After the Frontier League introduced their growth workforce in Pearl, Mississippi final week, everybody was ready to see the place the subsequent growth workforce could be added.
That announcement has include the introduction of the Down East Chicken Dawgs, positioned in Kinston, North Carolina.
The Chicken Dawgs will exchange the single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, the Down East Wooden Geese from the Carolina league. That workforce shall be relocating to South Carolina subsequent season.
The brand new lease settlement between the Metropolis of Kinston and the Down East Chicken Dawgs will run for an preliminary time period of three years, from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2027, with two optionally available three-year extensions that would lengthen the lease via September 30, 2033. This lease is anticipated to be offered to and voted on by the Kinston Metropolis Council throughout its assembly on September 17 at 7:00 p.m.
The transfer is an fascinating one for the Frontier League as North Carolina and earlier introduced Mississippi are positioned distant from their regular geographic. The closest groups are over 7 hours away.
The addition of two new groups will even shake up the divisions and scheduling. The Frontier League plans on going from two to 4 divisions for the 2025 season, however that breakdown has not been introduced but.
Official Press Launch
KINSTON, NC – The Frontier League is proud to announce that the Down East Chicken Dawgs shall be added for the 2025 season, increasing the league to 18 groups.
Cameron McRae, a enterprise proprietor from North Carolina, will function the brand new workforce’s major proprietor. McRae has been part of Kinston baseball for over three a long time, together with being the unique proprietor and first investor of the Kinston Indians in 1994. His different enterprise ventures embrace possession and operation of 72 Bojangles’ Well-known Hen eating places, a golf course, a comfort retailer, and many various administration corporations.
Serving as the final supervisor shall be Shari Massengill. Like McRae, Shari has been related to skilled baseball in North Carolina and the Kinston ballclub for the reason that Nineties. She started as an workplace supervisor for the Indians earlier than being promoted to common supervisor, the place she served till 2010. She then served because the assistant common supervisor of the Gwinnett Stripers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, for practically a decade. Massengill’s accolades in baseball embrace profitable the Calvin Falwell Award as the highest govt within the Carolina League in addition to being named the Rawlings Girl Government of the Yr in 2007.
Grainger Stadium will function the house of the Chicken Dawgs in 2025. First opened in 1949, Grainger Stadium has hosted skilled and collegiate baseball for over 75 years and stays one of many oldest and most historic ballparks in skilled baseball. The stadium additionally hosts the annual Freedom Basic collection between Navy and Air Pressure.
“We’re excited to welcome the Down East Chicken Dawgs to the Frontier League,” mentioned Frontier League Commissioner Steve Tahsler. “Starting with our first go to to Kinston this spring, we’ve got been overwhelmed with the fervour and dedication from Cam McRae, Invoice Ellis, Susan Barrett, and Scott Alston to maintain skilled baseball in Grainger Stadium. Sheri Massengill has an awesome baseball background and shall be a top quality addition to our roster of common managers.”
