Meanwhile, Sounds upgrade fan experience

Friday, March 29, 2024, Vol. 48, No. 13
By Tom Wood

The best minor league baseball stadium experience in the country just keeps getting better.

Fans attending the Nashville Sounds’ home opening-series (April 2-7 versus the St. Paul Saints) will quickly note three significant upgrades to First Horizon Park, which – hard to believe – is beginning its 10th year of operations since opening April 17, 2015.

“First Horizon Park is a relatively new facility … that has a standard for us to be at the top of minor league baseball, as it is,” says Adam English, chief operating officer and general manager of the Class AAA International League West team.

“Even though it’s a 10-year-old stadium, and we’re going into our ninth season thanks to COVID (wiping out the 2020 season), I would put us up against any minor league stadium in the country as one of the best.”

The $1 million worth of upgrades, as mandated by Major League Baseball’s minimum facility standards in its 2021 takeover of minor league operations, include:

• A state-of-the-art LED lighting system to replace the old halogen stadium lights

• New padding on all walls surrounding the playing field, giving players more protections from possible injury when trying to make a catch

• Extended netting down the first- and third-base lines to protect fans from sharply hit foul balls

“The netting down the lines is a huge necessity throughout baseball,” says Sounds manager Rick Sweet, who returns for the fourth consecutive season in Nashville. “I know the fans won’t like it because they want as many baseballs as they can get. But I’ve seen so many people hit with line drives and some of them hurt seriously. So, for the safety of the fans, I think that netting down the lines was absolutely a necessity.

“The lights will be a huge upgrade and add to what goes on at the ballpark. They can change colors with the lights, they can blink them off and on. I think the fans will really enjoy the experience at the ballpark. Those upgrades just add to how great our facility is.”

There have been other upgrades, visible ones in fan amenities areas like the Home Run Porch and Band Box, as well as in dressing rooms for the opposing teams. English says MLB wants players in every minor league city to have similar experiences that prepare them for the majors.

“They wanted to basically make it more uniform for all of their players throughout the minor league systems to make sure that they’re all playing at top-notch facilities,” English says. “We made some behind-the-scenes upgrades prior to the 2022 season. We expanded the size of the visiting locker room, visiting training room.

“Back in the day … part of your home field advantage was worse conditions in the locker room for the visiting team, right? Maybe not all the amenities they’re used to at home. Well, Major League Baseball set it up where they want a certain square footage and making sure that both teams were taken care of appropriately on the road.

“And so, we had to expand some of those things, which we did prior to the 2022 season. At the conclusion of these upgrades, we will be well within the facility standards as mandated by Major League Baseball.”

English points out that upgrades are not only good for players but the teams whose job is to prepare them for the next level, and for the game of baseball.

“It’s been good for us as well because ultimately we want a first-class facility, we want to be the people who help the next wave of major league superstars get where they’re going to and that’s what a lot of the Professional Development License (operating agreement with MLB) was about,” English says. “A lot of these changes were about player development, player health and wellness. As good partners in Major League Baseball, we want to be a first-class experience, which is what I think we are.

“I mean, every new stadium that’s built (nowadays) includes LED lights. Like any technology over time, they create new things that are more efficient, that are better. And so, long-term, yeah, absolutely, this would have been a change that we would have made regardless of Major League Baseball,” he adds.

Expect a good Sounds squad

Sweet, a catcher in his playing career, chuckles when asked to compare his minor league experiences to those of modern players.

“Wow, with the way the game is set up right now and as nice as the facilities are, most of these guys that are playing right now in minor league baseball wouldn’t play in these facilities,” Sweet says. “So, they’re definitely spoiled in the minor leagues right now with how nice the accommodations are.

“I got to play in Hawaii for three years,” Sweet adds. “If you’ve got to be in AAA, Hawaii is not a bad place to be. So that was very nice, but other than that I played in some older ballparks. The fans were great, but the ballpark itself, the amenities, they didn’t have much. There wasn’t much of a clubhouse and so, compared to today, it’s a huge difference.”

Sweet thinks he’s going to have another solid contender this season. They won the West division in 2022 but lost to the Durham Bulls in the IL championship. Last season, they posted an 83-65 record but finished second in the West division behind St. Paul (84-64).

“Well, we certainly plan on (contending). We have been for several years,” Sweet says. “As an organization, the Milwaukee Brewers are ranked as the second or third top minor league organization in baseball. That’s something we’re very proud of and what that means is we’ve got some very good players.

“We had a lot of guys involved with the big league club last year going back and forth. We’ve got some very good young players … that will be in the big leagues either this year or next year. And our AA club (in Biloxi, Mississippi) has some players that fit that same category.”

One player to watch is Jeferson Quero, 23, rated as MLB’s No. 2 catching prospect. He was a 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at Class AA Biloxi, where he was a Southern League All-Star and also represented the Brewers organization in the MLB All-Star Futures Game. Gifted with a rifle arm, Quero threw out 35% of base-stealers. He may not be in Nashville long.

“Quero is ranked as one of the top 20 or 30 prospects in all of the minor leagues. He has moved very fast through the organization,” Sweet says.

English points out that 60 Sounds players spent time with the parent club in Milwaukee last season. “So we’re a huge part of their success and (Brewers general manager) Matt Arnold reiterated that (during spring training), which is really great to hear because we’re a huge part of the support system for the success of the Major League level, and we’re going to continue to be there.”

First Horizon a showcase

Nashville’s minor league park has been a major showcase for how to do things right in the first decade of its existence by winning numerous awards, including the Tennessee Turfgrass Association’s Professional Sports Field of the Year Awards (2016 and 2023), 2015 Best Projects, Merit Award by ENR Southwest and the 2016 Excellence in Development Award by Urban Land Institute Nashville.

The stadium has become a fixture in the Germantown area north of the state capital and spurred growth in the form of housing, retail and restaurants.

“We’re a destination for the great fans of Nashville to come to Germantown. And the neighborhood really has developed from there. The new apartment (complex) over the left field wall is actually the tallest building in Germantown,” English says.

“What I love about our stadium is it fits in this neighborhood. Unless you’re actually looking for the stadium, if you drive through Germantown, you might not notice it. And Germantown is such a great neighborhood. There’s so many businesses and apartments springing up around us that it’s been a pleasure to be a part of this community.”