News release from the TinCaps:
2014 TinCaps Season Recap
Fort Wayne Flourishes in Sixth Year at Parkview Field
(September 17, 2014) — The 2014 Midwest League season came to an end over the weekend with the Kane County Cougars beating the Lake County Captains for the league title. For the TinCaps, the season ended a week prior in the Eastern Division Championship Series when Fort Wayne was eliminated by Lake County.
Nevertheless, 2014 was a year of success for the TinCaps both on and off the field. Below are some of the more notable accomplishments and highlights from the baseball season that was in Fort Wayne:
ON THE FIELD – 2014 TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Made the Midwest League Playoffs for a sixth consecutive season since moving to Parkview Field in 2009. The next longest active postseason appearance streak in the league is two years (Cedar Rapids, South Bend).
- Advanced to the Eastern Division Championship Series for the fifth time in six seasons and fourth year in a row. The TinCaps were the only team in 2014 to make a repeat appearance in the league semifinals. No other club has been to more than three division championships since 2009.
- Set a Fort Wayne franchise record for home runs in the regular season (102). The previous high was 97 in 2009.
- Led the 16-team MWL during the regular season in team batting average (.263), hits (9.2/game), RBIs (4.5/game), and total bases (13.6/game).
ON THE FIELD – 2014 INDIVIDUAL PLAYER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Infielder Fernando Perez set a Fort Wayne franchise record for most RBIs (95) in a season. The previous high was 91 – held by current Padres outfielder Will Venable in 2006.
- Perez’s 95 RBIs also led all players in the MWL. The 20-year-old’s RBI production included hitting 18 home runs – fourth most in franchise history, and the most since 1997.
- Kyle Lloyd led all pitchers in the MWL in strikeouts (155). Lloyd’s ratio of 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings was also the highest in the league. With seven strikeouts in one postseason start, his overall total of 162 strikeouts in 2014 landed him in the top five for most Ks in a season in franchise history. From July 12 through the end of the season, Lloyd led all of Minor League Baseball in strikeouts with 81 in just 49 1/3 innings pitched.
- First baseman Jake Bauers was named a MWL Postseason All-Star by the league’s 16 managers. (Only one player at each position is voted to the Postseason All-Star team.)
- Outfielder Mallex Smith and relievers Tyron Guerrero and Nick Mutz represented the TinCaps in the Midwest League All-Star Classic on June 17 at West Michigan.
- Smith was promoted by the Padres to Advanced-A Lake Elsinore following the All-Star break. He finished the 2014 season with 88 stolen bases – the most in all of Minor League Baseball. The second-highest MiLB stolen base total was 69. Smith swiped 48 of his 88 stolen bases with the TinCaps.
IN THE SEATS – 2014 PARKVIEW FIELD ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- On the Fourth of July, Parkview Field set a new single-game attendance record with a crowd of 9,182 on hand for the TinCaps’ contest against West Michigan. That figure broke the prior single-game attendance record of 9,015, which had been set one home game prior on June 26 against Dayton on Social Media Night.
- Parkview Field set a single-event attendance record of 13,500 fans when the “This Is How We Roll” tour brought Florida Georgia Line, Nelly, and Chris Lane to the home of the TinCaps on June 19.
- The TinCaps welcomed a record 406,715 fans to Parkview Field during their 70 regular season games. That attendance number trumped the previous regular season attendance record of 404,932 fans in 2010.
- Including both the regular season and two playoff games, Parkview Field hosted a record 411,028 fans at TinCaps games in 2014. That high surpassed the total of 410,458 folks who supported the TinCaps in 2013.
- According to BallparkDigest.com, the TinCaps had the 24th-highest attendance number in all of Minor League Baseball during the regular season. That’s out of 160 franchises. Parkview Field saw the third-most fans in all of Single-A, while attracting more fans than 12 of 30 Triple-A clubs and 27 of 30 Double-A teams.
2014 ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- The TinCaps’ Grounds Crew became the first in league history to win a fifth consecutive Midwest League Sports Turf Manager/Grounds Crew of the Year Award.
- Parkview Field’s newest menu item in 2014, the BIG APPLE, was voted the No. 1 Dessert in all of Minor League Baseball as part of MiLB’s “Food Fight.” The BIG APPLE finished No. 5 overall in the competition to determine the best ballpark concession items in the country.
- For the fifth consecutive year, the TinCaps made Minor League Baseball’s Top 25 best-selling brands based off merchandise sales in 2013.
- The TinCaps finished eighth in Minor League Baseball’s “Clash of the Caps” contest in which fans voted on who has the best hat in the country.
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