Rochester Red Wings Game Notes - March 31 vs. Lehigh Valley
March 31, 2023 - International League (IL)
Rochester Red Wings News Release
Lehigh Valley IronPigs (0-0) vs. Rochester Red Wings (0-0)
Friday - 4:05 p.m. ET - Innovative Field- Rochester, NY
Radio: Fox Sports 1280/iHeartRadio TV: MiLB.tv
LHP Michael Plassmeyer (NR) vs. RHP Joan Adon (NR)
HAPPY OPENING DAY: The Rochester Red Wings are set to open up their 2023 season against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for what will be their earliest start to a season in franchise history...since the ballpark's inception (1997), the Wings have only opened up their season at the friendly confines two other years ('18, '07)...in 1998, Rochester recorded a record-high temperature for March 31st with a mark of 83 degrees...the current intraday-high is forecasted for 50 degrees, keeping the hopes of Red Wings' GM Dan Mason alive as he made his iconic 50-Degree Guarantee on February 15th.
HOME COOKIN': The Wings have picked up the win in four of their last six season opening contests but are 1-5 in their last five home openers...
- Since moving from 500 Norton Street (Silver Stadium) following the 1996 season, the Wings have posted a 929-854 (.521) record while playing at home.
COOKING BACON: Rochester logged a 12-12 record vs. Lehigh Valley last year, going 7-5 against the IronPigs at home and 5-7 while in Allentown, PA...the 12 wins the Wings logged in '22 were the most any Rochester team has collected against the Phillies top affiliate since they moved to Lehigh Valley in 2008.
OPENING DAY HONORS: RHP Joan Adon gets the nod for the Red Wings to start the season today, making him just the second Dominican Republic native to start on Opening Day for the historic franchise (Nerio Rodriguez, 1998)...Adon has appeared with the Red Wings in all three seasons since Washington became Rochester's Major League affiliate, appearing in one game in 2021 and 10 in 2022 ...
- Of his two Triple-A wins, both have come at home (9/1 vs. TOL and 9/14 vs. LHV).
WELCOME BACK TO ROC: Nine players on the Wings' Opening Day (active) roster appeared with Rochester in 2022...RHP Joan Adon, the Opening Day starter, sports the familiar threads while southpaws Matt Cronin and Alberto Baldonado return to the bullpen after logging 34 and 56 appearances in '22, respectively...INF Lucius Fox, C Onix Vega, OF Cody Wilson and UTL Jack Dunn represent the returning position players on the active roster...seven of the 10 players on the Injured List have spent time in Rochester prior to this season.
BIG CITY: INF Matt Adams joins the Wings for the first time in 2023 after making his return to affiliated baseball, last playing for Colorado in 2021...the lefty slugger spent a pair of seasons with Washington in 2018 & 2019, winning a World Series championship in 2019...he enters the 2023 season leading all active MLB players with 11 pinch-hit home runs and 50 pinch-hit RBI.
STONE COLD KILLER: OF Stone Garrett joins the Wings in 2023 after spending the 2022 season with Arizona...the Texas native slugged a combined 32 home runs between Triple-A Reno (28) and the Big Leagues (4) in 2022, tied for second-most in Arizona's system (including MLB).
GRAND SLAM COACHING STAFF: Manager Matthew LeCroy returns to the helm for his third consecutive year as the Red Wings skipper and will be rejoined by his entire 2022 staff...LeCroy, enters his 15th year within the Nationals system, Brian Daubach(hitting coach) enters his 13th, Rafeal Chaves (pitching coach) enters his 2nd, and Billy McMillon (development coach) enters his 2nd...all helped coach the Red Wings to a 67-81 record in 2022.
YES SHE KAIN: Joining the Red Wings staff is DC-native Kylie Kain who will serve as the team dietician...she becomes the first female field-staff member in the history of the Red Wings organization....
Kain joins Red Wings CEO Naomi Silver, who was the first female-CEO in professional baseball.
NEW SEASON SPLIT: This year's new playoff format splits the International League season into two halves, with the first half ending on June 25 and the second half (and regular season) concluding on September 24...from there, the first-half winners serve as the hosts for a best-of-three League Champions Series against the second-half winners...the winner of that series will represent the International League against the winner of the Pacific Coast League in a one-game Triple-A National Championship Game on September 30 at Las Vegas Ballpark.
CHANGE IS A COMIN': The 2023 season will see the implementation of the Automatic Ball Strike system (ABS) for the first time throughout the Triple-A level...games will be split between FULL ABS (Monday-Thursday) and CHALLENGE ABS (Friday-Sunday) beginning on April 24th (umpires will call balls and strikes prior to the 24th).
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