Sonoma Stompers

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sonoma Stompers Baseball Club
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
League
Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs
ColorsNavy, orange, white
     
Retired numbersJayce Ray (99)
OwnershipJon Sebastiani
ManagerZack Pace
General ManagerEduardo Mora-Loera
Websitestompersbaseball.com

The Sonoma Stompers are a

Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 2014. They are a successor franchise to the defunct Sonoma County Grapes, and were the first professional team to make Sonoma County home since the Sonoma County Crushers
ceased play following the 2002 season.

History

The Stompers announced their first professional signing, Tommy Lyons, in March 2014, and shortly thereafter traded for local player, Jayce Ray. The team's first manager was Ray Serrano, who led the Stompers to a 42–36 record in their inaugural season. In 2015, Serrano accepted a full-time position with the Atlanta Braves to serve as the organization's catching instructor.[1]

Former major league pitcher

Pittsburg Mettle. Lee set a record with the win, becoming the oldest person (at age 67) to ever win a professional baseball game.[2] Lee pitched 5+2⁄3 innings, and batted for himself.[3]

In 2015, the Sonoma Stompers allowed Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus's Effectively Wild podcast to serve as the Baseball Operations department, under general manager Theo Fightmaster. The duo wrote about their experience in a book entitled The Only Rule is it Has to Work, published in 2016.[4]

The team made history in June 2015, when pitcher Sean Conroy became the first openly gay active professional baseball player.[5]

In June 2016, the Stompers announced that two female baseball players would join their roster starting in July. Upon joining the team, the two players, outfielder-pitcher Kelsie Whitmore and infielder Stacy Piagno, made the Sonoma Stompers the first coed professional baseball team since the 1950s.[6][7] The Stompers added catcher Anna Kimbrell in July 2016.[8] The Stompers won both the first and second halves of the season, earning their first Pacific Association championship under Manager Takashi Miyoshi.

After the 2017 season, the Minnesota Twins hired Miyoshi as a coach for Elizabethton Twins.

In 2018, under new general manager Brett Creamer and Manager Zack Pace, the Sonoma Stompers set a Pacific Association win record going 57-23. Outfielder Kenny Meimerstorf would win Rookie of the Year award by hitting a franchise best 23 home runs. Former Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Daniel Comstock set another single-season franchise record with a .364 average and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors at the catcher position. Pitcher Jacob Cox set the Pacific Association single-season saves record with 26. Pitcher Vijay Patel set the franchise single-season wins record going 9-3 while striking out 92 batters in 84 innings pitched.

In 2019, the Stompers held a regular season best 45-19 record. Most notably, pitcher Cole Watts and outfielder Dondrei Hubbard signed with Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres affiliates. The pair became the sixth and seventh Stompers to sign with an affiliated organization.

In 2021, one year after the Pacific Association's season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stompers left the professional ranks and joined the California Collegiate League. [9]

On May 17, 2022, the Baltimore Orioles recalled RHP Logan Gillaspie from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned INF Rylan Bannon to Triple-A Norfolk. Later that day, Gillaspie made his debut against the New York Yankees where he recorded his first career strikeout against Kyle Higashioka in two scoreless innings pitched. Gillaspie became the first Stompers player to appear in a Major League Baseball game and second Pacific Association player with Chris Mazza being the first in 2019.

Professional Season-by-season results

Season League W L Finish Playoffs/Result
2014 Pacific Association 42 36 3rd of 4 Did not qualify
2015 Pacific Association 44 33 2nd of 4 First half winner; Lost championship game vs San Rafael Pacifics
2016 Pacific Association 47 31 1st of 4 First half winner; Second half winner; League Champions
2017 Pacific Association 52 26 2nd of 4 First half winner; Lost championship game vs Vallejo Admirals
2018 Pacific Association 57 23 1st of 6 Lost championship game vs San Rafael Pacifics
2019 Pacific Association 45 19 1st of 5 Lost championship series vs San Rafael Pacifics

Collegiate Summer Season-by-season results

Season League Overall Conference Finish Playoffs/Result
2022 California Collegiate League 17-30 11-23 5th of 5 Did not qualify
2023 California Collegiate League 25-22 16-19 4th of 6 Did not qualify

Notable alumni

References

  1. ^ "Colombian Trio Of Former Stompers Taste Winter Success In Home Country". Sonoma Stompers. 15 May 2015.
  2. Washington Post
    . 30 June 2016.
  3. ^ "'Spaceman' Lee rockets Stompers". Sonoma Index-Tribune. 11 August 2014.
  4. ^ "The Only Rule is it Has to Work". Huffington Post. 13 May 2016.
  5. ^ "First openly gay player K's 11 in Stompers' win". Major League Baseball. 26 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Sonoma Stompers adding two women to roster". Press Democrat. 28 June 2016.
  7. ^ "The Sonoma Stompers are set to make more history by signing two women to their roster". Major League Baseball. 29 June 2016.
  8. ^ "Minor league baseball team to add third female player to roster". Excelle Sports. 15 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Stompers Join California Collegiate League". Stompers website. 15 October 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sonoma Stompers.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonoma_Stompers&oldid=1217576602"