Year of the Oak: Five Highlights from the Rawhide's 2025 Season
Published on September 18, 2025 under California League (CalL)
Visalia Rawhide News Release
Visalia, CA - The 2025 Visalia Rawhide season was full of special memories, top prospects and a season-long celebration of Visalia baseball history. Here's five highlights from the year:
1. Home Dominance- Visalia excelled at Valley Strong Ballpark in 2025 with a 39-27 home record- the second best mark in the California League behind only the league champion San Jose Giants.
The home wins included a six game sweep of the Inland Empire 66ers. The series in early June was the first six game sweep in franchise history. (MiLB started playing six game series in 2021.)
Rawhide fans helped propel the squad to some memorable wins including a four run comeback and walk-off versus Rancho Cucamonga on May 9th, Yassel Soler's walk-off home run on May 22nd against Lake Elsinore and a come from behind walk-off over San Jose on August 30th.
The Rawhide's 39 home wins were the most for the franchise since the 2019 championship team. Over 120,000 Rawhide fans passed through the Valley Strong Ballpark gates for a fourth consecutive season.
2. First Rounders- The Rawhide featured three Arizona Diamondbacks first round draft picks in 2025 with outfielder Slade Caldwell (2024, 29th overall), second baseman JD Dix (2024, 35th overall) and shortstop Kayson Cunningham (2025, 18th overall).
Caldwell made his pro debut in Visalia hitting for a .294 BA and .460 OBP in 48 games before being promoted to High-A Hillsboro. The Jonesboro, Arkansas native led all of MiLB in on-base-percentage for much of his time in Visalia and entered the MLB's top 100 prospect list while with the Rawhide.
Dix joined the Rawhide at the end of June and became the heart of the team's offense for the second half of the season. He hit for a .261 BA and .391 OBP while stealing 19 bases in 50 games. Dix put together an unforgettable home debut on July 4th against Rancho Cucamonga with four hits, four RBI and four runs including his first Rawhide home run.
Cunningham debuted with Visalia just a month after being drafted and recorded 12 hits in his first 11 pro games. He is projected to be the Rawhide's everyday shortstop to start the 2026 season.
Since 2021 seven D-backs 1st round draft picks have played in Visalia (Cunningham, Caldwell, Dix, Ryan Waldschmidt, Druw Jones, Landon Sims and Jordan Lawler.)
3. Pitching and Defense Rocks- Visalia finished with a 4.31 staff ERA in 2025- the second strongest in the California League and best for the organization since 2019. Rawhide pitchers were especially dominant at home with a 3.74 ERA.
Junior Sanchez led the Rawhide's starting rotation with a 2.32 ERA in 13 starts before being promoted to Hillsboro. Reliever Jake Fitzgibbons totaled a 18 game scoreless streak over 24.2 innings pitched and was promoted in July. Only three pitchers in all of MiLB had more straight scoreless appearances in 2025.
Rawhide pitching was helped by Visalia's defense holding a California League best .971 fielding percentage. Alberto Barriga was one of the fielding stars leading the league with 37 runners caught stealing. Yerald Nin provided the defensive play of the season with an over the shoulder diving catch in center field and double up of a runner against Lake Elsinore on May 22nd.
4. El Toro- Yassel Soler became a fan favorite in Visalia with 12 home runs in 2025- the most for any Rawhide player in a single season since Gavin Conticello in 2023.
The teenager from the Dominican Republic hit eight of his homers at Valley Strong Ballpark including a walk-off blast to beat Lake Elsinore in May.
Nicknamed "El Toro" Soler started 81 games at third base and went on a late season tear including a .543 SLG% in July.
5. 80 Years of Visalia Baseball- Visalia celebrated 80 years of professional baseball in 2025 dating back to the 1946 Visalia Cubs. Fans enjoyed a different historical Visalia baseball jersey giveaway every Friday home game including the Redlegs, Mets and Central Valley Rockies.
Every Thursday home game the Rawhide transformed into the Oaks taking the field in iconic green jerseys. Visalia played as the Oaks from 1977 to 1992 and 1995 to 2008.
Memorable bobblehead giveaways included Visalia baseball greats Max Scherzer and Paul Goldschmidt.
A bobblehead giveaway and appearance from Chris McDonald, aka Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore, was a season highlight. Other fun memories included Margaritaville Weekend with the Rawhide taking the field in tropical jerseys, Star Wars Night with custom themed jerseys plus a drone show and a Sugar Skull Lowrider Bobblehead Giveaway as part of Copa Weekend.
The Rawhide now look ahead to the 2026 season with Opening Day on Friday April 3rd against the Fresno Grizzlies at Valley Strong Ballpark. Ticket plans for the 2026 season will be released on Wednesday October 1st with more details on the upcoming year shared on the Rawhide website and social media channels throughout the offseason.
California League Stories from September 18, 2025
- Year of the Oak: Five Highlights from the Rawhide's 2025 Season - Visalia Rawhide
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.
