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Bowling Green Hot Rods

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Bowling Green Hot Rods
Team logo Cap insignia
Minor league affiliations
ClassHigh-A (2021–present)
LeagueSouth Atlantic League (2021–present)
DivisionSouth Division
Previous leagues
Major league affiliations
TeamTampa Bay Rays (2009–present)
Minor league titles
League titles (4)
  • 2018
  • 2021
  • 2022
  • 2024
Division titles (5)
  • 2007
  • 2018
  • 2021
  • 2022
  • 2024
First-half titles (3)
  • 2011
  • 2018
  • 2022
Second-half titles (1)
  • 2024
Team data
NameBowling Green Hot Rods (2009–present)
ColorsNavy blue, orange, white
     
BallparkBowling Green Ballpark (2009–present)
Owner(s)/
Operator(s)
Jack Blackstock[1][2]
PresidentEric Leach[1][2]
General managerKyle Wolz[1][2]
ManagerRafael Valenzuela
Websitemilb.com/bowling-green
Axle
Roscoe
Axle and Roscoe, the Hot Rods' mascots

The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and play their home games at Bowling Green Ballpark, which opened in 2009. The team is named for the city's connections to the automotive and racing industries such as the National Corvette Museum, Holley Carburetor, Beech Bend Raceway, and the Bowling Green Assembly Plant.

Founded in 2009, they were members of the Class A South Atlantic League in their inaugural season and played in the Class A Midwest League from 2010 to 2020. There were elevated to the High-A classification and placed in the High-A East in 2021, but this was renamed the South Atlantic League in 2022.

History

[edit]

The Hot Rods began life as the Wilmington Waves, one of two South Atlantic League expansion teams for the 2001 season. However, the Waves' stay at Brooks Field in Wilmington, North Carolina, lasted but a single season. They became the South Georgia Waves when the team was moved to the Paul Eames Sports Complex in Albany, Georgia, for the 2002 season. The team retained the moniker name when it again moved to Golden Park in Columbus, Georgia, just before the 2003 campaign. One year later, in 2004, the franchise changed names and became the Columbus Catfish.

In April 2008, ownership moved the team to Bowling Green effective for the 2009 season under the new nickname "Hot Rods." Their first manager as the Hot Rods was Matt Quatraro.[3]

In 2010, the Hot Rods and the Lake County Captains moved from the South Atlantic League to the Midwest League,[4] a plan meant to alleviate travel expenses associated with routine road trips as well as player movement within the teams' respective organizations.

In December 2013, Art Solomon, owner of the Hot Rods for five years, sold the team to Manhattan Capital Sports headed by Stuart Katzoff.[5] The Hot Rods have been widely recognized for their promotional efforts. In 2009, the team's "What Could've Been Night" was named Promotion of the Year by MiLB.com.[6] In 2010, Hot Rods Assistant General Manager Greg Coleman was honored as Marketer of the Year by the Professional Marketing Association.

In September 2018, the team was sold to Jack Blackstock who had previously been a minority investor in the team.[7]

That year, the Hot Rods won 90 games and captured their first ever Midwest League title, under then manager Craig Albernaz.

Along with Major League Baseball's reorganization of the minors after the 2020 season, the Hot Rods were invited to remain a Tampa Bay affiliate but be elevated to High-A in 2021 as members of the High-A East.[8] [9] They won the Southern Division title by ending the season with a first-place 82–36 record.[10] They then won the High-A East championship by defeating the Greensboro Grasshoppers, 3–2, in a best-of-five series.[11] Jeff Smith won the league's Manager of the Year Award.[12] In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.[13]

Season records

[edit]
Season Affiliation Manager Record
2009 Rays Matt Quatraro 64–75, 3rd place South
2010 Rays Brady Williams 61–78, 6th place East
2011 Rays Brady Williams 77–63, 3rd place East
2012 Rays Brady Williams 80–60, 2nd place East
2013 Rays Jared Sandberg 82–56, 1st place East
2014 Rays Michael Johns 61–77, 8th place East
2015 Rays Reinaldo Ruiz 69–69, 6th place East
2016 Rays Reinaldo Ruiz 84–55, 1st place East (tie)
2017 Rays Reinaldo Ruiz 72–65, 3rd place East
2018 Rays Craig Albernaz 90–49, 1st place East
2019 Rays Reinaldo Ruiz 81–58, 2nd place East
2020 Rays Season cancelled (COVID-19 pandemic)
2021 Rays Jeff Smith 82–36, 1st place South

Playoffs

[edit]
Season Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
2009 - - -
2010 - - -
2011 L, 2–0, Fort Wayne - -
2012 L, 2–0, Lake County - -
2013 L, 2–0, Fort Wayne - -
2014 - - -
2015 - - -
2016 L, 2–1, Great Lakes - -
2017 L, 2–0, Fort Wayne - -
2018 W, 2–0, Lansing W, 2–0, West Michigan W, 3–1, Peoria
2019 L, 2–0, South Bend - -
2020 - - -
2021 - - W, 3–2, Greensboro

Bowling Green Ballpark

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Main article: Bowling Green Ballpark
  • Address: 300 E 8th Ave, Bowling Green, KY 42101
  • Opened: April 17, 2009
  • Seating capacity: 4,559[14]
  • Dimensions: LF – 318 ft, CF – 400 ft, RF – 326 ft

Bowling Green Ballpark was designed by architectural firm DLR Group. The right-centerfield wall in Bowling Green Ballpark is unique in that it is concave in right-center because of the shape of a pre-existing road behind the field. The scoreboard in right-centerfield measures 35-feet tall and 56-feet wide, with the ability to show scoring, live video, advertisements, player statistics, and more. Embedded in the left field wall is a 6-foot, 3inch tall by 68-foot wide LED display board, behind which is a picnic area. There are two grass lawn seating areas- one in left-center and one at the right field line. The kids play area boasts an inflatable car customized with the Hot Rods' logo, a carousel, and a playground, and a behind the batter's eye in centerfield, a splash-pad. The Performance Food Service Club is a bar located on suite level directly behind home plate. Also on the suite level are 10 suites, the Hall of Fame suite, and a party deck—The Coca-Cola Deck.

Media coverage

[edit]

In addition to internet streaming coverage on MILB.tv, the Hot Rods are broadcast locally on radio station WKCT AM 930 and translator W281BV (104.1 FM) since 2022. WBGN was the original flagship station of Hot Rods baseball for the team's first 12 years in Bowling Green from 2009 to 2021.[15]

Mascots

[edit]

One of the Hot Rods' mascots is an anthropomorphic bear named Axle. Debuting in 2009, he wears an orange Hot Rods uniform, number 00. The Hot Rods' furry, fun-loving bear has captivated crowds at Bowling Green Ballpark while making good on his promise to become a true community ambassador. Roscoe is the Hot Rods' second mascot, debuting during the 2010 season. He is a Grease Monkey who wears a navy Hot Rods jersey.

Turbo is a Golden Retriever who was adopted into the Hot Rods family on December 13, 2019.[16] He is currently training to become a "batdog", retrieving bats and balls and returning them to the Hot Rods' dugout, as well as delivering balls to the home plate umpire, for the 2021 season. Turbo is one of a few bat dogs in Minor League Baseball.

Roster

[edit]
Bowling Green Hot Rods roster
Players Coaches/Other

Pitchers

  • 33 Jackson Baumeister
  • 36 Adam Boucher
  • 28 Seth Chavez
  •  9 Jake Christianson
  • 38 Derrick Edington
  • 16 T.J. Fondtain
  • 20 Garrett Gainey
  • 29 Roel Garcia III
  • 18 JJ Goss
  • 34 Brody Hopkins
  • 21 Ty Johnson
  • 79 Marcus Johnson
  • 15 Jackson Lancaster
  • 18 Dylan Lesko ~
  • 32 Chandler Murphy
  • 23 Jack Snyder
  • 44 Drew Sommers
  • 31 Owen Wild

Catchers

  • 17 Bryan Broecker
  • 12 Tatem Levins
  • 22 Raudelis Martinez

Infielders

  •  3 Gregory Barrios
  •  2 Hunter Haas
  • 19 Mac Horvath
  •  6 Kamren James
  •  8 Cooper Kinney
  • 24 Émilien Pitre
  • 13 Ryan Spikes
  •  1 Gionti Turner

Outfielders


Manager

  • 10 Rafael Valenzuela

Coaches

  • 26 Braxton Martinez (hitting)
  • 14 Jim Paduch (pitching)
  •  4 Perry Roth (bench)

60-day injured list

  • 47 Alex Cook
  • 71 Angel Galarraga (full season)
  • -- Over Galue (full season)

7-day injured list
* On Tampa Bay Rays 40-man roster
~ Development list
# Rehab assignment
∞ Reserve list
‡ Restricted list
§ Suspended list
† Temporarily inactive list
Roster updated September 19, 2024
 Transactions
→ More rosters: MiLB • South Atlantic League
 → Tampa Bay Rays minor league players

Alumni

[edit]

The following are players in Major League Baseball who played, at one time, for the Hot Rods. Players are listed under the team they debuted for.

Tampa Bay Rays
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Angels
Texas Rangers
Miami Marlins
St. Louis Cardinals
Kansas City Royals
San Diego Padres
Washington Nationals
Baltimore Orioles
Philadelphia Phillies
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies
Toronto Blue Jays
Seattle Mariners
Oakland Athletics
Minnesota Twins
Cincinnati Reds
New York Mets

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Personnel News: Bowling Green, Reno, Omaha". Ballpark Digest. January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Compton, Micheal (May 21, 2023). "Wilson Making History as Hot Rods Assistant General Manager". Bowling Green Daily News. p. B1.
  3. ^ "Bowling Green Daily News". Nl.newsbank.com. January 8, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  4. ^ Czerwinski, Kevin T. (September 2, 2008). "Lake County, Bowling Green shifting to MWL". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2008.
  5. ^ Fuerst, Hank "It's Official: BG Hot Rods Sold" Archived January 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine WBKO. December 11, 2013. Retrieved on January 7, 2014
  6. ^ Hill, Benjamin "Hot Rods claim year's best promo." Minor League Baseball. October 14, 2009. Retrieved on December 10, 2010.
  7. ^ Spedden, Zach (September 28, 2018). "Sale of Bowling Green Hot Rods Approved". Ballpark Digest. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  8. ^ "Hot Rods Invited to A-Advanced in Minor League Restructure". Bowling Green Hot Rods. Minor League Baseball. December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  9. ^ Mayo, Jonathan (February 12, 2021). "MLB Announces New Minors Teams, Leagues". Major League Baseball. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  10. ^ "2021 High-A East". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  11. ^ Avallone, Michael (September 29, 2021). "Bowling Green Rolls to High-A East Crown". Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  12. ^ "Postseason All-Stars". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  13. ^ "Historical League Names to Return in 2022". Minor League Baseball. March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  14. ^ "2011 Midwest League Media Guide" (PDF). MiLB.com. 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  15. ^ Dyer, Diane (Match 14, 2022). "WDNS/WKCT to Serve as New Hot Rods Flagship Station." BeechTree News. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  16. ^ minorleaguebaseball (December 13, 2019). "Bowling Green Gets Bat Dog – Meet Turbo!". Youtube. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
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