Louisville Bats 2025 Season in Review
IL Louisville Bats

Louisville Bats 2025 Season in Review

Published on October 30, 2025 under International League (IL)
Louisville Bats News Release


2025 IN REVIEW: The 2025 season saw the Bats finish with a 71-79 record, 18 games behind the eventual International League and Triple-A National Champion Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in the overall standings. The Bats finished 12th in the 20-team International League in the overall standings, a vast improvement from a 20th place finish at 67-82 in 2024. The 2025 season marked the first time since 2022 that the Bats have played all 150 games on the schedule, with the last two seasons being slightly shorter due to weather cancellations.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT: After falling to a season-low 18 games below .500 at 53-71 after a loss in Nashville on 8/22, the Bats turned their season around with one of the best stretches in recent memory, winning 15 of their next 16 games and 18 of their final 27 to end the season. The best run of all was an 11-game winning streak, tied for the second-longest winning streak in franchise history, from 8/29-9/10 to get the Bats' second-half record back over .500 and locking in their first winning month of the season (August), their first winning month since May 2024. The Bats followed it up with a winning month of September. The 2025 season was the first time Louisville posted a winning second-half record (39-36) since the IL adopted its split-season format in 2023. It was a dramatic turnaround for the Bats, who went 29-46 in the second half in 2024 and 35-40 to end the 2023 season. 2025 was a reverse of previous trends for the Bats, who had a winning first-half record in both 2023 (40-33) and 2024 (38-36) before a 32-43 start to the 2025 season.

DEBUT SEASON: For eight members of the 2025 Bats, the 2025 season was one they'll never forget. While 66 players appeared in at least one game for Louisville, eight got the call and made their MLB debut, with seven of those debuting with the Cincinnati Reds. The full list of players to debut for the Reds this season features Will Banfield, Tyler Callihan, Sal Stewart, Chase Burns, Zach Maxwell, Luis Mey, and Chase Petty. Pitcher Brian Van Belle, who appeared in seven games for the Bats this year, was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays at the deadline and made his MLB debut for the Rays on 8/24. Stewart and Burns also appeared in the playoffs as the Reds reached the postseason for the first time since 2020 and were swept in two games by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Wild Card Series. Additionally, Sam Benschoter was promoted to the Reds on two separate occasions and was on the active roster, but did not pitch in a game to make his MLB debut.

A QUARTER CENTURY AT HOME: Throughout the 2025 season, the Bats celebrated their 25th season at Louisville Slugger Field. On April 12, 2000, the Louisville Riverbats (now Bats) opened their new downtown home, Louisville Slugger Field, against Norfolk. That first game was an 8-5 loss to the Tides. While in Louisville on a rehab assignment from Cincinnati, Deion Sanders would score the first run in the ballpark's history, coming around to score on an RBI single from Chris Sexton in the first inning. Before the game, Governor Paul Patton, Louisville Mayor David Armstrong, and former Mayor Jerry Abramson all threw a ceremonial first pitch. This season, the Bats won the 1,500th regular season game in ballpark history on 5/20/25 vs. Gwinnett, with Wade Miley throwing a rain-shortened complete game shutout in the 4-0 victory. Since the opening of Louisville Slugger Field, the Bats have welcomed 12,474,158 fans through the ballpark gates in 1,549 game dates for an average of 8,053 per game.

ABS-SOLUTELY RIGHT: In the 2025 season, the Bats used their Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenges to their advantage, especially from behind the plate. For the season, the Bats won 149 of their 279 challenges for a 53% success rate. Bats backstops were especially successful, as the primary catching trio of Will Banfield, P.J. Higgins, and Eric Yang combined to win 79 of 102 challenges for a 77% success rate. Higgins challenged and won more than anyone on the team at 41-49 (84%). Banfield ranked second in challenges and wins at 25-34 (74%) while Yang was 13-19 (68%). Offensively, Rece Hinds posted the best success rate of any hitter on the roster with at least five challenges at 56% (5-9) while Connor Joe's 50% success rate (3-6) made him the only other Bats hitter with at least five challenges to have a 50% or greater success rate. On the other end, Louisville's opponents had just a 46% success rate (132-289).

IT TAKES TWO: After leading the International League with 146 double plays in 2024, the Bats had a similarly strong showing in 2025. Louisville's defense turned 128 double plays over the 150-game 2025 season, ranking 2nd in the International League, two behind Norfolk's 130, and T-11th in all of Minor League Baseball behind Reno's 151 double plays. For the season, the Bats turned at least one double play in 61% of their games (91-150), including 29 multi-double play contests. Louisville turned a season-high four double plays in a win at Gwinnett on 8/13. The Bats never went more than five games without at least one twin killing, with a season-long five-game drought from 8/15-20. Early in the season, the defense turned at least one double play in a season-high 10 straight games from 4/20-5/3.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: In addition to turning two on defense, the Bats were strong at reaching second base with their bats. Louisville's 277 doubles led the club's attack, ranking 2nd in the International League and 7th in all of Minor League Baseball. Of the 26 players to log an at-bat for the Bats in 2025, only rehabber Austin Hays (3 games) went without a two-bagger. Francisco Urbaez led the way, hitting a career-high 32 doubles, tied for 3rd in the IL, as part of his dominant offensive season. Louisville's season-high of seven doubles came on 4/20 at Columbus, while the franchise record remains at 11, set on 5/3/10 at Buffalo. Louisville's lineup recorded at least one double in 123 of 150 games and multiple doubles in 79 contests, including 26 doubles over a seven-game series at Iowa from 6/10-15, when they tallied three or more doubles in five of the seven games.

BATS IN A HURRY: The Bats wrapped up the 2025 season as one of the fastest playing teams in all of Triple-A baseball. Louisville's average time of a nine-inning home game was just two hours, 33 minutes, and 52 seconds, the second quickest mark at the Triple-A level, trailing only Gwinnett's 2:32:33. On the other end, Oklahoma City's 2:51:20 average ranked as the slowest across the 30 Triple-A clubs. As a whole, the average Triple-A nine-inning game time was 2 hours and 44 minutes, while the International League was slightly quicker at 2:41:55. At the Major League level, the Reds were within two minutes of their Triple-A club with an average time of 2:35:06, a couple minutes faster than the average Major League time of 2:38:23. As a whole (including all 150 games), the Bats' average game time of 2 hours and 32 minutes was below the Triple-A average.

LEVI'S DIAMOND DASH: In the season finale on 9/21 against Nashville, Bats infielder Levi Jordan etched his name into the history books, playing all nine positions on the field. He started the game at third base and quickly moved his way through the infield and outfield, before taking the mound in the eighth inning and catching the ninth with catcher-turned-pitcher Eric Yang on the bump. Unfortunately for Jordan, he suffered the loss on the mound, giving up a pair of unearned runs in his first career pitching outing. But by completing his moves around the field, he became the third player in Louisville history to play all nine positions in a game after Bill Lyons did so for the Louisville Redbirds on 9/1/88 and Hernan Iribarren did so for the Bats in the final day of the 2018 season on 9/3/18 against Indianapolis. In the long and storied history of Major League Baseball, only five players have accomplished the feat: 1. Bert Campaneris - Kansas City Athletics - 9/8/1965 2. Cesar Tovar - Minnesota Twins - 9/22/1968 3. Scott Sheldon - Texas Rangers - 9/6/2000 4. Shane Halter - Detroit Tigers - 10/1/2000 5. Andrew Romine - Detroit Tigers - 9/30/2017 The feat has been more common at the minor league level with a few dozen occurrences, most recently by Lehigh Valley's Ali Castillo in 2022. A versatile player who appeared in 217 games for the Bats over the past two seasons, Jordan has played all over the diamond during his professional career, which began in 2018. Over 580 Minor League games, Jordan has appeared in 201 games at second base, 187 at third base, 144 at shortstop, 39 in left field, four in center field, and four in right field. His appearance at first base in the season finale was his first at that position since 2019 for Single-A South Bend while he pitched and caught for the first time against the Sounds. He also made his MLB debut for the Reds in 2024, playing in three games in left field, two in right field, and one at second base.

DERBY CITY DUOS: With 94 RBI from Edwin Rios and 83 from Rece Hinds, the Bats' dynamic slugging pair combined for 177 RBI in 2025, third most by a pair of teammates in Louisville franchise history (since 1982). Rios' two-run walk-off homer on his final swing of the season on 9/20 vs. Nashville moved the pair alone into third place on the list. The top spot belongs to the 1983 Redbirds duo of Jim Adduci (101) and Orlando Sanchez (89), who totaled 190 RBI during Louisville's first division title winning season. The full RBI duo list now reads: 1. 1983 Redbirds - Jim Adduci 101/Orlando Sanchez 89 - 190 RBI 2. 1998 Redbirds - Kevin Barker 96/Scott Krause 82 - 178 RBI 3. 2025 Bats - Edwin Rios 94/Rece Hinds 83 - 177 RBI T4. 1999 Redbirds - Scott Krause 89/Kevin Barker 87 - 176 RBI T4. 2002 Bats - Kevin Witt 107/Either Brandon Larson or Raul Gonzalez (each had 69) - 176 RBI 6. 2007 Bats - Joey Votto 92/Aaron Herr 83 - 175 RBI 7. 1982 Redbirds - Mike Calise 91/Kelly Paris 83 - 174 RBI 8. 2000 Riverbats - Brooks Kieschnick 90/Brady Clark 79 - 169 RBI 9. 2023 Bats - Matt Reynolds 90/Chuckie Robinson 74 - 164 RBI 10. 1992 Redbirds - Rod Brewer 86/Stan Royer 77 - 163 RBI

THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE: In the second inning of the series opener at Memphis on 4/29, the Bats made history on defense to get out of a jam. With Reiver Sanmartin on the mound and runners on first and second, a line drive from Matt Lloyd was fielded by Bats shortstop Levi Jordan on a bounce. He quickly fielded and stepped on second for a force out and threw to Edwin Rios first to retire Lloyd. Rios then threw to P.J. Higgins at third, catching the lead runner in a rundown where Jordan applied the tag to complete an elusive triple-play, ending the inning. The Bats' triple play was the first in Minor League Baseball during the 2025 season and the fifth in Louisville franchise history (third as the Bats). In all of Minor League Baseball, there were only 16 triple plays during the 2025 season, with four coming at the Triple-A level. The full list of Louisville triple plays now reads:

1. 8/2/1989 at Denver - Doubleheader Game 2 2. 7/10/1993 vs. Indianapolis 3. 7/20/2005 at Pawtucket (Ground ball, 3B Edwin Encarnacion to 2B Alex Pelaez to 1B Ricky Bell) 4. 8/25/2022 at Toledo (Line drive, 3B Spencer Steer to 1B Colin Moran) 5. 4/29/2025 at Memphis (Ground ball, SS Levi Jordan to 1B Edwin Rios to 3B P.J. Higgins to SS Levi Jordan)

HINDS SIGHT IS 20/20: Rece Hinds capped his breakout 2025 season by making Louisville franchise history late in the year. On 9/10 at Toledo, his fourth-inning steal marked his 20th of the season, completing a 20 home run/20 stolen base season, the second 20/20 season in Louisville history after Brian O'Grady in 2019 (28 HR, 20 SB). Hinds finished among the IL leaders in batting average (8th, .302), total bases (7th, 220), RBI (7th, 83), slugging percentage (3rd, .563), OPS (5th, .922), and extra-base hits (T-6th, 52). After striking out in 38% of his plate appearances in 2024, he cut that to 25.9% in 2025 with 113 strikeouts in 436 plate appearances. He was especially hot in September, hitting .382 with four home runs and 11 RBI to earn a spot on the International League Postseason All-Star team and capture the 2025 Mary E. Barney Louisville Bats Team MVP Award.

MEY UNLEASHES FIRE: In his first season at the Triple-A level, reliever Luis Mey was one of the breakout relievers out of the Louisville bullpen. In 40 outings for the Bats, Mey was 5-3 with a 2.48 ERA and 11 saves, striking out 46 over 40.0 innings while holding opponents to a .189 average. He's also made his MLB debut for the Reds, pitching in 23 games to the tune of a 3.43 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 21.0 innings. Mey's best pitch was his sinker, which routinely touched triple digits. On 4/19 at Columbus, Mey fired a sinker for strike three to Jhonathan Rodriguez at 103.2 miles per hour with 16.1 inches of horizontal break. The pitch was the fastest in the International League this season. Mey is the owner of four of the five fastest pitches and eight of the 13 fastest pitches in the IL in 2025, all coming with the sinker touching at least 102.1 miles per hour. His 11 saves ranked second in the IL, behind only 13 from Wander Suero, who started the season with Gwinnett and finished it with Syracuse.

BACK (TO BACK) AT LAST: After going 593 days without hitting back-to-back home runs, the Bats made up for lost time in 2025. Louisville went deep in consecutive at-bats nine times this season after not doing so at all in 2024. The drought ended on 4/6 at Omaha, when Edwin Rios and Rece Hinds went back-to-back for the first time since 8/22/23 vs. Toledo, when Jose Barrero and Jason Vosler accomplished the feat. That ended a span of 593 days and 187 games, including the entire 2024 season. The Bats went on to hit back-to-back homers at least once every month from April through September, with Hinds being involved in a team-leading four of the nine occurrences. Five of the nine happened at Louisville Slugger Field, including the final back-to-back shots on 9/16 vs. Nashville, a pair of solo homers from Blake Dunn and Hector Rodriguez.

GRAND REOPENING: Following a 608 day drought without a grand slam, the Bats broke through in a big way to snap the streak in 2025. Louisville hit five grand slams after going the entire 2024 campaign without one, their first slam-less season since 1993. The drought finally ended on 5/6 vs. Omaha, when Ivan Johnson launched a go-ahead slam in the eighth inning. The Bats added four more throughout the season: Levi Jordan (6/4 vs. Norfolk), Blake Dunn (6/28 at St. Paul), Noelvi Marte (7/1 vs. Indianapolis), and Davis Wendzel (7/8 at Columbus). After going 197 games without a grand slam, the Bats hit all five of their slams in a two-month span in 2025.

TRI-CYCLES RUN OVER BATS: The Bats found themselves on the wrong side of history in 2025, allowing three opponents to hit for the cycle in a single season. Most recently, Nashville's Raynel Delgado completed a reverse natural cycle on 8/19 at First Horizon Park, homering in the second, tripling in the third, doubling in the sixth, and singling in the eighth. Less than two weeks earlier on 8/7, Toledo's Eduardo Valencia accomplished the feat in Louisville, cycling in his first four at-bats. The season's first came back on 4/2, when Omaha's Drew Waters hit for the cycle, including an inside-the-park home run, in just the fifth game of the season at Werner Park. From 2005-24, the Bats had allowed just three cycles. In 2025, that number doubled.

STEADY BATS: In 2025, the Bats used 66 players throughout the season, the fewest amount of players Louisville has fielded in a season since 66 players also appeared in at least one game for the 2017 Bats. The total of 66 this year includes 26 position players and 40 pitchers. It is well below the total of 74 from 2024, 84 in 2023, and a franchise-record 94 in 2022. Eight appeared with the Bats only on rehab assignments: Andrew Abbott, Austin Hays, Ian Gibaut, Rhett Lowder, Tyler Stephenson, Jeimer Candelario, Jake Fraley, and Hunter Greene. For the season, the Bats made 251 transactions to get through those 66 players, below the total of 267 from 2024 and 288 from 2023. Only two players, P.J. Higgins and Edwin Rios, remained on the active roster for the entire regular season.

BRING 'EM HOME, EDWIN: Back for his second season with the Bats, slugger Edwin Rios made his presence known. After an incredible debut season in Louisville, one that earned him the 2024 Mary E. Barney Louisville Bats Team MVP Award with his .286 average, 22 homers and 70, Rios picked up right where he left off in 2025. The first baseman appeared in a team-high 130 games for the Bats this year, leading the Bats in home runs with 26 and RBI with 94. His RBI total ranked second in the International League and is the most RBI by a Bat in a single season since Kevin Witt drove home 107 runs in 2002. Rios' left-handed power was a steady presence in the Bats lineup all season, as he was one of just two Bats to never leave Louisville's active roster throughout 2025. Rios' final two RBI came on his last swing of the season, a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning against Nashville on the penultimate day of the year on 9/20. With his walk-off single against St. Paul on September 5, Rios was the only Bat this season with multiple walk-off hits.

ZACH ATTACK: On 7/12 in Columbus, Bats reliever Zach Maxwell accomplished an incredibly rare feat on the mound. The big righty tossed just one inning but struck out four Clippers, holding Columbus off the scoreboard in a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth. The inning began with a strikeout of Dayan Frias, who struck out on four pitches. He whiffed through a spiked slider that kicked away from catcher P.J. Higgins, and Frias was able to reach first on a wild pitch to prevent the Bats from recording an out. Petey Halpin followed up with a single, and from there, Maxwell locked in, striking out Jhonkensy Noel, Kody Huff and Dom Nuñez to end the inning. The accomplishment stands as the first time that Bats pitching has recorded four strikeouts in a single inning since 2008, when Todd Coffey and Josh Roenicke combined for four punchouts against Indianapolis in the seventh inning on 8/29. Maxwell's performance is the only instance of an individual Bats pitcher striking out four batters in an inning going back to 2005. The 6-foot-6, 293-pound Maxwell led the Bats in appearances in 2025 with 51 and made his Major League debut with the Reds on August 23 in Arizona.

HOME SWEET HOME: Louisville Slugger Field was kind to the Bats again this season, with the club going 41-33 at home in 2025, highlighted by an 11-1 homestand against Columbus and St. Paul from August 26 to September 7. This is the third consecutive season that the Bats have sported a winning record at home after going 39-34 in 2024 and 40-35 in 2023. This three-year stretch snapped a run of 10 straight seasons with a losing record at Louisville Slugger Field for the Bats, which lasted from 2012 to 2022. It is also the first time that Louisville has had three consecutive winning seasons at home since the team did so for six seasons between 2006 and 2011.

ROAD WOES: The road was not kind to the 2025 Bats. Louisville finished the season with a dismal 30-46 record away from Louisville Slugger Field. The 46 losses ranked 3rd in all of Minor League Baseball on the road, two behind St. Paul and Gwinnett. The Bats won just one series on the road all season, taking four of six from the Stripers at Coolray Field from 8/12-17. Early in the season, the Bats had a 12-game road losing streak, being swept in consecutive six-game series at Indianapolis (5/13-18) and Toledo (5/27-6/1) before snapping the streak with a win at Iowa on 6/10. As a team, the Bats posted a 5.11 ERA on the road and batted just .250 in their 76 road games compared to a 4.48 ERA and .265 average in 74 games at Louisville Slugger Field.

Check out the Louisville Bats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from October 30, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central