The Prospect League Champion Chillicothe Paints are officially off and running on their milestone anniversary 30th season, and iHeartMedia Sports caught up with the Paints' Marketing & Broadcast Director Jacob Wise this week to talk about what fans can expect over the course of the 2023 season.
Chillicothe claimed its third Prospect League Championship in 2022 and Jacob said fans will see a few familiar faces from that championship team returning to the field this year along with a number of fresh new faces.
"Returning we have infielder Camron Bowen, and we have another infielder in Owen Wilson," said Wise. "A pitcher named Nick Falter, and Nate Dorinsky who's an outfielder. Those guys are great to have back from the championship team from last year. We've also added quite a lot of talent from all over the place, including a player named Arturo Disla from Wayland Baptist University who hit a home run in our season opener."
The Prospect League also added a couple of new teams to its Western Division this year, according to Jacob, but it also lost one of its Eastern Conference teams which will have the Paints seeking out a new arch nemesis.
"We have two new teams out west - the Jackson Rockabillys in Tennessee, and the Thrillville Trillbillies in Marion, Illinois," said Wise. "The West Virginia Miners are also no longer part of the league. So, we lost one also. That was a big loss. They were our main rivals."
In addition to new players and teams, Jacob said Paints fans this year will also see some new stadium promotions during home games as well as some popular past promotions.
"We really tried to bump up our promotional schedule this year being our 30th season," said Wise. "We have more giveaways than we've had in the past. It's the typical Chillicothe Paints fan experience but we've built on to it over the years here and there, and we've added on a little bit more this year."
The popular "Thirsty Thursdays" promotion is back for another year offering $2.00 daft beer, while "Winning Wednesdays" also returns offering a gas giveaway courtesy of Valero. Other popular promotions provide free entry to certain home games for children, scouts, veterans, and senior citizens. There's also a Diamond Giveaway this year courtesy of Dixon Jewelers and Homeland Credit Union is sponsoring a Krazy Horse T-Shirt giveaway. You can view the entire Paints' 2023 promotions schedule at ChillicothePaints.com.
Major League Baseball fans this year are adapting to some new rules such as a pitch timer, limits on defensive shifts, and larger bases, and Jacob says Prospect League fans will also see a new rule implemented this year that aims to quicken the pace of overtime matches.
"The only big one for us - we don't have the pitch clock or a lot of those 'speed up' rules," said Wise. "But we did add an extra innings rule where extra innings start with a runner at second base. It's just to get the game over a little more quickly. Since we have college players, you're using college arms, and you don't want to over-extend those guys, so once we get to ten innings, you start putting that runner at second base to try to promote some scoring, and not have a 15 or 16 inning game."
The 2022 Prospect League Champions began the 2023 season on Wednesday of this week with a road trip to Lafayette, Indiana. It was a rough start as the Aviators plated eight runs on ten hits to claim an 8-7 opening day victory. Chillicothe scored four in the third, two in the sixth, and then one in the tenth.
"We fell down 3-nothing after two innings and then scored four runs in the top of the third inning," said Wise. "A two-run home run from Arturo Disla put the Paints in front. That was the first of three different leads that the Paints had. We gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings, we then scored a run in the top of the tenth to take the lead back briefly, but then gave up two runs in the bottom of the tenth."
The Paints played their home opener on Thursday against Champion City, limiting the Kings to just two runs on eight hits for a 5-2 victory, putting Chillicothe at 1-1 in the early season. The Paints are on the hunt for their 4th Prospect League Championship and Jacob spoke on the challenges the team will have to overcome to make that happen, adding that the Paints are confident in their ability to pull it off.
"The biggest challenge is to just do better than we did last year in all respects," said Wise. "That's what we try to do every single year, even if it's just a little bit from the previous year. On the field we want to continue to bring in better and better players and continue our winning tradition. We feel like we're in a pretty good place, we've done this for a long time, but we're always trying to improve little by little and sometimes that can be difficult."
Chillicothe goes back on the road for its next two games. They'll play on Champion City's home field in Springfield, OH this Friday and Saturday. They'll then return home on Sunday for a doubleheader with Lafayette. Sunday is Kids Night at VA Stadium with free admission for children 12 and under. The first 500 fans through the gate on Sunday will also receive a free 2023 magnetic Paints schedule. Game one begins at 6:05 p.m. with game two beginning at 8:00 p.m.
Find the full 2023 Chillicothe Paints schedule and the full field of 2023 stadium promotions by visiting ChillicothePaints.com.