Outside the Captains indoor batting cages at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, the winds howled and the freezing air temperature certainly did not feel as if baseball season was right around the corner.
Inside, however, there was an energy that wasn’t present in the previous two dinners in 2015 and ’16. The most likely reason was the Indians recent postseason run and an excitement for the new season to begin. Every table was full with fans eager for the first pitch of the Captains season at home April 8th against the Dayton Dragons.
An estimated 150 fans turned out for the event that’s become an offseason tradition since the Indians’ full-season Single-A franchise moved from Columbus, Georgia, to Eastlake in 2003. The featured guests at this staging of the Hot Stove Dinner were Larry Day, who will make his minor-league managerial debut with the Captains this season, and former Indians pitcher and first-round draft choice Greg Swindell.
The Captains announced the unveiling of a new, state of the art digital video board which will be installed on the existing scoreboard and ready for the season. The main difference is the size of the board; it goes from being 750 square feet with non-motion video to 1100 square feet with full-motion video. It will certainly add value to an already ‘crown jewel’ on Vine Street.
For Larry Day, it will be his second stint with the Captains as he was the previous hitting instructor under Shawn Larkin in 2015. Last season, the 31 year old moved up the minor league rung to High-A Lynchburg, again serving as the hitting coach. Heading into 2017, there was discussion of him moving up further as a hitting coach or becoming a manager at the lower levels. “I remember, at the time the Director of Player Development, Carter Hawkins called me and told me I was going to manage this team this year,” explained Day. “We had talked about it being a possibility as well as being a hitting coach somewhere, whether it be Lynchburg or Akron. But he explained to me that I was going to manage this team and I was excited.”
When asked about the entire Classic Park facility, Day said: “I think it’s as good as you can ask for not only for Single-A, but Double-A and Triple-A. When you’re talking about a field house a couple steps away from the clubhouse, you can’t beat that. It’s not just the two cages, but it’s also the other space that you have. As I know after spending a year here, we’re going to have to utilize that space.”
Day also talked about working with James Harris, the new Director of Player Development for the Indians:
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