By Amrit Brown//
A new baseball team will make its debut in Frederick this year as part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
The team has yet to choose a name but has narrowed it down to five possibilities that have relevance to Frederick. The names include the Rail Frogs, Screaming Alpacas, Bone Shakers, Ghost Hounds and Sawbones.
The names are unique, which is typical of minor league and Atlantic League brands. “We kind of wanted to make people uncomfortable in a good way,” said team Director of Marketing Branden McGee.
The name of the team will not be released until June 23 at a home game. For now, the squad will wear jerseys with question marks in the color of the Maryland state flag. The question mark jerseys can already be found on the team website.
Frederick’s newest team will share Nymeo Field with the Frederick Keys, a member of the MLB draft league. The schedule has been created to avoid any possible conflicts. Additionally, according to McGee any rained-out Keys games will be canceled, and it is possible that rained-out Atlantic League games will be made up as double-headers.
The team will play its first game of the season on the road on April 28 against the Gastonia Honey Hunters and will play its home opener on May 2 against the Lexington Legends.
The Atlantic League has been a Major League Baseball (MLB) partner league for 25 years. A partner league collaborates with the MLB to increase the spread of baseball as well as test out new rules for the MLB. The most recent rule changes include additions to the MLB this year like the pitch clock and larger bases.
Community support has already been good for the team, according to McGee. “It’s been great we had over 1,500 submissions from the public for the team name contest,” he said. The team also received 4,000 votes on the final five names in the competition.
McGee also hinted at the possibility of a new MLB affiliate team being brought to Frederick.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 40 teams lost their affiliation with MLB teams including the Keys. The Keys lost the affiliation largely due to outdated facilities which did not meet MLB requirements for minor league teams. The problems with the facilities included a lack of amenities in the clubhouse, hitting tunnels, parking and video capabilities.
“The goal is to bring affiliate baseball back but to do that we have to either upgrade our current facility or look at the possibility of building a new state-of-the-art facility,” McGee said.
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