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Minor league baseball team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fredericksburg Nationals are a Minor League Baseball team that is the Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and play their home games at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, with a capacity of 5,000 people.
| Fredericksburg Nationals | |||||
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| Minor league affiliations | |||||
| Class | Single-A (2021–present) | ||||
| Previous classes | Class A-Advanced (2020) | ||||
| League | Carolina League (2020–present) | ||||
| Division | North Division | ||||
| Major league affiliations | |||||
| Team | Washington Nationals (2005–present) | ||||
| Previous teams |
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| Minor league titles | |||||
| League titles (5) |
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| Division titles (10) |
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| Second-half titles (2) |
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| Team data | |||||
| Name | FredNats | ||||
Previous names |
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| Colors | Red, white, blue | ||||
| Mascot | Gus[1] | ||||
| Ballpark | Virginia Credit Union Stadium | ||||
Previous parks | Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium (1984–2019) | ||||
Owner(s)/ Operator(s) | Art Silber[2] | ||||
| President | Lani Silber Weiss[2] | ||||
| General manager | Robert Perry[2] | ||||
| Manager | Jake Lowery[3] | ||||
| Website | milb.com/fredericksburg | ||||
In June 2018, Potomac Nationals owner Art Silber announced that he had signed a letter of intent to build a new stadium in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that would open in April 2020.[4] The 5,000-seat multi-purpose stadium, as then planned, would include a 300-seat club facility and 13 suites.[5] In November 2018 the Fredericksburg city council unanimously gave final approval for the Silber family to finance, build and maintain the $35 million stadium with the city as an "anchor tenant" making an annual payment to the club of $1.05 million for 30 years.[6]
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 24, 2019,[7] but construction work did not begin until July[8] or August 2019.[9] On September 25, 2019, general manager Nick Hall said, "We're 100 percent planning on opening April 23."[10] MASN reported on January 13, 2020, that Hall had said that construction was on schedule and that he was confident the venue will be ready for the 2020 season.[11] With the 2020 season start postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nationals held a virtual opening day on April 23, 2020. Hall said that the stadium was baseball-ready though construction was not yet complete, even though, with construction deemed as essential business, "The construction progress has gone off without a hitch."[12][13] Construction was continuing at the start of June 2020.[14] Since its inaugural 2021 season the team has used the stadium, which in 2022 was renamed the Virginia Credit Union Stadium, under a 10-year naming rights deal.[15][16][17]
As part of a process to give the team a new name that included Fredericksburg,[6] a "Name the Team" contest that began in April 2019 received more than 2,400 responses on the team name, colors, mascots, and ways to incorporate local history and culture.[8] On October 5, 2019, the team announced that it had changed its name to the Fredericksburg Nationals for the 2020 season and that its marketing nickname for the team – "P-Nats" when the team was the Potomac Nationals – would change to "FredNats."[18][19][20]
The teams uniforms were revealed on November 16, 2019, along with a Mary Washington logo at an event on Mary Washington's 311th birthday.[21]
In March 2020, the team unveiled their new mascot, Gus, described as "fat and fluffy" with purple fur and bright green eyebrows.[1]
The 2020 minor league baseball season was initially postponed, and ultimately cancelled altogether, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22][23] With no minor league season to play, Fredericksburg became the alternate training site for the Washington Nationals, hosting players who were not on the active roster, as well as a number of minor league players and instructors, during the 2020 season.[24]
Before the Fredericksburg Nationals could play a game at the Class A-Advanced level, the team was notified in December 2020 that it would need to accept relegation to the Low-A level to continue play as an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Silber confirmed the Fredericksburg Nationals would continue their affiliation with Washington at the new level for 2021 and beyond.[25] They were organized into a newly named league, the Low-A East.[26]
Fredericksburg began competition on May 4, 2021, with a 16–3 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats at Bank of the James Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia.[27] The Nationals played their first home game at FredNats Ballpark on May 11, 2021, losing to the Delmarva Shorebirds, 7–5, with 2,065 people in attendance.[28][29]
The team finished its inaugural 2021 season with a 44-76 win-loss record, ending in fourth (last) place in the North Division of the Low-A East League. However, the team's total attendance of 199,071 was the highest in its division.[30]
In 2022, the Low-A East renamed itself as the Carolina League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a Single-A circuit. The League also changed its structure, from three four-team divisions to two six-team divisions.[31]
The team finished the 2022 regular season with a 75-55 overall win-loss record, first in the Carolina League's North Division. More specifically, Fredericksburg finished fifth in its division in the season's first half, with a 33-33 record, and first in the second half with a 42-22 record. In the first round of Carolina League playoffs, the FredNats fell in 3 games to Lynchburg in the best-of-three game series, as the North Division's first-place teams in the two halves of the season.[32][33][34]
The team finished the 2023 regular season with a 65-63 overall win-loss record, third in the Carolina League's North Division. More specifically, Fredericksburg finished third in its division in the season's first half, with a 30-33 record, and third in the second half with a 35-30 record.[35]
On September 18, 2024, the FredNats beat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, 3-0, at home, in the third game of a 3-game series to win their first Carolina League championship.[36]
| Players | Coaches/Other | |||
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Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
60-day injured list
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