WINNING WAYS: Hot Rods look to continue recent success

Published 11:21 am Thursday, April 3, 2025

By Micheal Compton

As the Tampa Bay Rays continue to develop major league talent, the Bowling Green Hot Rods continue to reap the rewards of that success.

Bowling Green opens the 2025 season at Greenville on Friday, looking to continue a recent run that rivals any other minor league affiliated organization. The Hot Rods have won three of the last four league titles — including last season — and four in the last six seasons played dating back to 2018.

Expectations are high again this season, with the opening day roster including six of the Rays top 30 prospects — including a former University of Kentucky infielder.

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“Every year is a different year,” BG manager Rafael Valenzuela said. “We’ve got a new group of gentlemen, but I am very confident in the team that we have this season. Looking at the roster, it is going to be similar to last year. Obviously the goal is always to turn the roster over by the all-star break, if not a little later, but I am very confident that the group this season will be about as good, if not a little bit better than last year’s team.”

The roster includes 19 players that saw time in Bowling Green last season, playing a part in the run to the South Atlantic League. Infielder Émilien Pitre, who was part of UK’s run to the College World Series, is one of the returnees after getting a taste of BG in the postseason, spending five days with the Hot Rods.

“Even though it was short last year, I got to meet the guys, meet the front office, meet everybody that was a part of Bowling Green,” Pitre said. “I feel like I have already adjusted to the settings. Now I am just ready to meet the fans and get acclimated with everyone here.”

The Montreal native said he’s looking forward to starting his first full season in the state where he’s already experienced so much success.

“It’s exciting,” Pitre said. “I tell everyone my three years at Kentucky was the best time of my life. Now I am back in the state of Kentucky, so it is exciting to be not too far from a place I call home.”

Among the newcomers this season are pitchers Santiago Suarez (the No. 9 prospect in the Rays system) and Gary Gill Hill (No. 12) as well as shortstop Adrian Santana (No. 19).

“All the credit goes to the scouts, to our front office, to everybody involved in finding these kinds of players,” Valenzuela said. “”Our job is basically to get them a little bit better and get them to the next level, but with that, if we are doing our job as a coaching staff we are going to win some games. I think we have done a phenomenal job of doing that the two years that I have been here. Looking forward to the challenge this season. Winning is not the ultimate goal — it’s a byproduct of what we do as a staff — but I am excited to see these guys and help them through this journey of High A baseball and get them ready for the Double A level.”

The Hot Rods will spend the weekend in Greenville for a three-game series before returning to Bowling Green Ballpark for the home opener at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday.

Valenzuela said the opening series will be about getting to know his team — and what roles they will play as the season progresses.

“The first weekend is us sitting back and just watching the guys play,” Valenzuela said. “After being out there for five weeks of spring training and you are playing the same teams over and over, playing each other in inter-squads — the first weekend I am going to do my best to try to get everybody in so I can take a look at everybody. Just watch them go out there and have fun. Play the game. Whatever happens this weekend, it’s the first three games. You are not going to win and you are not going to lose — your season is not going to end and it’s not going to start — the first three days of the season. The first three days, you go out and have fun. You come home and reassess what happened. We fix it and we move on.”

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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