Regions Field - Birmingham Barons

Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) @ Birmingham Barons (CHW)

June 12, 2026

Barons 3, Shuckers 2

W: Johnathan Clark
L: Travis Smith

HR: Anthony DePino (BIR)

Attendance: 4,080
Time of Game: 2 hours, 17 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Birmingham, AL
Opened: 2013
Capacity: 8,500
Level: Double A
League: Southern

After my short stay in Tennessee, I drove down to Birmingham, Alabama on a Friday afternoon.  Regions Field is the only minor league ballpark I visited this year that I had been to before.  In 2017, I visited Birmingham as part of a trip to see all of the White Sox minor league affiliates, plus the Braves new stadium in Atlanta.  On that trip, I just made a day trip to Birmingham from the Atlanta area.  So this was my first time actually staying a night in Birmingham, or anywhere else in Alabama for that matter.

When Regions Field opened in 2013, it was widely considered the crown jewel of the Southern League and one of the nicest parks in all of the minor leagues.  That's probably not the case any longer, but it is still a very nice facility.  It hadn't occurred to me the night before while in Chattanooga, but the architects for the new Chattanooga park probably got a few of their design ideas from Birmingham.  First of all, Regions Field also celebrates its city's industrial past with a brick and metal exterior.  Additionally, the asymmetrical design of the upper seating areas are somewhat similar to Chattanooga's, except the sides are reversed.  Here, the two levels of suites are on the first base side, while club seating, an indoor lounge and a party patio can be found behind home plate spanning out beyond third base.  Traditional reserved seating on the main level stretches from just beyond third base all the way out to the right field foul pole.  I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me they have expanded the perimeter of the ballpark in the outfield since the last time I was here.  It now runs almost all the way back to the apartment buildings that surround left field, well beyond the left field fence.  This creates a ton of open space throughout the outfield.  The Barons' batting cage is viewable from the concourse in right field.  There is a huge picnic area in left field with seating areas in the left field home run porch.  There are also bleacher seats available in right field.  Grass berm seating can be found in right-centerfield as well as down the third base line.  This downtown ballpark is surrounded by residential high rises in both left and right field.  Hovering over the park a couple blocks beyond centerfield is a huge children's hospital.  During the 7th inning stretch, fans are encouraged to turn their phone flashlights on and wave to kids in the hospital, similar to the tradition at Iowa Hawkeyes football games with the children's hospital overlooking their stadium.  Even though I was quite invested in this game featuring a White Sox affiliate, my attention was somewhat divided during the later stages of the game because the USA men's soccer team was playing their first game in this summer's World Cup this evening as well.  One small complaint from an otherwise very enjoyable experience:  the sound system was cranked up WAY too loud at the beginning of the game.  Fortunately, they eventually seemed to tune it down a bit.

A side note from this game before I get to the recap.  The PA announcer kept referring to the player formerly known as Alec Makarwicz, the Barons third baseman, as Alec Briley.  The scoreboard had him listed as Makarwicz and I had seen him play by that name a bunch of times before.  So I was very confused by this.  The following day, I did some research and discovered that Briley is his wife's last name.  Apparently, sometime that week, he made the decision to use his wife's last name, at least professionally.  I would imagine he grew tired of people butchering the pronunciation of his previous name.

When I last saw the Barons play a month earlier in Knoxville, they only recorded one hit, an infield single by the first batter of the game.  In the weeks that passed between these games, they received a couple reinforcements by way of promotion, notably including third/first baseman Anthony DePino.  Even with a little more impressive lineup, it still took them until the sixth inning of this game to surpass their hit total from Knoxville.  Jaron DeBerry got the start for Biloxi and mostly held the Barons offense in check.  The same could be said for Birmingham's starter, southpaw Lucas Gordon.  Both hurlers pitched into the sixth inning while only allowing a pair of hits.  As for hitters, this was my first time seeing the current consensus top prospect in baseball, Biloxi shortstop Jesus Made.  He didn't do anything particularly spectacular in this game, but did record a single and made a bunch of nice plays defensively.  Biloxi got the scoring started in the third inning.  Following a leadoff walk, Jacob Hurtubise lined one just inside the right field line for a RBI stand up triple.  Gordon was able to strand him on third though, keeping the Shuckers lead at 1-0.  It was the only run Gordon would allow.  The Barons finally got on the board against DeBerry in the sixth inning, immediately after the Shuckers stranded the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.  In the bottom half, a couple batters after DeBerry issued a walk, DePino absolutely crushed a 3-2 pitch to the concourse in left for a two run homer, which put Birmingham ahead 2-1.  That is how it would stay until the ninth inning.  Jonathan Clark came in to pitch for the Barons, looking to close the game out.  He wound up walking the first batter he faced, Mike Boeve, who was lifted for a pinch runner, Southern League stolen base leader Dylan O'Rea.  O'Rea would eventually steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch.  With two outs, Hurtubise came up with a clutch single to tie the game.  He knocked in both of the Shuckers runs on the evening.  Despite the deflating blown lead in the top of the ninth, the Birmingham fans didn't remain despondent very long.  Leading off the bottom of the ninth, DePino made Regions Park look very small again, crushing a Travis Smith hanging slider to nearly the same location on the left field concourse as before.  This walk off homer gave the Barons a 3-2 victory, and ended the White Sox affiliates winless season with me in the house.

What a fun evening this turned out to be!  The Barons got a walk-off win, the USMNT cruised to victory over Paraguay and the White Sox beat the Dodgers.  Not a bad Friday night for yours truly.  More fun was to be had in Alabama that weekend, as I drove down to the state capital, Montgomery, the following day.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: DABOS Park in Montgomery, AL

Erlanger Park - Chattanooga Lookouts

Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA) @ Chattanooga Lookouts (CIN)

June 11, 2026

Lookouts 4, Trash Pandas 2

W: Johnathan Harmon
L: Joel Hurtado

S: Johnathan Lavallee

HR: Mac McCroskey (RCT), Zavier Warren (CHA), Ryan McCrystal (CHA)

Attendance: 6,540
Time of Game: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Chattanooga, TN
Opened: 2026
Capacity: 8,032
Level: Double A
League: Southern

After five days in the Carolinas, it was time to start the Southern League portion of my trip.  I drove west to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Well, I actually drove southwest then northwest to Chattanooga because there is no straight shot route from Greenville to Chattanooga thanks to the extensive mountains separating those two cities.  Chattanooga itself features Lookout Mountain from which the baseball team gets its nickname.  This Thursday night game was the first of seven straight Southern League games I would attend.  As a reminder, I went to a SL game in Knoxville a month earlier.  Over the course of the next week plus, I would visit all of the other seven ballparks of the Southern League, starting in Chattanooga.

The Lookouts moved into the brand new Erlanger Park this season.  While it is indeed a very modern park on the inside, it does not appear as such from the exterior because they made the very unique design decision to build it right into the old industrial neighborhood in which it resides.  The stadium is built right up against a long ago abandoned warehouse along the first base side.  The team store is actually housed within the premises of that building.  The main parking lot is covered with gravel and separated from the ballpark by defunct train tracks.  It is a very unique setting to say the least.  I would be curious to see what this old neighborhood, a few miles south of downtown Chattanooga, looks like in the coming years because this park is just the beginning of a major revitalization project.  As it currently stands though, they already have a pretty cool thing going on there.  The uniqueness of the neighborhood sets the scene, but the interior of the ballpark is quite interesting as well.  It is as asymmetrical of an interior design in a modern ballpark as I can recall.  The first base and third base sides of the seating areas look nothing alike.  On the first base side is just a handful of rows on the lower level leading up to the concourse, while the third base side is a more traditional layout on that level.  The first base concourse features a food hall with several concession options and a full service bar.  Even the group and premium spaces on the upper level are quite different on each side, with a large indoor space behind the second level seats on the first base side and two levels of suites plus a party deck spanning from behind home plate out beyond third base.  The third base upper levels feature a brown, wood-like colored facade that also plays into the industrial motif of the park.  There are a ton of standing room vantage points throughout the outfield, including on the roof of the club situated in dead centerfield.  The entire outfield and well down each foul line feature all sorts of unique group and party areas, with a large berm seating area in left field.  I was very impressed by this park and give the architects a big thumbs up for trying something completely different than its contemporary new ballparks.  The local fans seem to like it as well as there was a huge crowd on hand for this Thursday evening game.

Certain elements of the ballpark weren't the only things that made this game a bit of a throwback experience.  In an extremely rare occurrence in modern minor league baseball, both starting pitchers in this game wound up pitching into the seventh inning.  It was a pair of righties, Joel Hurtado for Rocket City and Johnathan Harmon for Chattanooga.  Both pitched well, although Hurtado's final line wasn't all that impressive as he got roughed up a bit in his last couple innings and perhaps would have been pulled a little earlier if winning this game had been paramount for Rocket City.  The Trash Pandas scored first in the top of the third.  Following a leadoff walk and single, Nick Rodriguez lined a sacrifice fly to center to put Rocket City ahead.  The Lookouts tied it up in the fourth on an interesting sequence of events, starting with a bunt single by Jay Allen.  Following a questionable out call at first, Allen would score on a single by Pablo Aliendo, during which another base runner was nabbed at third.  In the fifth inning, both teams tallied runs on solo homers.  For Rocket City, it was Mac McCroskey lining an opposite field shot just over the wall into his team's bullpen.  That would wind up being the Trash Pandas last hit of the game.  In the bottom half of the fifth, left handed hitting Xavier Warren hit a bomb to right to tie the game at two.  In the sixth inning with Hurtado still on the mound for Rocket City, Lookouts catcher Ryan McCrystal came up to bat with two outs and a runner on first and hit a towering flyball to the left field wall that the left fielder made a leaping attempt to grab but came up empty.  At first glance, it appeared to clang off the wall for extra bases.  But the umpire ruled that it had cleared the fence for a two run homer, giving the Lookouts a 4-2 lead.  Quite an evening at the plate for players with surnames beginning with McCr.  As previously mentioned, both starters remained in the game into the seventh inning.  Once they were replaced, the scoring ended.  Neither team would record a hit against the relievers who covered the final two frames on each side.  In fact, a McCrystal walk would be the only baserunner for either side against a reliever.  Jonathan Lavallee retired all three batters he faced in the ninth to pick up a save, closing out a Lookouts 4-2 victory.

This was my one and only game in Tennessee on this trip, but third different park in the state this year.  Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville all have very nice ballparks that I would recommend visiting if you are in that state during baseball season.  After this nice start to the Southern League portion of the trip, it was down to Birmingham, Alabama for the first of an eventual three games in the state of Alabama.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Regions Field in Birmingham, AL

Fifth Third Park - Hub City Spartanburgers

Asheville Tourists (HOU) @ Hub City Spartanburgers (TEX)

June 10, 2026

Spartanburgers 21, Tourists 0

W: Brock Porter
L: Yeriel Santos

HR: Yeison Morrobel (HCS), Hector Osorio (HCS), Esteban Mejia (HCS), Maxton Martin (HCS)

Attendance: 4,648
Time of Game: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Spartanburg, SC
Opened: 2025
Capacity: 5,250
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

On Wednesday morning, I made the short drive from Greenville to Spartanburg for an 11 a.m. first pitch at Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg.  This early start time gave me more than enough time to squeeze in two games in the same day, as I returned to Greenville for another game that evening.  This ballpark neighborhood on the edge of downtown Spartanburg isn't quite as built up as Greenville... yet.  There were several cranes visible in the area that is being transformed with tons of new development ongoing.  The uniquely named Hub City Spartanburgers, where the team's location moniker is actually the city's nickname and the team nickname includes the city's actual name, is a very new franchise.

The Down East Ducks relocated to Spartanburg in the brand new Fifth Third Park in 2025.  With this move was also an upgrade to the High A South Atlantic League while fellow Rangers affiliate Hickory was moved down to the Low A Carolina League.  While Hickory was a nice park in its own right, it's easy to see why that swap was made.  Fifth Third Park would have been severely overqualified at Low A.  It's even arguable that this franchise could be a strong candidate to bump up to the AA Southern League should that league eventually add a couple more teams.  This is easily one of the nicest Class A ballparks I've seen.  The ballpark has three entrances, with the main one being near a parking garage in left field.  There is a huge concourse surrounding the main seating areas, particularly right behind home plate.  This concourse features an impressive assortment of concessions, yes, including a full fledged burger bar.  Sadly, I wasn't really in the mood for a burger prior to the morning first pitch.  The lower seating bowl features six sections closest to home plate that have seats made of what I would call office chair material stretching all the way from the field to the concourse.  Perhaps I've seen enhanced comfort seating like this elsewhere in the minors, but not in this quantity.  Down the first base line is a terrace section with plenty of tables and chairs.  No fixed seating in the outfield, but there is a large grass berm in left field that was filled with kids on this particular day.  The second level features several premium seating areas, including plenty of suites and a large club area.  It was a nice, sunny late morning and early afternoon in Spartanburg.  As is typically the case for these summer weekday matinee games, the kid to adult ratio was quite high.  Interestingly, for this game, the PA announcer was sitting right at field level near the visitors dugout.  I wonder if he always does that, or if this was a special occasion.  I would think not if there is any threat of weather as that spot was definitely not protected from the elements.

It was easy to see why Asheville finished the first half of the season with the worst record in all of affiliated minor league baseball.  Turns out, the 16 runs I saw them give up five days earlier wasn't just a product of their small home ballpark and wasn't the worst performance I saw from their pitchers on this trip.  Meanwhile, Hub City made their home park look small, which it really is not.  In fact, I think it may normally play slightly as a pitchers park, though the wind was blowing out a bit on this afternoon.  Yeriel Santos got the start on the mound for Asheville and the first few innings went decently for him before the wheels fell off.  He created a mess for himself in the second by loading the bases with a pair of walks surrounding a hit batter to start the inning.  Esteban Mejia just missed a grand slam as he flew out just short of the wall in center for a sacrifice fly to give the Burgers an early lead.  They then broke the game open in the fourth inning when they scored five runs off of Santos, all coming with two outs.  Yeison Morrobel lined a three run homer into the Hub City bullpen in right, his first High A home run.  Maxton Martin followed that with an opposite field double off the wall near the pole in left.  Then Hector Osorio hit a towering fly ball to right center that the nearest fielder, the right fielder did not see at all.  Turns out it didn't matter though as the ball cleared the fence for a two run homer giving the Spartanburgers a comfortable 6-0 lead.  Meanwhile, right handed pitcher J'Briell Easley got the start for Hub City and cruised through four innings without allowing a run and just one hit.  He was followed by Brock Porter who also pitched four scoreless innings while striking out five.  Both pitchers were extremely dominant but were overshadowed by the Burgers hitters.  The hits kept on coming in the fifth inning as they batted around for the second straight inning.  Chandler Pollard started the inning with a generous triple on a deep fly ball to left that the left fielder misjudged.  Mejia followed that with a towering homer to the berm in left.  The next two batters completed the inning cycle with a double and a single.  Then Maxton Martin hit a two run homer off the scoreboard in right.  Hub City would later tack on an unearned run for a six spot in the fifth inning, blowing the game open with a 12 run lead.  Mercifully, Asheville was able to keep the Spartanburgers off the board in the sixth.  But then Hub City would bat through the order two more times in the seventh and eighth innings, making it four of five innings in which they pulled off that feat.  They scored five runs in the seventh, this time without the benefit of a home run.  Asheville turned to a position player, catcher Freuddy Batista, to pitch the eighth inning.  Unsurprisingly, he wasn't any more effective than the Toursists actual full time pitchers.  He walked four batters as the Burgers were unwilling to chase his floaters.  They scored four more for good measure to close out a three touchdown victory.  Hub City scored 21 runs on 17 hits.  It was a long and ugly afternoon for Asheville as they dropped this one 21-0 to fall to 16-42 on the season.

As mentioned, I went back to Greenville for another game between the Drive and the Winston-Salem Dash that evening, with Greenville picking up another win.  That brought an end to the Carolina portion of the trip.  From there, I drove west to Chattanooga, visiting the first of seven straight Southern League ballparks.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Erlanger Park in Chattanooga, TN