Hudson Valley Renegades (NYY) @ Winston-Salem Dash (CHW)
May 23, 2025
HR: Arxy Hernandez (WS)
Attendance: 5,186
Time of Game: 2 hours, 50 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Opened: 2010
Capacity: 5,500
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic
Time of Game: 2 hours, 50 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Opened: 2010
Capacity: 5,500
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic
Year two of my Minor League Baseball stadium tour is underway. Like last year, I intend to attend games in 20 different ballparks in 2025. A couple differences are in store this year though. First, the tour will be much more consolidated with a vast majority of the stops happening in just two trips: the recently completed extended Memorial Day weekend voyage to North Carolina and an upcoming tour of the Eastern half of the Midwest League and other affiliated clubs in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Another difference is that while I had never been to any of the 20 stadiums I visited last year, there will be some repeat stops this year. Including the first couple North Carolina stops to see White Sox affiliates that I also caught on a similar trip back in 2017.
My first Minor League game of 2025 was the Friday night before Memorial Day in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Truist Stadium is located a short distance from downtown Winston-Salem, and provides views of downtown from most vantage points inside the stadium. It is basically built into the side of a hill. The field is situated well below street level. The main (only?) entrance is located in right field. There have been a few noticeable changes in and around Truist Stadium since I was there eight years ago, including the name (was BB&T Ballpark back then). First, the area around the park has been developed a bit, including new residential buildings overlooking the park beyond left field, a feature that I would soon learn is quite common for North Carolina ballparks. There is a local brewery concession area in right field, to compliment a similar one in left field. Only the left field one was there last time. Apparently another change occurred immediately following this homestand as I saw an X post indicating that they were replacing the video board that was the original from when the parked opened in 2010 with a new, larger one in time for their next home series. From what I can recall, the main seating areas have not changed though. The concourse provides views of the field most of the way around the park. Lawn seating exists well down the third base line and in left field. Down the first base line is a large patio standing/seating area. The modestly sized second level has ample suite and club seating. I only visited five stadiums last year that were below the AA level. This one blows all of them out of the water in terms of overall quality and surrounding views. I will be visiting a lot more High A parks this year though, so I will be curious to see if Winston-Salem still holds that top spot when the summer is over.
This marked the second straight minor league baseball game I had attended that featured the White Sox High A affiliate Winston-Salem Dash, having seen them play in Aberdeen to close out 2024. On this night, they were taking on Yankees affiliate Hudson Valley, who I also saw play last August. Not surprisingly, there were very few holdovers on the roster for either team. One of the few was Renegades second baseman Roc Riggio who was promoted to AA about a week after this game. The most notable Sox prospect in the Dash lineup was Braden Montgomery, one of the key pieces coming over from Boston in the Garrett Crochet trade. Unfortunately, Montgomery had a quiet game on this night, going 1 for 4. Most of the Dash hitters had quiet nights, actually. Hudson Valley starting pitcher Josh Grosz was in complete control from the start. He threw seven innings allowing just four hits, no walks and eight strikeouts. The only run he allowed was a second inning solo homer by Arxy Hernandez, which tied the game at one. Dash starter Tommy Vail was fairly effective as well, but only lasted four innings. I had forgotten until I was watching Vail pitch in another game on MiLB.TV about a week later that he started his college career at Notre Dame before stops at TCU and Auburn. Anyway, this was a decent pitchers duel for five innings before turning into a Renegades route in the final four frames. Dash relievers had trouble finding the strike zone as they walked six and hit a batter in five innings of work. The eighth inning was especially ugly. Carson Jacobs struck out the first batter he faced, but retired none of the next six. It went walk, single, walk, walk, single, double and then another walk by the next reliever for good measure. Hudson Valley scored five in the inning to turn the game into an 8-1 laugher. They tacked on two more in the ninth before the Dash decided to hand the ball to infielder Wes Kath to get the last out. Somehow, he induced a popout to short making him the only Dash pitcher on the evening to not allow a run. So that makes two straight Winston-Salem games I've been at in which they used a position player to finish the game. At least it wasn't in a tied game in extra innings this time, I guess. 10-1 Hudson Valley was the final score.
Not the greatest game to get my trip started. It was a very pleasant night at the ballpark with a nice crowd though. And Truist Stadium remains a gem of a stadium, perhaps overqualified as only a High A facility. Next, it was off to another great park that I had been to before, down in Charlotte.
Next ballpark: Truist Field in Charlotte, NC
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