FredNats’ park home of eventful first year

Located less than 60 miles south of Nationals Park, the nearby FredNats Ballpark in Fredericksburg, Va., has played many roles for the Nationals organization in just its first year.

“It's become a second home in a sense,” said Mark Scialabba, Nationals assistant general manager for player development.

Built to be the new stadium for the Fredericksburg Nationals in their first season as the Nats’ Class A Advanced affiliate, plans changed last year amid the pandemic. Suddenly, there was no Minor League ball to be played.

The proximity to Washington, D.C., though, helped foster another use of the park for Major League purposes: The state-of-the-art facility doubled as the Nationals’ alternate training site.

“Number one, we want our players to be in a safe, healthy, sanitary environment that provides them with as many of the amenities as possible that they would have at the Major League level, and that's a huge challenge in the Minor Leagues just from a space standpoint, size of clubhouses or training rooms and equipment,” Scialabba said.

“But we tried to create an environment at the alternate site with as much weight equipment and training tools that we could, and the clubhouse was large enough -- obviously, brand new -- and provided our players with a comfortable locker room, enough space in the training room to get what they needed to prepare for the day and then recover.”

To help the players perform well on the field, the Nationals addressed the field itself in Fredericksburg. They installed dual-fiber "Batting a Thousand" Natural Turf from Shaw Sports Turf, which also is used at Chase Field for the D-backs and Globe Life Field for the Rangers.

“The field conditions were immaculate,” Scialabba said, adding, “That was a nice transition where we didn't have to worry about playing on a surface that was maybe not up to Major League standards.”

Nationals third baseman Carter Kieboom experienced the park last season when he spent time at the alternate training site. One aspect of the stadium that stood out to him was the design of the field. He noted the layout allows for the players to feel closer to fans.

“The video board is in right field, but they have some screens in left field as well and some stands for people to sit up there. That way, you get the crowd all around the stadium,” Kieboom said. “You don’t really find that at a lot of Low-A, A-ball parks -- you typically have just stands behind home plate. So you get a good feel for people in the outfield as well, which is nice, because you typically start to get that in Double-A and Triple-A.”

After fans waited another year for the park to open to Low-A action -- Fredericksburg's designation switched under the 2021 restructuring of Minor League Baseball -- they now can watch the Nationals' young talents develop and grow in live game action. Among MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Nationals Prospects list, outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa (No. 13), first baseman Branden Boissiere (No. 21) and shortstop Jordy Barley (No. 29) are on Fredericksburg's active roster. Additionally, fans can watch players from other levels make rehab starts there as they work back from injuries.

“They’re very consistent with their support,” Scialabba said. “It’s a loud ballpark, and it’s fun for our players to come to that each and every day.”

That fan involvement is a driving force of the Fredericksburg Nats. Scialabba noted the enthusiasm of the community since the day the affiliation was announced, which has carried over into their stadium this season. Even when the team began the season 0-15, the crowd erupted in cheers when they earned their first victory on May 21. Three months later, the fans experienced FredNats history when Gilberto Chu, Amos Willingham and Leif Strom combined to toss a seven-inning no-hitter on Aug. 15.

“We've had a great history with the [Class A Advanced] Potomac Nationals over the years -- many hundreds of our players have gone up to the big leagues from that group and from [their] time there,” said Scialabba. “We hope that there's the next wave of talent coming through the Fredericksburg Nationals community, and when they get to the big leagues, they’ll be part of the history being made.”