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Spartanburg’s Fifth Third Park Demonstrates How PDL-Era MiLB Stadiums Have Improved Fan Experience

J.J. Cooper — Fri, 02 May 2025 13:21:19 +0000

What is state of the art in baseball stadium construction is an ever-evolving concept.

A smart idea at one new stadium—see Camden Yards in the early 1990s and its nod to past parks—is quickly adopted elsewhere. Well-designed group/picnic areas, table tops and open concourses went from cutting edge to standard practice quite quickly.

This year, new minor league ballparks have opened in Spartanburg, S.C. and Knoxville, Tenn. A near complete rebuild of a park in Columbus, Ga. also opened. Next year will see another wave of new ballparks in Richmond, Va., Wilson, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Ontario, Calif. and Hillsboro, Ore. All of these are the first of the Professional Development League (PDL) era, replacing stadiums that were deemed unsuitable for upgrading to meet significantly increased facility requirements. They are stadiums built from the start to meet the stricter requirements, and as such, we’re seeing how stadiums have continued to adapt and change.

MiLB ballparks have largely been divided into a small number of eras. Because of the steady decline of the minor leagues in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, many minor league teams were still playing in Works Progress Administration (WPA)-built, depression-era ballparks until the 1990s. Ballparks built in the 60s and 70s were rarities, as most teams largely operated in old ballparks that had received little more than modest maintenance for years.

The 1990 Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA) changed expectations. Major League Baseball pushed through increased facility standards in its agreement with Minor League Baseball.

At the time, many MiLB owners thought the new requirements would be impossible to meet and that the PBA could kill the minors. Instead, numerous cities agreed to build new ballparks to meet the demands. Fans found new seats, improved bathrooms and concession areas much more inviting than ancient stadiums with sun-bleached bleachers and plenty of peeling paint.

The PBA era showed how far stadiums had come over the preceding few decades. The building boom led to an attendance boom. And that led to a second building boom, because even the WPA-era stadiums that had been upgraded to meet the PBA standards soon found themselves left behind. Before long, they were replaced by newer stadiums. By 2021, 80% of MiLB full-season teams were playing in ballparks built after the 1990 PBA was adopted.

We won’t see that kind of building boom in the 2020s, but we are seeing a new wave of construction. With that in mind, Baseball America recently traveled to Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg to see the Hub City Spartanburgers’ new home and provide a look at what’s new in ballparks in the PDL era.

New Parks Are Roomier Than Ever

In the 21st century, stadiums have largely adopted a more open concourse design that allows fans to continue to see the field/game while walking around the stadium. But the concourses themselves were asked to do a lot, as they were both the main traffic arteries, spaces for concessions and a standing room area for fans taking in different views of the park.

The idea remains an excellent one, but congestion often defeated some of the goals of these open concourse designs. The concourses were designed to encourage fans to check out the field from multiple angles and to wander around, but long lines and packed concourses discouraged getting up and exploring different areas of the park.

Much like the U.S. Interstate system, the answer has been to widen the traffic arteries. In Spartanburg’s Fifth Third Park (and other new designs), the concourses are extremely wide, allowing enough room for fans heading in either direction, plus room for small stand-up concession stands and their lines without halting traffic flow.

According to Hub City general manager Tyson Jeffers, feedback on the roomier layout has been positive.

“A comment that we’ve gotten a lot in these first two homestands of games is that, even with a full crowd, people still feel like they have space within the concourses to move about freely,” Jeffers said.

Concession Stands Are More Efficient & Fan-Friendly

In the WPA era, concession stands were afterthoughts. They were placed seemingly wherever there was space and plumbing. If stands caused traffic jams, so be it.

The second wave of PBA-era stadiums fixed many of those problems but did so by putting the concession stands largely against the back walls of the concourses. An unintended result was the creation of new pinch points for traffic jams. Long lines meant fans were blocking other fans from crossing through the concourse. They also discouraged fans from making repeat trips to the concession stands.

Jeffers said the team was “really conscious” of potential foot traffic headaches in constructing the park.

“(With the concourse concessions) you might be making that person’s buying experience a little bit better while they’re waiting, but then you’re ruining someone else’s while they’re trying to get wherever they need to go,” Jeffers said, adding that the stadium’s property footprint helped make addressing traffic flow problems easier.

“It gave us the real estate to be able to do this. To be able to tuck (concessions) back beyond the concourse a little bit, create them in a marketplace style so that they flow a lot easier.”

Fifth Third Park puts the main concession stands into cutouts that extend off the back side of the concourse. Doing so ensures any lines are contained within the concession area without causing backups on the concourses. In the 1990s and 2000s, such construction would have meant fans couldn’t see the game. Today, television monitors line the area so fans can watch the broadcast if they don’t have a direct sightline to the field.

The concession stands themselves have also been updated. Traditional ballpark items such as popcorn, hamburgers and chicken sandwiches are self-serve fare.

“Each of those marketplaces have their own kitchen,” Jeffers said. “So they’re cooking hot food and just sliding it out. You’re grabbing it, you’re going. There’s always a little bit of fear about what happens when it sits there, but our food and beverage department has done an amazing job to make sure that they’re pushing it out when people need it. And those people can grab it and keep going.”

The grab-and-go setup reduces lines by allowing fans to quickly get their food, scan and pay at a self-checkout touch-screen display and then quickly return to their seats. The end effect, Jeffers said, is fans feel more comfortable in their decision to get up from game action to buy food.

“If you know you’re going to have to stand in line, you’re making a conscious decision of ‘Do I need that extra hot dog?’ You might say it’s not worth the minutes that I’m going to miss some of the game.”

For MiLB teams, in addition to increased concession stand sales, the marketplace layout may also reduce employee head count. Not dramatically, as the self-service food areas need continual restocking, and the self-pay kiosk area needs multiple employees supervising and helping any customers who have issues, but it’s a change from traditionally-staffed concession counters.

Parks Are Year-Round Facilities

It’s hard to imagine any team building a new park in the 2020s without a multi-purpose club-level area. Such a space can serve as an upscale restaurant/bar during games, but just as importantly, it provides an all-weather area for non-game day activities.

Spartanburg features a large club area on the second level that serves as a restaurant/bar/gathering place during games. It can also be used for conferences, wedding receptions, proms and most any other event a group could conceive. It has a full-service kitchen/bar as well as an outdoor patio area for events that want inside-outside versatility. In an era when teams are looking to increase the number of calendar dates the stadium is used, these types of multi-purpose areas are becoming must-haves in both new and retro-fitted ballparks.

“We’re providing an unbelievable experience and a top-tier experience for our fans at baseball games,” Jeffers said. “But then we have an amazing space that we can utilize on non-game days. And so we’re talking about our facility operating 365 days out of the year or as close to that as possible.

“Conferences coming in, chamber events, wedding receptions—all of those things. And it’s built in a way that one gives it the square footage and the layout to be able to accommodate those. But then it also has the technologies to be able to execute every type of event that you can think of.”

Seating Areas Are More Intimate

Under the old PBA rules, different MiLB levels had different seating requirements. A Triple-A stadium had to have 10,000 seats, a Double-A stadium required 6,000 and a Class A stadium needed 4,000. Those rules do not exist in the current PDL era, so individual teams can decide how big to build their stadium bowls.

Fifth Third Park’s seating bowl reflects this. The stadium has roughly 3,500 fixed seats, although group areas and berms mean up to 5,000 can get into the park.

“All of that was built intentionally to make sure that it always felt like that place is rocking and rolling every single night,” Jeffers said. “There was a stretch there in the 90s where people overbuilt. On July 4th, it’s great, but it makes your normal night crowd feel like it kind of loses something in exchange. To build for those anomaly games—opening night, the Fourth of July—you’re building for two days out of your year. We built for every day.”

There’s A Lot Fans Never See

Modern PDL requirements were focused on items for MiLB players, staff and player development. For example, the required size of visitor clubhouses was increased significantly. There must now be dining areas for the players. There must be bathrooms that are easily accessible from the dugouts.

Stadiums are required to have air-conditioned batting cages/pitching tunnels and enlarged weight rooms and storage space, as well as locker rooms for female staff and umpires.

Ballpark lighting and field requirements have also been increased.

These are non-negotiable requirements for both upgraded existing stadiums and new construction, so much of what’s been done in the bowels of a stadium will be similar to what’s been upgraded elsewhere. But with a new build, it’s possible to leave room for further expansion, new loading docks and other touches that may be tougher to add to an existing facility.

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Cooper: Teams Cutting MLB Scouts Are Losing Their Hidden Edge

J.J. Cooper — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0000

In every sport, every team is looking for an advantage.

Until he recently announced he was leaving to go to Aston Martin, Adrian Newey had created an almost unfair advantage for Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing. Newey has been acclaimed as a car designer who can “see air.” He has designed Formula 1 championship winning cars for three different teams. He’s seen it all. So when F1 adopted new rules for its cars for 2022, it was Newey’s skepticism and his ample real-life experience as a car designer that left other teams far behind.

New rules allowed teams to adopt “ground effect” aerodynamics to stick their car to the road. Numerous other teams saw great results in their wind tunnel and computer simulations, but when they took the car to the track for the first race of the season, they found their cars weren’t nearly as fast as expected.

That’s because any time they ran as low to the ground as planned, the cars bounced up and down excessively due to aerodynamic-induced bouncing.

Red Bull didn’t have that problem. Why? Because Newey was around the last time Formula 1 used downforce in the early 1980s, when teams struggled with the exact same bouncing issue. So he designed the new Red Bull car that had a little less impressive results in the wind tunnel and computer models, but a suspension that ensured the car avoided issues with bouncing up and down.

Red Bull won the next two world championships in blowout fashion.

As we go through yet another rough fall of layoffs for baseball scouts, I am reminded of Newey’s ability to blend experience, foresight and some healthy skepticism. Being able to use modern tools and blend it with hard-earned wisdom is a perfect combination. It’s a way that teams can use evaluations from pro scouts and scouting departments in a healthy, productive way in the 2020s.

This year, there seem to be more layoffs and reorganizations than usual. That has cost a number of scouts their jobs.

In conversations with front office officials from a few different teams, it has been noted that the cutbacks in scouting—especially to pro scouts, who evaluate professional players, particularly minor league prospects—are not as much efforts to save money as they are decisions to move money around from one department to another.

For example, no team employed biomechanists just a few years ago. Now they are viewed as a key to being a cutting-edge team. There have long been team doctors and trainers, but there are a lot more people working in sports performance departments these days, and nutritionists are commonplace. The tools to gather, collect and organize the data are also expensive.

So when presidents and general managers of teams are asked to slow the rise in the costs of various departments, scouts have gotten the short straw.

But used properly, pro scouting can be a difference-maker for teams, which is something analytically-savvy teams like the Rays have shown for years. Scouts can serve as the quality assurance department. They can be stock analysts. And they can sometimes be a secret weapon.

The quality assurance work is one that makes many teams uncomfortable. It requires letting scouts raise concerns and poke holes in their performance models.

The intention shouldn’t be to disprove or disparage modeling. Pretty much every MLB team has models to project draftees, minor league prospects and major leaguers. They have pitch models that can grade every pitch for every pitcher in pro ball—and college baseball, as well.

Models are attempts to quantify what happens on the field and predict how players will play for years to come. These are useful tools and indispensable for teams in the current era of the game.

But every model has its flaws. They require tweaks and improvements as problems become apparent. Letting scouts raise questions and drive discussions on where the model seems to be missing something can help improve those models more quickly.

As an example, most public—and according to conversations, many private—pitch models struggle to properly evaluate changeups, which often means that scouts’ grades and pitch models disagree on changeup quality. Deception plays a role in the success of a changeup, which is something that’s difficult to quantify. When scouts and models disagree, an opportunity to improve the model arises.

Using scouts as stock analysts is an updated way of doing what scouts have done for years, and is always a way teams can prove to themselves the value of their pro scouts.

The goal with performance models and scouting reports is to project years into the future, which means that you have to wait years to learn about the accuracy of your model or your scouts’ reports. But there are things that can be tested before then. Much like Baseball America prospect rankings, teams have their own internal valuations on prospects (and big leaguers). Analytical models attempt to predict which prospects will blossom and which will wither.

Scouts do the same thing, but they can serve as a check on the models. Scouts can predict which players are going to be more valued a year from now and which players they expect to regress. A year later, a team could evaluate its scouts’ predictions. With a good staff, teams will find that the scouts are right significantly more often than they’re wrong, and it creates opportunities in trades.

MLB teams are in a never-ending race to build the best models. But if everyone is looking at the same analytical data, with the same biomechanical information, it’s hard for a team to figure out advantages. And when they do find them, the advantage is often fleeting.

The data leaves fingerprints, so when one team finds an advantage, other teams can reverse-engineer it by studying the data. One team’s secret advantage quickly becomes commonplace. This was evident in how quickly one-knee-down catcher setups spread around the majors.

If a team has an evaluative advantage from scouts, it’s not as easily replicated.

Analytics are valuable. So are scouts. The teams who figure out how to mesh the two together the best have a big advantage.

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How Trajekt’s New Pitching Technology Is Changing Baseball & Helping Top Prospects Develop

Geoff Pontes — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:55:14 +0000

“Now you seen it!”

Anyone who has played organized baseball and taken a strike looking to start an at-bat has heard this phrase shouted. In split seconds, you have to identify a pitch and make a decision on where and how to swing. Hitting a baseball should be physically impossible, but a human’s innate ability to catalog based on muscle memory allows us to meet the plane of the ball’s trajectory based on learned experience.

But what if a player could practice against any pitcher they’ll ever face before they face them? How much would this prepare a hitter for in-game at-bats?

With the help of modern technology, hitters are preparing in exactly this way.

Enter a new advanced pitching machine by a company out of Toronto: Trajekt Sports. Trajekt has revolutionized hitting training by creating the first pitching robot capable of replicating with video the exact pitch movement, velocity and release traits of every pitcher in professional baseball.

On Trajekt’s website, they list 21 major league teams as clients. The device allows hitters to see pitches in a real way before facing any starter on a given night. Cardinals outfielder Brendan Donovan, a three-year MLB veteran, has utilized the machine in-season to prepare before games and get more comfortable against opponents.

“You get in the box (against the Trajekt) and it’s like ‘Give me the nastiest this guy can look,'” Donovan said. “Then you get in the box (in the game), and it’s like ‘I just hit off of this guy at his absolute best, I can handle this.’”

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The value of ‘seeing it’ still rings true, as Donovan pointed to his ability to do his homework against pitchers he hasn’t faced.

“If I’ve seen a guy before or multiple times I might not use it,” he said. “But if it’s someone I haven’t seen before I will because I want to know what his shapes look like.”

The challenge of adjusting to in-season changes or new pitches early in the season becomes easier with the assistance of the Trajekt according to Donovan. But he also warned against the potential for “overtraining” and stressed the challenge of the machine and its ability to allow players to deal with failure.

“I wouldn’t do it if you’re trying to feel good,” Donovan said. “I haven’t seen anybody who can go in there and just rake off of it.”

This is by design, as the goal of the machine is to challenge players in a competitive environment where they are designed to fail. This is what makes the technology of value to teams to the point that some clubs that have begun setting up Trajekt machines for their minor league affiliates.

One club confirmed as a client are the Red Sox. After demoing the technology a few years ago, Boston installed three Trajekt devices: one located in Fenway Park, one at the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester and one at the team’s training complex in Fort Myers, Florida.

Director Of Player Development Brian Abraham highlighted the organization’s desire to incorporate the technology across all levels, not just the MLB team.

“We felt like the investment was worth it,” Abraham said. “People we hire are, one, familiar with (Trajekt) and, two, really believe in competitive, challenging types of training.”

The Red Sox believe that replicating as much of the major league environment at the Triple-A level as possible puts their players at an advantage, with Abraham describing it as “a huge positive.”

“Whether it be pre-game or early work, our players use it fairly consistently,” he said. “Not only does it prepare them for the game, but it allows them to train against certain types of pitches or pitch-type areas they might feel they can’t work as much, whether it be with a coach or two machines.“

In this way, Trajekt allows players to challenge themselves and, ultimately, improve. Not only by preparing for that night’s starter, but by being more aware of the variety of pitch types, locations and release traits they’ll encounter over the course of a season and career.

Roman Anthony, the new No. 1 prospect in baseball, agrees, as the 20-year-old outfielder has utilized the machine before all of his home games in Worcester this season.

“I try and go in there everyday and at least see the starting pitcher before we go out,” Anthony said. “I like to get my work in early, and then go in there right before we go out to the field. Even if I don’t swing, just go in there, see a couple of fastballs or whatever that guy that day is throwing.

“It’s a little bit harder in there, too, when it’s coming off the machine. Then you get into the game and it’s almost kind of slowed down.”

Worcester teammate and fellow top prospect Kristian Campbell agreed with Anthony’s assessment, saying, “You’ve got to get used to it, for sure. It takes a minute, but once you get used to it, you make it a part of your routine … Even if it’s just to see pitches, that has value.”

The challenge posed by the new tech is not lost on hitters. Many have stories of their first time facing a Trajekt.

Travis Bazzana, for example, faced a Trajekt for the first time at the Guardians’ facility after Cleveland drafted him No. 1 overall in July. The Australia native, who batted .407 for Oregon State this season, went up against a digital version of Rangers reliever Andrew Chafin after asking to face a lefthanded pitcher who threw “92-94 mph with a good slider.”

Bazzana didn’t mince words when describing how uncomfortable the at bat was.

“I got diced!” Bazzana said, adding that that first couple times against a Trajekt pitcher, “your brain doesn’t want to think it’s real.”

“When you’re trying to search for that release while in a game, it comes naturally with a soft focus point.”

Anthony and Campbell shared similar experiences in facing the Trajekt version of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole for the first time.

“It chewed me up,” said Anthony. “Heck, it still chews me up.”

“It was everyone from my draft class’ first time using it, and it was just blowing everyone up,” added Campbell. “It’s fun, but man is it a challenge.”

Despite the struggles hitters face when getting in their work against the Trajekt, it’s a sign of a brave new world in hitting development. New technologies have helped transform pitching and training, in general, in recent years, and with burgeoning new tech like Trajekt, baseball could be on the precipice of a breakthrough in hitting that evolves the game into it’s next phase.

Bazzana believes the machine is part of a trend in baseball technology to shrink the gap between hitting and pitching.

“I think Trajekt is somewhere hitting can pull its way back as a whole in the major leagues,” he said. “I think it’s a powerful tool.”

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Modesto Nuts Will Not Return To John Thurman Field In 2025

J.J. Cooper — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:36:10 +0000

The city of Modesto, Calif., and the Seattle Mariners announced on Wednesday that this will be the Modesto Nuts’ final season in Modesto.

The Low-A California League team’s current lease at John Thurman Field expires at the end of the 2024 season. The Nuts and the city of Modesto both announced that the team and the city have been unable to come to an agreement on a lease extension.

The Nuts are owned by the Mariners.

“We’re disappointed we were unable to agree upon an extension,” Modesto GM Veronica Hernandez said. “I know we and the city worked very hard to find common ground and unfortunately were unable to accomplish our goal.

“We are thankful for the legacy the Modesto Nuts leaves behind and we wish them the very best success in their future endeavors,” Modesto mayor Sue Zwahlen said. “Negotiations can be very challenging, and we worked diligently over the last year with the Modesto Nuts to explore various solutions.”

The failure to come to a lease extension comes at a time when MLB’s improved facility standards for minor league stadiums is coming due. Teams are expected to be fully compliant with upgraded facility standards beginning in 2025. Teams must have fewer than 10 points on a grading standard. There are several “must-haves,” including locker room facilities for female staff, two covered batting/pitching tunnels, suitable locker room dimensions and lighting standards.

There are concerns that some minor league teams, especially on the West Coast, are unlikely to get the necessary upgrades to meet those standards. Modesto seems to be the first team to make that official.

John Thurman Field was opened in 1955. It would need significant renovations to meet the new tougher MiLB facility standards. At one point, there was a proposal for a new stadium in Modesto, but that proposal has not gained traction.

What this means for the Mariners’ Low-A affiliate going forward is not yet clear. According to Baseball America’s reporting, there is not a finalized solution for where the Nuts will play in 2025.

Generally, minor league team owners want some sort of public funding or tax subsidies for stadium construction. California has proven to be the least willing state to do so in recent decades.

At this point, it’s unlikely there is enough time to build a stadium in compliance with MLB standards for 2025. There are also not a surplus of available, compliant facilities within the California League’s footprint.

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90th Percentile: Amateur Collectibles In The Age Of NIL

Geoff Pontes — Thu, 09 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000

The 90th Percentile returns with Geoff and Matt diving into the topic of amateur collectibles and the new rules in the name, image and likeness environment. With Britt Ghiroli’s recent article on The Athletic discussing Perfect Game’s recent merchandising deal with Fanatics, it’s a hot topic of discussion.

We discuss the economics of the merchandise industry, the history of amateur players signing merchandise agreements and its evolution over the last decade-plus. We also touch on the supply and demand of autographed merchandise.

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Baseball America, American Association To Partner In 2024

BA Staff — Wed, 08 May 2024 16:12:21 +0000

MOORHEAD – The American Association of Professional Baseball, an MLB Partner League, and Baseball America have partnered ahead of the 2024 season to collaborate on various media assets.

The joint features will focus on American Association prospects and include social media content, regular season and jewel event live programming, including Baseball Champions League, and written articles.

The American Association enters 2024 on a high having secured the title at the first ever Baseball Champions League, a year-over-year increase in non-baseball revenue of 47%, record levels in league sponsorship, and a four year stretch of record annual increases in attendance. Baseball America comes to the partnership featuring a revamped website and business plan.

“As media has evolved, we have continued to find new ways to reach baseball fans. The American Association is doing the same thing with its unique league, so partnering with them on an innovative initiative is a no-brainer,” said Baseball America VP of Operations B.J. Schecter. “Together we can create and share great stories, reach fans in more places and continue to grow the game.”

“Joining forces with Baseball America to bring our brand of baseball and our best players to the masses in cutting edge media formats is innovative. I don’t believe any league or publisher before us has taken such measures,” said American Association Commissioner Joshua Schaub. “In the baseball world, Baseball America is venerated and we are proud to be in partnership with such a tremendous publication.”

The pairing of Baseball America and the American Association brings together two baseball organizations with an intertwined history. Miles Wolff was the founder and Commissioner of the American Association when it formed in 2006 through 2018, and was instrumental in the success of Baseball America as the owner and publisher of the magazine for much of the 1980s and 1990s.

The American Association (www.aabaseball.com and www.aabaseball.tv) is a Major League Baseball Partner League that operates in nine states and one Canadian province. Formed in 2006, the league consists of twelve member clubs. Since 2006, 54 American Association players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. In 2023, over 65% of American Association players had played at Double-A or higher and 23 former American Association players played at the MLB level.
Baseball America (www.baseballamerica.com) has evolved into a multimedia property across video, digital, social and print channels. Known in the industry as “the Bible of Baseball,” BA has been covering baseball with an emphasis on player development since 1981.

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Bowman Baseball Releases 2024 Card Sets Featuring MLB Prospects

Tim Newcomb — Wed, 08 May 2024 10:00:00 +0000

The 2024 season’s prospects come alive in the 2024 set of Bowman Baseball cards. Along with a set of 100 cards full of elite stars and emerging rookies, the collection releasing May 8 features the 150-card Bowman Prospect set “showcasing future game-changers,” the brand says.

The all-new designs for the 2024 series highlight the allure of the prospects in a range of styles popular from Bowman, from the Chrome Prospect series to a slew of different autograph varieties. Within the popular Chrome Prospect collections are two fresh series, a new Black Refractor Parallel and Rose Gold Mini-Diamond Refractor Parallel, both numbered to 10 cards.

The 100-card base set includes 13 different Parallel cards—from the numbered 499 Sky Blue Border Parallel right down to the numbered five Red Border Parallel—and one-of-one Platinum Border and Printing Plates varieties.

Full Ranking

The Bowman Prospect cards feature 28 unique Parallel varieties, including the one-of-one SuperFractors.

Special edition Insert Cards include a mix of new sets. Of the 11 total Insert Card series options, six of them are brand new. The Bowman A.I. features future stat predictions done with artificial intelligence. The Base Set Gold Refractor, Rising Infernos, 1955 Bowman Anime and Prospect Power Up designs give the 2024 Bowman set a renewed perspective on the year’s prospects.

Recurring Insert Cards include the Gladiators of the Diamond, Origin of Greatness, Bowman Spotlights, ROY Favorites and Bowman’s Scout’s Top-100 sets.

The 2024 Bowman Baseball set heavily plays on autograph varieties, including the rare one-of-one SuperFractor versions in the ROY Favorites, Prospects Power Up and Gladiator of the Diamond categories, among others.

The Autograph styles feature 16 different Parallel or Refractor varieties within the Chrome Prospect Autograph series, nine designs in the Chrome Rookie Autograph series, three Refractor designs in the new Rising Infernos Autographs—with 25 Orange Refractor cards, five Red Refractor and one SuperFractor—three in the Bowman Scout’s Top-100 Autographs collection, four in the Gladiators of the Diamond Autographs series, four in the ROY Favorites Autographs set, two in the Dual Bowman Prospects Autographs series and two in the Prospects Power-Up Autograph Variation design.

Bowman says “ultra-rare” four-card Pearl Refractor Packs will randomly drop in boxes of 2024 Bowman Baseball cards. With differing ways to purchase the Bowman collections—both in retail setups and hobby setups—collectors can approach the hobby differently in an effort to embrace the prospects that highlight the 2024 Bowman Baseball cards.

Tim Newcomb covers business and gear for Baseball America.

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Louisville Slugger Makes Prime Bat 30% Harder By Dipping Into 1902 Company Patent

Tim Newcomb — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 13:57:47 +0000

Everything about the completely revamped Louisville Slugger Prime wood bat line launching April 17 focuses on making the bat harder. To get there, it required the team to reimagine the manufacturing process, borrow finishing concepts from the guitar industry and dip back into a 1902 patent from one of the brand’s founders.

There’s a lot that’s new in the fresh iteration of the Louisville Slugger Prime line to get the bats 30% harder and allow the 140-year-old brand to more than double the warranty from 30 days to an industry-leading 75 days. It all starts with a trip back into company history.

Bobby Hillerich, a fifth-generation bat maker and vice president of manufacturing and product development, is a great-grandson of Bud Hillerich, who created the first-ever Slugger bat for professional Louisville Eclipse player Pete Browning in his father’s woodworking shop. Bobby Hillerich was researching published studies on wood surface hardening techniques when he saw a Penn State University study reference a 1902 patent from his great-grandfather regarding hickory wood spun on a lathe.

“There is a combination of pressure and heat that is getting us the surface tension that we want,” Bobby Hillerich tells Baseball America. “We’ve updated it with new techniques and pressures.”

The entire Louisville Slugger manufacturing process received an update. For the new Prime line, made with both maple and birch, the hardening is more than just the pressure and heat. It also comes from optimizing the brand’s vacuum drying system. Previously, wood could sit up to three weeks before going from green to vacuum driers at the Pennsylvania factory, but the cells started hardening while air drying, not allowing the vacuum to compress them. Louisville Slugger now vacuum dries the wood the same week they are processed from the log, all while keeping them stored at 70 degrees to increase stability.

Once the billets get shipped to Louisville and turned and shaped into a bat, they receive a completely new finish. In search for a finish that wouldn’t take four days to cure, Bobby Hillerich and his team flew to San Diego to check out a process Taylor Guitar was using on their instruments. “We sprayed it on a bat and went and hit it on a steel post,” he says about the visit. “It was fantastic.”

From there, Slugger met with Taylor Guitar’s engineer and the finish supplier, and the result was a finish developed for bats that can cure in a UV line in 13 seconds. “If we are rushing a bat out for a player,” Bobby Hillerich says, “13 seconds in the UV line and its done.”

The combination of selecting only the hardest woods, the vacuum drying, pressure and heat when turning and a new finish adds up to a bat 30% harder than the previous version. “This is our hardest wood product we have ever made,” Joe Cmelik, senior product line manager, tells Baseball America. “We really went back to the basics, broke down where we were at and where we wanted to be. We see it as a new product.”

The game’s top players have tested the bat for the last year and Cmelik calls the feedback “overwhelmingly positive,” with players commenting on it without prompting. “They notice this bat is a lot harder,” he says. “They notice it in sound, notice it in feel, they are not seeing ball marks.”

The harder the bat, the more energy transfer to the ball, ideally increasing exit-speed velocity. “We are always looking for a couple extra feet,” Bobby Hillerich says. The results panned out during the 2023 MLB season, with Ronald Acuna Jr., Cody Bellinger and Kyle Schwarber all having outstanding seasons using the updated technology.

Now Slugger brings that technology to scale with the April 17 retail launch of the entire Prime line. Cmelik expects the RA13 Ronald Acuna Jr. player model and the C271 to remain the most popular bats in the lineup, and Louisville Slugger also plans limited editions and different colorways throughout the year. The Prime wood line has proven sought after at retail by high-level travel players, but also by college players in wood bat leagues.

No matter the Prime style, every model has received the complete update, but the fifth-generation bat maker still gets drawn to the natural wood finish. It’s in his blood, after all. “I like,” Bobby Hillerich says, “to see everything inside that piece of wood.”

Tim Newcomb covers gear and business for Baseball America.

The post Louisville Slugger Makes Prime Bat 30% Harder By Dipping Into 1902 Company Patent appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

LaceUp Helps Hitters Train In a Variety of Ways

BA Staff — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 14:56:28 +0000

Editor’s Note: LaceUp is a business partner of Baseball America.

When Rangers hitting coach Tim Hyers first saw a LaceUp in person, he realized he had found the solution to a problem he’d been looking to fix.

Hyers was looking for a weight that would allow hitters to change the weighting of their bat during soft toss or tee work. Ideally, it would be durable, easy to adjust, but most importantly it would be able to use it while taking actual swings.

With the LaceUp, Hyers could shelve some homemade devices that he’d messed with to try to give hitters a different feel with their game bats.

“You can put weights on different parts of the bat with live swings. Front toss, side toss and you can use the same bat in the game,” Hyers said. “I feel the biggest benefit is weight at the knob of the bat. That’s really beneficial for a hitter to feel something heavy on their hands and not cast the barrel. I have used a number of homemade devices that aren’t very sturdy. Wrap it around the knob. They don’t have to change bats.”

With the LaceUp, hitters can quickly move the weight from the knob to up above the hands at the top of the handle. It can also be attached further up to serve like a doughnut.

“It’s a solid device. It’s well made. It’s easy to put on and take off. You don’t have to take a long time to change it,” Hyers said. “Guys loosen up with it. It’s a doughnut too. You can use it for multiple purposes. It’s easy to carry it around. It’s a simple device that has many different advantages.”

But for Hyers, the most useful purpose of the LaceUp is to help hitters use the tool to change the center of balance of the bat and the weighting in drills.

“They get into habits with their regular bat. You put the LaceUp on, the body has to organize to be on time to contact. It’s challenging the body. Adding that degree of difficulty. It’s not so heavy that you can’t swing the bat, but it’s enough weight to challenge the hitter to get the bat to contact. The body has to reorganize but in a good way. You’re challenging the body to attract different muscles in swing. It adds a degree of difficulty. That’s what hitters like.”

“When you add the weight into your hands, you feel that connection to your core and the center of your body. Players feel what they need to feel at that time. The body has to feel strong and stay inside to feel that strength. Fix, six or seven swings with that heavy weight in their hands. That’s where they feel the strength,” Hyers said.

There are overload and underload bats that can serve some of those roles, but the LaceUp allows hitters to do those same drills with the same bat they will use in the game.

“They want to use what’s close to game action. They don’t have to swing a different bat,” Hyers said.

The post LaceUp Helps Hitters Train In a Variety of Ways appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

Easton Launches New ADV Hype Bat In Fresh 2022 Lineup

Tim Newcomb — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 14:24:59 +0000

Easton’s 2022 bat lineup across all certifications includes the release of the 2022 ADV Hype, the brand’s most technological take on a two-piece composite bat.

The full lineup of 2022 bats in the BBCOR, USSSA and USA designations feature the ADV Hype, ADV 360, Maxum Ultra and Alpha ALX. Each model takes a distinct approach to materials, constructions and technologies to provide specific advantages to hitters when the bats release on Oct. 7.

The ADV Hype, available in BBCOR and USSSA certifications, features a new thermo-composite technology that combines a larger barrel and sweet spot with the lightest swing weight in the Easton bat lineup. This combination is designed to create explosive power at the plate. Additionally, The ConneXion Max technology maximizes energy transfer with a stiffer feel at contact and a Nitrocell foam to help reduce vibration. A carbon handle uses extra-stiff carbon fibers to create a more solid handle and stiff feel elite players love, Easton says. At the knob, the Power Boost Soft Knob tech offers additional leverage while reducing vibration and improving comfort.

“Our engineers are always looking for new ways to push the limits of performance for composite bats that also meet the needs of the modern athlete,” says Matt Arndt, Easton senior vice president of product and research and development. “That is what Easton delivers in the ADV Hype.”

The ADV 360 USA made a debut at the 2021 Little League World Series as a two-piece composite bat designed with a balance of power and speed. The composite barrel was designed to have a large sweet spot and combines with what the company calls a “hot out of the wrapper performance.” Isolating the handle from the barrel helps reduce vibration and creates a stiffer feel to transfer more energy into the ball at contact. The Power Boost Soft Knob makes an appearance on the ADV 360 USA.

The Maxum Ultra returns for 2022 with models now available in USSSA and USA certifications. Designed as the longest barrel and biggest sweet spot in the game, according to Easton, the one-piece seamless carbon construction is aimed at providing a uniform barrel strength and maximum performance from knob to cap. The one-piece extra-large barrel uses computer-controlled precision molding to produce a consistent, lightweight wall for performance.

New for 2022, the Alpha ALX offers a one-piece aluminum bat designed for a high barrel response and durability. Using the brand’s FlyWall Barrel Design, the ringless barrel features different layers of alloy across the barrel to create an even bigger sweet spot and a smoother feel at contact, the brand says. The Power Boost Soft Knob makes an appearance on the Alpha ALX, which is available in BBCOR, USSSA and USA.

The Easton BBCOR lineup, all at a -3 drop, includes the ADV Hype, Maxum Ultra and Alpha ALX.

The USSSA certification includes the ADV Hype at four drop options, the Maxum Ultra at two drops and the Alpha ALX at two drops.

Expect to find four different ADV 360 drops for USA certification, along with two Maxum Ultra options and one drop of the Alpha ALX.

Tim Newcomb covers gear and business for Baseball America. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.

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