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IL Indianapolis Indians

Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (0-0) vs. Omaha Storm Chasers (0-0)

April 5, 2022 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


LOCATION: Victory Field

FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET

GAME #1 / Home #1: Indianapolis Indians (0-0) vs. Omaha Storm Chasers (0-0)

PROBABLES: RHP Cody Bolton (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Ronald Bolanos (0-0, -.--)

RADIO: FoxSportsIndy.com / Fox Sports 1260 / iHeart app

TV: MiLB TV / MyINDY-TV 23

2021 SEASON IN REVIEW: One year off an unprecedented summer without baseball in the Circle City, the Indianapolis Indians returned to Victory Field to face a new slate of opponents, some who they hadn't seen since 1997 and the American Association era. The Indians finished the season at 61-67 in fourth place of their new seven-team Triple-A East Midwest Division, 12.0 games behind the Toledo Mud Hens (74-56). Despite their second consecutive losing season, the Indians fared well against opponents above them within the division, going an even .500 against Toledo and St. Paul (3rd, 67-63). The sub-.500 mark was just the seventh in 16 seasons as Pittsburgh's Triple-A affiliate dating back to 2005, with the other losing campaigns coming from 2007-10, 2016 and again in 2019. At home, the Indians registered their 20th winning record in 25 seasons at Victory Field with a 34-30 mark. On July 1, the Indians were a season-high 11 games over .500 with a 16-5 record through the first 21 home games.

OPENING DAY: Tonight, Victory Field will play host to it's first Indians season opener since 2018 as Indianapolis takes on Omaha at 7:05 PM ET. In the Victory Field era, the Indians have opened their season at home in 12 of 25 seasons and own a 6-6 record in those games. Last season, the Indians won their first Opening Day contests since 2017 behind a stellar outing from RHP Chase De Jong and a Triple-A debut for the ages by OF Travis Swaggerty, who launched a leadoff home run to open the season.

BOLTON'S BACK: RHP Cody Bolton will take the mound today for the Indians in his first professional outing since 2019. The 23-year-old is currently rated as Pittsburgh's No. 30 prospect (Baseball America) after undergoing knee surgery and being sidelined for the entire 2021 campaign. He was named Pittsburgh's MLB Pipeline Pitcher of the Year in 2019 after going 8-6 with a 3.28 ERA (37er/101.2ip) and 102 strikeouts in 21 starts between High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona. Bolton was selected by Pittsburgh in the sixth round (178th overall) of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft.

CRUZING: Oneil Cruz enters the 2022 campaign rated as Pittsburgh's No. 1 prospect and No. 14 overall by Baseball America. After spending most of the 2021 season with Double-A Altoona, he was promoted to Indianapolis on Sept. 20. He homered in five of his six games in an Indianapolis jersey and compiled a .524 batting average (11-for-21), .665 on-base percentage, 1.286 slugging percentage and 1.941 OPS, all of which led Triple-A East batters from Sept. 22-Oct, 2, before being recalled by Pittsburgh. On Sept. 30, his final game played with Indianapolis prior to being promoted, he became the first Indians batter since Adam Boeve in 2008 to homer in four consecutive games, a stretch that included a two-run, game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sept. 29 vs. Nashville. In two big-league games, he went 3-for-9 with a home run and an 118.2 mph single, which ranks as the 14th highest exit velocity by a rookie in the Statcast era.

POWER AT THE TOP: Despite playing in just 12 games with the Indians before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in 2021, Travis Swaggerty's two leadoff home runs with Indianapolis are currently tied for the fourth-most by a player in the Victory Field era. Swaggerty's two leadoff homers came on Opening Day at Iowa on May 4 - the first Opening Day leadoff home run in the Victory Field era - and Victory Field's home opener vs. Toledo. In 2019, Swaggerty spent 89 games in High-A Bradenton's leadoff spot and hit .259 (88-for-340) with six home runs, two of which came when leading off a frame.

CASTRO COLLECTING: Rodolfo Castro was named the Indians only Triple-A East Player of the Week in 2021 after he hit three home runs in four games at Omaha from Sept. 22-26. The infielder was promoted to Indy from Double-A Altoona on Sept. 20 and made his Triple-A debut on Sept. 22. He started in four games during the five-game road trip and hit .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI. His three home runs tied for first among league leaders for the week. He also ranked in the top five in slugging percentage (2nd, 1.118), hits (T-2nd), extra-base hits (T-2nd, 5), batting average (3rd), OPS (3rd, 1.618), total bases (3rd, 19), runs scored (T-3rd, 6), RBI (T-3rd) and doubles (T-4th).

PROSPECTUS: The Indians Opening Day roster features nine of Pittsburgh's top 40 prospects (Baseball America). Among those are Oneil Cruz (PIT No. 1) and Roansy Contreras (PIT No. 4), who are rated as the No. 14 and No. 80 prospects in Minor League Baseball, respectively. Other names include OFs Travis Swaggerty (No. 15), Canaan Smith-Njigba (No. 28) and Cal Mitchell (No. 32), INFs Rodolfo Castro (No. 20), Ji-Hwan Bae (No. 25) and Mason Martin (No. 31), and RHP Cody Bolton (No. 30).

GO DIEGO GO: The Pittsburgh Pirates announced yesterday that former Indians outfielder Diego Castillo has been named to their Opening Day roster for the season opener on April 7 at St. Louis after hitting .371 (13-for-35) with six home runs in 14 spring games. Castillo is currently rated as Pittsburgh's No. 16 prospect by Baseball America after a standout 2021 campaign. He was traded to Pittsburgh from New York (AL) on July 26 with infielder Hoy Park in exchange for right-handed pitcher Clay Holmes and appeared in 28 games with Altoona before being promoted to Indianapolis on Aug. 31. He began his Triple-A career with a six-game on-base streak, his second contest featuring a career-high tying four hits on Sept. 2 vs. Iowa. In 18 games with Indy, he hit .278 (15-for-54) with a .500 slugging percentage and .914 OPS.

THIS DATE IN INDIANS HISTORY: The Indians won their season opener over Nashville by a 4-2 score at Bush Stadium, and right-hander Mark Gardner picked up his first of a team-high 12 wins with 5.0 innings of two-run ball. The future 99-game winner in the big leagues also led the American Association with 175 strikeouts that summer. In the postseason, Gardner put the finishing touches on Indy's fourth consecutive American Association title by pitching 8.0 shutout innings in a 5-0, Game 5, series-clinching win on Sept. 6 at Omaha.

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