While the White Sox were losing their 429th consecutive ballgame at Kauffman Stadium Thursday afternoon, I was half-watching the Hillsboro Hops and Eugene Emeralds play 5½ innings of High-A Northwest League baseball, which is about all my son can tolerate before nap time.
That only gave me time for a couple of takeaways, the first being that the Hops have an excellent name and logo, and I bought one of their caps. The other is that, because the White Sox farm system has been gifted with four modern, well-appointed ballparks at their full-season affiliates, I hadn't really comprehended the push for new facilities in the face of contraction of the minor leagues in 2021.
When Major League Baseball reduced the number of affiliates from 160 to 120, the condition of the ballpark was a part of their criteria used to determine the efficacy of a minor league locale. A few fields couldn't meet modern demands and were surviving purely on inertia, but Hillsboro ain't that.
Driving into the park, I was surprised to see that another ballpark was under construction in the same campus, because the current Hillsboro park opened in 2013. It's the same age as Regions Field in Birmingham, which shows no signs of inadequacy. Nevertheless, while Hillsboro survived contraction, its subsequent placement in High-A, as opposed to short-season A-ball beforehand, posed a supposed threat to their existence.
To meet new MiLB requirements, the Hops and local officials considered many options before determining that building a new ballpark projects to be at least 15% more cost-effective than renovating the Hops’ current home, Ron Tonkin Field. That facility lacks a women’s locker room, visiting clubhouse, weight room, and other features that cause it to fall short of the new equity, access and professional-caliber MiLB facility standards.
Hillsboro was able to cobble together the private and public funds for a new $120 million ballpark that seats 1,800 more, but the Emeralds weren't so fortunate, and after voters rejected a bond measure, they're looking for another city in Oregon that will give them the backing that's allegedly needed. This particular game of musical chairs is a very messy business, and while it'd be ideal if the White Sox could provide a minor league team closer to Chicagoland, it's understandable why they're content to stick with the partners they have.
Columbia 2, Birmingham 0
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4, and was caught stealing.
- William Bergolla was 1-for-4 with a K.
- Wilfred Veras, 2-for-4 with a stolen base.
- DJ Gladney singled, struck out and was hit by a pitch:
- Jake Palisch stepped into Wikelman González's rotation spot and threw five perfect innings, striking out five.
Bowling Green 3, Winston-Salem 2
- Sam Antonacci went 1-for-5 with a double.
- Jeral Perez went 0-for-4.
- Braden Montgomery went 2-for-4.
- Samuel Zavala, 1-for-4 with a double.
- Seth Keener: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 49 of 85 pitches for strikes.
ACL White Sox 4, ACL Royals 3 (7 innings)
- Colson Montgomery went 1-for-3.
- Adrían Gil singled and struck out twice.
- Jurdrick Profar struck out in both plate appearances.
- Mathias LaCombe: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
