern League.
Once again local baseball fans are looking forward to a season of fastballs and changeups, timely hits and stolen bases, fielding gems and winning runs at the Diamond. And, even if you don’t know the difference between a squeeze play and a screwball, of course, there will be fireworks.
Lots of fireworks.
After a week on the road, the Squirrels home opener will be Thursday, April 15 (7:05 p.m.). It’s already a sell-out. Yes, there will be a fireworks show that night.
If you don’t already have a ticket, you’ll have to listen to that game on the radio (WRNL 910AM) and perhaps enjoy the fireworks show from one of the familiar vantage points nearby (along Hermitage Road., in the SPCA‘s neighborhood, will probably still work).
The Eastern League was formed in 1923. It plays at the Double A level, one notch below the Triple A International League, of which the Richmond Braves were a member for 43 seasons (1966-2008). There are two other Double A leagues in operation—the Southern League and the Texas League. Each of the 30 Major League franchises has an affiliate in one of the three Double A leagues.
However, in recent years, most big league franchises have used their Triple A affiliates as holding bins for spare parts—veterans who can easily be called up to replace an injured player—while most of their best young prospects have been honing their skills at the Double A level.
So when the Eastern League boasts that it features "the stars of tomorrow," that’s what it means.
When a Flying Squirrels player gets called up to The Show, he will wear a San Francisco Giants uniform. If he merely moves up to the Giants’ Triple A level club, he will play for the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League.
Last year, what is now the Richmond club played its games wearing Connecticut Defenders uniforms. That Giants farm team went 83-59, for what was the second-best record in the circuit. The Eastern League apparently had its eye on Richmond as a potential city for relocation of one of its teams for some time.
The president and managing partner of the Richmond Flying Squirrels is Lou DiBella. Overseeing day-to-day operations of the club this season will be Todd "Parney" Parnell.
On the field, Andy Skeels is the manager. A good bit of the reason some baseball aficionados expect a bright season for this new team can be seen in the win/loss records Skeels posted in his last two seasons within the Giants farm system. In 2008 his Augusta Green Jackets (Single A) glided to a 88-50 record in the South Atlantic League. His San Jose Giants went 93-47 in the Single A (Advanced) California League.
Richmond’s Jon Laaser, director of communications, writes: "The inaugural Flying Squirrels team, embarking on their first season in the Eastern League, will feature eight players ranked among the top-30 organizational prospects by Baseball America. Headlining that group is leftfielder Thomas Neal, who is rated as the fourth-best prospect in the Giants’ system."
Throw in the success of the Defenders in 2009 and fans of the San Francisco Giants should be smiling at those numbers.
The Squirrels current roster has 26 names on it. Skeels has already managed 17 of them. Each of the manager’s eight position players for the opener today against the Baysox was on his bench sometime in the last two seasons. They are (the batting order will be determined at game-time):
C – Jackson Williams (age: 23, bats: R; throws: R)
1B – Michael Ambort (age: 24, bats: S; throws: R)
2B – Nick Noonan (age: 20, bats: L; throws: R)
3B – Conor Gillaspie (age: 22, bats: L; throws: R)
SS – Brandon Crawford (age: 23, bats: L; throws: R)
LF – Thomas Neal (age: 22, bats: R; throws: R)
CF – Darren Ford (age: 24, bats: S; throws: R)
RF – Roger Kieschnick (age: 23, bats: L; throws: R)
Righthander Mike MacDonald, 28, will be on the mound when the Squirrels go on defense in the bottom of the first inning. Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2004, he went 8-13 last year at Salt Lake City in the PCL.
To set the tone for the season ahead the youngest Richmond fans will look to Nutzy, the Flying Squirrels pun-loving mascot in a puffy suit. Helpfully, the handy media guide says Nutzy went to "A-Cornell University."
After all the uncertainty, as of this writing with a blue sky overhead, there are still 142 box scores yet to be filled in … baseball is back.
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