Sonoma Stompers 2016: The Boys Of Summer Return
By Tim Livingston for The Sun —
For the third summer in a row, the Sonoma Stompers return to the Valley to offer something unique to the Wine Country: A professional baseball experience only a block away from the historic Sonoma Plaza.
The Stompers began their home schedule this week at People’s Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field, hosting the Vallejo Admirals. The beginning of the three game series was a welcome sight for baseball hungry Sonomans and tourists alike, the first of 39 home dates that will continue through the end of August.
In 2014, the Stompers became a member of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, a four-team league of independent teams that include the Admirals, the two-time defending champion San Rafael Pacifics, and the Pittsburg Diamonds.
The Stompers are the karmic successors to the Sonoma County Crushers, the popular independent baseball team that played their games in Rohnert Park during the late 1990s and early 2000s. While not related to the Crushers, it’s the same idea they had: Offer an affordable professional sports experience close to home.
The team does not have any affiliation to a Major League organization, but in only two years, they have been a successful incubator that has fostered talent with Major League aspirations.
Sonoma resident Jayce Ray played for the Stompers in 2014, his first time playing a game at Arnold Field since his senior year at Sonoma Valley High in 2008, where he was a key cog in the school’s first and only North Coast Section championship victory. After winning the league MVP award with the Stompers, he moved up to the Wichita Wingnuts of the American Association for a successful 2015 season, which earned him a minor league contract by the Boston Red Sox last October. After starting his season at Low-A Greenville of the South Atlantic League, Ray was promoted to Double-A Portland of the Eastern League this past weekend, putting him two steps away from joining the big team in Boston.
Another former Stomper got signed just before the 2016 season began. Pitcher and Texas native Santos Salidvar was dominant in 2015 after joining the team mid-season out of Southern University and was slated to be Sonoma’s ace this season. However, on the day he arrived in Sonoma to begin Spring Training, Saldivar received a call from the Milwaukee Brewers that changed his life forever. They told him they wanted to sign him to a minor league contract, which meant he would only be in Sonoma for 24 hours before reporting to the team’s training facility in Glendale, Arizona.
Saldivar’s first assignment in the Brewers organization will be to Helena of the short-season Northwest League. The Stompers originally signed him thanks to a project that went on behind the scenes last year that eventually became the basis for a New York Times bestseller.
Penned by noted baseball writers Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller, “The Only Rule Is It Has To Work” chronicles the 2015 Stompers as champions of sabermetrics, the statistical movement in baseball that was popularized by Bill James in the 1970’s and has become commonplace in the game in the post-“Moneyball” era of the early 2000s.
Miller and Lindbergh found Saldivar on a spreadsheet they concocted featuring college players that were undrafted by Major League teams but could still be valuable at the independent level. Using statistical analysis and advanced scouting, the duo built the Stompers a front office akin to a Major League team’s baseball operations department.
The book has become critically acclaimed, and the principles that the stat-friendly duo brought to the team have remained strong in the organization for 2016.
Another spreadsheet find, pitcher Sean Conroy, is back with the team this season after his historical turn in 2015. On June 25 of last season, he started on the team’s Pride Night as the first active, openly gay baseball player in history. He threw a complete game shutout that night, and memorabilia from the game now resides in Cooperstown, New York at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Eric Gullotta is the principal owner of the team. He took over ownership from Redwood Sports Entertainment before the 2015 season. In his third season as general manager, Theo Fightmaster is optimistic about what the season holds for his team.
“This is the most complete roster we’ve had the privilege of starting a season with,” said Fightmaster, “Our pitching should be as competitive as any in the league, and I’m thrilled with a number of the signings we’ve made this winter.”
Six players return from the 2015 team, including Conroy, Eric Mozeika, and Mike Jackson, Jr., who has been with the franchise since the beginning. 2015 Pacific Association Rookie of the Year Mark Hurley is back in the outfield along with the powerful first baseman Daniel Baptista and middle infielder Eddie Mora-Loera.
Along with the first three home games of the season this week, the Stompers will feature many promotions throughout the month of the June.
Kids ages 8-16 can learn from the pros themselves during the Stompers Baseball Camp June 14-16, with the June 15 session featuring an appearance by former San Francisco Giant great J.T. Snow. Snow will also make an appearance that night to meet fans and throw out the first pitch before Sonoma’s game with San Rafael.
Over Father’s Day weekend, the Stompers will once again celebrate LGBTQ Pride Weekend in Northern California with “Out At The Ballpark” on Friday, June 17. Conroy is slated to start that game, as well. On Sunday, June 19, it’s a day for the dads, as the Stompers host a Father’s Day Celebration.
The big night of the summer for the Stompers comes on the 4th of July, when the team will have a 5:30 p.m. game at the ballpark and let fans come onto the field afterwards to watch the famous Sonoma fireworks display.
Sounds like the beginning of a fun summer at the ballpark.
For more information about the Stompers, visit StompersBaseball.com or contact the team by email at [email protected]. The team’s Fan Shop is located at 234 West Napa Street.
One thought on “Sonoma Stompers 2016: The Boys Of Summer Return”
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The Stompers made national news this weekend with their having two women in the starting lineup, plus a tie-in with Coppola.
Here is a list of the women who have played, managed, coached or umpired in the independent professional minor league baseball leagues since the 1993 version of independent baseball: women in independent professional baseball. The box score to the Stompers game, as well as links to the official statistics bio pages for both women, are included in that link as well.
I hope that this proves to be a helpful resource!