Wichita Wind Surge

	Wichita Wind Surge; Founded in 1993 ; Wichita, Kansas
	Team logo
Minor league affiliations
Class	Triple-A (1993–present)
League	Pacific Coast League (1998–present)
Conference	American Conference
Division	Southern Division
Previous leagues	American Association (1993–1997)
Major league affiliations
Team	Miami Marlins (2009–present)
Previous teams	New York Mets (2007–2008); Washington Nationals (2005–2006); Houston Astros (1997–2004); Milwaukee Brewers (1993–1996);
Minor league titles
League titles (2)	1998; 2001;
Conference titles (2)	1998; 2001;
Division titles (3)	1998; 2001; 2007;
Team data
Nickname	Wichita Wind Surge (2020–present)
Previous names	New Orleans Baby Cakes (2017–2019); New Orleans Zephyrs (1993–2016);
Colors	Navy blue, red, sky blue, yellow gold, white[1];
Ballpark	Riverfront Stadium
Previous parks	Shrine on Airline (1997–2019); Privateer Park (1993–1996);
Owner(s)/; Operator(s)	Lou Schwechheimer
Manager	Keith Johnson[2]

The Wichita Wind Surge is an American Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Wichita, Kansas, and will begin play in 2020 at Riverfront Stadium.

History

Prior to 2020, the Wind Surge had been located in Metairie, Louisiana playing as the New Orleans Baby Cakes. The team had been there since 1993 when the Denver Zephyrs had been forced to move due to the Colorado Rockies' entry into Major League Baseball. The team's history is traced back to 1888, with the founding of the Kansas City Blues.

In September 2018, the city of Wichita paid US$2.2 million to the Wichita Wingnuts to break their lease at Lawrence–Dumont Stadium, with plans to demolish it and build a larger ballpark to host an affiliated Minor League Baseball team.[3] The city later announced that a new $75 million stadium will be built to host the Triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes, who agreed to relocate to Wichita starting in 2020.[4]

The club announced its nickname in November 2019.[5] The team name was met with criticism from Wichita residents following the announcement.[6] Later in the day the name was announced, a Change.org petition was started to change the name.[7] In less than 24 hours the petition had already collected over 7,400 signatures.[7]

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wind Surge were scheduled to begin their inaugural season on the road playing against the Round Rock Express on April 8, 2020,[8] and to play their first home game on April 14 against the Memphis Redbirds.[9]

Roster

Wichita Wind Surge roster
Players				Coaches/Other
Pitchers 38 Parker Bugg 13 Brett Graves 39 Dylan Lee 20 Kolton Mahoney 19 Cody Poteet 9 Josh Roeder 37 Tyler Stevens		Catchers Infielders 2 Eddy Alvarez Outfielders		Manager 21 Keith Johnson Coaches 50 Christopher Briones (defense) 44 Justin Mashore (hitting) 48 Jeremy Powell (pitching) 7-day injured list * On Miami Marlins 40-man roster # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list † Temporary inactive list Roster updated November 26, 2019 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • Pacific Coast League → Miami Marlins minor league players

References

Hill, Benjamin (November 13, 2019). "It's a breeze: Wind Surge blow into Wichita". PCLBaseball.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
"Wichita Wind Surge announces coaching staff". kwch.com. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
Lefler, Dion (September 11, 2018). "Wichita OKs $81 million for new stadium project, $2.2 million for Wingnuts to go". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
Lefler, Dion (December 11, 2018). "City Hall Picks Team to Design, Build Wichita's New Minor League Baseball Park". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
"Wichita Wind Surge the official new team name of Wichita Baseball". KSN-TV. Nexstar Media Group. November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
Perez Tobias, Suzanne (November 14, 2019). "Wind Scourge: Wichita's new baseball team name doesn't blow us away". The Wichita Eagle.
"Petition aims to change the name of Wichita's baseball team". Retrieved November 14, 2019.
"Round Rock Express 2020 Schedule". Round Rock Express. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
"2020 Home Schedule" (PDF). Wichita Baseball. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 7, 2019.

External links

Official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Hill, Benjamin (November 13, 2019). "It's a breeze: Wind Surge blow into Wichita". PCLBaseball.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved November 14, 2019.

[2] "Wichita Wind Surge announces coaching staff". kwch.com. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

[3] Lefler, Dion (September 11, 2018). "Wichita OKs $81 million for new stadium project, $2.2 million for Wingnuts to go". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved October 6, 2018.

[4] Lefler, Dion (December 11, 2018). "City Hall Picks Team to Design, Build Wichita's New Minor League Baseball Park". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved January 28, 2019.

[5] "Wichita Wind Surge the official new team name of Wichita Baseball". KSN-TV. Nexstar Media Group. November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.

[6] Perez Tobias, Suzanne (November 14, 2019). "Wind Scourge: Wichita's new baseball team name doesn't blow us away". The Wichita Eagle.

[petition-7] "Petition aims to change the name of Wichita's baseball team". Retrieved November 14, 2019.

[8] "Round Rock Express 2020 Schedule". Round Rock Express. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 8, 2019.

[9] "2020 Home Schedule" (PDF). Wichita Baseball. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved October 7, 2019.