MIDLAND The sights and sounds of minor league baseball are set to again take over Momentum Bank Ballpark as the Midland RockHounds are inching closer to the start of their 2022 season.
The team will start its campaign with a three-game road series against the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Friday to Sunday, though it won’t take long for the RockHounds to take their home field.
They’ll host the Corpus Christi Hooks at 6:30 p.m. on April 12.
The team is ready to build off a 59-60 mark last season under manager Bobby Crosby, who is confident in the group he has returning this year.
“We have a lot of guys back that were here last year, maybe 60% or 70% of the guys,” Crosby said. “Some struggled, some did well and the new guys we have are really talented.
“I expect a little bit more out of this team, it’s going to be a good thing.”
Last year’s group finished second in the Double-A Central’s South Division behind the Frisco RoughRiders.
The RockHounds will face many of the same opponents they played last year, this time playing in the Texas League after Minor League Baseball announced that its leagues would return to their historical names in March.
Shortstop Jeremy Eierman is one of the players to watch this season, bringing veteran experience to the team after recording 10 home runs and 30 RBIs in his first campaign in Midland last year.
“Last year I really had no clue what it was like here in Midland,” Eierman said. “It’s nice coming back, there’s a lot of the same guys here too and same manager.”
Eierman believes this team will benefit from having continuity across the board to build up chemistry.
In his first year leading the franchise, Crosby felt that the clubhouse atmosphere was one of the RockHounds’ strength.
The RockHounds have 17 players on their roster who have played with the ball club in the past, bringing in 11 new faces.
Crosby has seen Eierman, Jonah Bride, Logan Davidson and Kyle McCann come together to take on leadership roles through the last month of practice.
Pitchers J.T. Ginn and Ryan Cusick are standing out as new additions to the team along with infielder Zack Gelof.
Cusick (Atlanta Braves) and Ginn (New York Mets) were acquired through trades, while Gelof was a second-round draft pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2021.
“He’s done nothing but impress people from the top of our organization all the way down,” Crosby said of Gelof. “He’s going to be a guy that I expect a lot of good things out of.
“To start his career in Double-A is a big jump, but his mentality is going to be able to handle it.”
Michael Danielak is another pitcher starting his tenure with the RockHounds and he’s looking to bounce back from various injuries he sustained after being drafted in 2017.
The atmosphere around the close-knit team has stood out to Danielak, who is entering his fifth season in the minors.
He has taken advantage of spring training to get acclimated with his new teammates and make the necessary adjustments to his game before the first pitch is thrown to start out the year.
RockHounds general manager Monty Hoppel knows the expectations are high for this year’s squad because of the development each player has experienced through the A’s organization.
“There’s a lot of talk about how good this team is, so we’ll see, rosters change all the time,” Hoppel said. “With the A’s trading some of their big-name players, what you get in return is a lot of great prospects in the minor leagues.”
The RockHounds will start their first series against the Sod Poodles at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Hodgetown in Amarillo.
Crosby said he would take a look at the Amarillo roster Tuesday, adding that he isn’t focused on what other clubs are doing at this point in the year.
“You never know what different organizations are doing,” Crosby said. “I’m not really concerned about it, I like our team, I like our team a lot.
“Whoever we play, I know we’re going to have a good shot no matter who we’re up against.”
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