Pat’s Review of AA-Mississippi Braves

Home of the M-Braves

Before I get into my review of the AA Mississippi Braves and their ballpark Trustmark Park, I want to give thanks to the organization for showing me a great time and getting me all the info I wanted. This is the first of many trips this year on the “2009 Bravescast Roar Trip”. Next we’ll be sending a review from Rome Georgia’s State Mutual Stadium and the Single-A team the Rome Braves. Here is my review from AA Mississippi.

Ballpark & Field: The ballpark is named Trustmark Park and holds about 5,550 fans and has seat from home plate to both foul poles. The stadium is still in great condition considering it was opened only 4 years ago in April of 2005. It reminds me of Rome’s stadium a lot. I think the biggest eye catcher is the huge “Berm” extending over from center to left field. This is a great place to watch a ball game or relax and spend some time. I quickly noticed that there are a lot of covered picnic table areas in the park included a large one along the right field line and a left field line beyond the fence. The right field area has a full service Restaurant/Grill area. There is also a large kid’s inflatable air slide area. Beside that is the large centerfield concourse is the merchandise store. The store has a few HD TV sets in it playing the Atlanta and M-Braves games. The park also features a 16 by 21 ft. video board with a full in-house video feed. I was fortunate enough to get to visit the Braves clubhouse. The clubhouse is small in comparison to Atlanta’s but is large enough to accommodate the whole team. There is nothing exotic in the clubhouse, but it does have several HD TVs, couches, card tables and a work out area near the showers. It’s a very nice clubhouse for a minor league facility. Overall the field its self looked as good as I have ever seen a field look. Green grass with no flaws and a smooth looking infield too. The Braves dugout is down the 3^rd base side and visitors down the right. Both bullpens are out of play which is much safer but not always common in the Minor leagues.

City and Staff: The location of the ballpark is a key in Mississippi. The official city of location is Pearl, Miss but other large towns sounding the park are Jackson and Brandon Mississippi. The stadium is located right off of interstates I-20 and I-55. The stadium sits directly across the street from a gigantic Bass Pro Shop which is a popular place on the weekends. The tri-city area is large into sports, and I was told that there is a lot of high school and college sports tournaments held in the area. A couple of college teams were staying in the same hotel I was one night. As for the staff, I could not have asked for a better experience. The media relations manager, Nicholas Skinner took me around the park, in the clubhouse and press box. He also sent me home with interviews, pictures and a couple of media guides and souvenirs. The night that I went was “Mini Plague Night”. The plague featured a tribute to the 2008 Southern League Championship won by the M-Braves. I also got a chance to meet the radio play-by-play broadcaster Ben Ingram. He gave me a bunch of info on the team, the area, and the media in the Greater Jackson area. I listened to him broadcast the game and he is a pretty good broadcaster. Check him out some times on the live audio provided at www.mississippibraves.com .

The 2009 Team: Talking with M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman, he expects big things out of the 2009 team. They are coming off a Championship year, and return a heavy load of starters from last years club. The new additions are mostly added from the Myrtle Beach team that won 89 games and both the first and second half titles. The team has gotten off to a slow start, but the same thing happened least season before pulling it all together at the end. Some key names to watch are position players; Brandon Hicks, Eric Campbell,  Gorkys Hernandez, and Matt Young. The pitching staff will be lead by pitchers; Rudy Darrow, Stephen Marek,   among others. We will keep are eye on the team and feature players throughout the season that are producing productively.

All in all, the five hour trip to Mississippi was well worth it. I look forward to going back later this year or maybe next season. We do plan on covering the Mississippi team again on the road in Chattanooga TN, or Birmingham Al. If you are in any other these areas I would encourage you to get a sneak peak at the Braves of the future. This weeks will begin are first Minor League focused show call Bravescast “Minors to Majors”. Please give it a listen.