TROY, NY - 2024 featured a season of summer fun for the Tri-City ValleyCats. The ValleyCats named Greg Tagert as their 12th manager in the team's history on December 11th, 2023. Target became their second skipper since joining the Frontier League in 2021. The Carlsbad, N.M. native brought along a brand new coaching staff, featuring pitching coach Tom Thornton, fundamentals/first base coach Tom McManus, third base coach Joe Torre, and bench coach JT Scara. 

The 'Cats had seven active players return from the 2023 campaign: C Oscar Campos, CF Jaxon Hallmark, 3B Ian Walters, 1B Lamar Briggs, INF Robbie Merced, RHP Jhon Vargas, and RHP Dan Beebe. Tri-City also signed a few players with previous minor league experience in OF Javeyan Williams, SS/2B Elvis Peralta, C Chris Burgess, and LHP Alfredo Ruiz.

Tri-City began the season with a six-game road trip in Illinois before hosting its home opener against the Washington Wild Things on May 17th. Tri-City picked up its first walk-off victory with an RBI double from Campos in Sudden Death in a 2-1 win on May 22nd at Ottawa Stadium. It was the second of nine games that went to Sudden Death, and the third of 14 games that went into extra innings. Additionally, the game-winning knock was one of six walk-offs during the season.

In its first six-game homestand of the year from May 28th to June 2nd, Tri-City won back-to-back series at Joe Bruno Stadium against the Ottawa Titans, and the New England Knockouts. This homestand included the first of two Education Days on May 30th, which brought out more than 9,000 fans between both games. 

Vargas threw a 114-pitch masterpiece in the 'Cats 10-0 victory over the Knockouts on June 1st. It was the 'Cats first nine-inning complete game shutout since RHP Joey Gonzalez silenced the Empire State Greys on August 14th, 2022. Vargas took home Frontier League Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance. Ruiz would go on to hurl a seven-inning complete game shutout in the nightcap of a doubleheader versus New England on August 1st.

The ValleyCats secured three consecutive sweeps during a nine-game win streak from June 28th to July 7th, bringing out the broomsticks twice against the Sussex County Miners, and once against the Québec Capitales. Tri-City hosted not one, but two nights of fireworks for Independence Day, and celebrated the Fourth of July at "The Joe" for the 22nd consecutive season. Overall, Tri-City held 15 fireworks shows with nearly all of them presented by Price Chopper/Market 32 and Toyota. On July 4th, it was the first of three nights this season that brought in more than 5,000 fans. 

Campos, in his fourth year with the ValleyCats, was selected to the Midsummer Classic for the first time in his career, and represented Tri-City at the All-Star Game in Québec on July 17th. A professional baseball player in his 11th season, the Venezuela native reached double digits in the home run column, and paced the team with 11 long balls. He also picked up his first Frontier League Player of the Week award, going deep in four consecutive games from June 5-8.

Tri-City received major offensive contributions in July and August from Hallmark, Peralta, and Dylan Broderick, who each slugged four homers down the stretch. The 'Cats went a combined 30-18 to finish out the regular season. Every reliever was often utilized in a multi-inning inning role, as Zeke Wood, Austin Dill, and Nathan Medrano were a dangerous force out of the bullpen, especially with the addition of Nick DeCarlo, who was signed midseason. 

Defense remained at a premium as the outfield consisting of Hallmark, Williams, and Broderick collected 21 assists. On the dirt, Walters and SS Tyson Gingerich often made the Frontier League Top-10 Plays with their spectacular glovework. Behind the plate, the tandem of Campos and Burgess threw out attempted baserunners at a 20.7% clip (34-for-164).

In the final two months, Tri-City held a slew of summer staples such as Camp Day, Star Wars Night, Christmas in July, NFL Night, Italian Night, and Community Heroes Night. Other annual promotions during the season included two Bark in the Park Nights, two Youth Baseball Nights, SouthPaw's Not So Scary Halloween, Mental Health Awareness Night, ASL Night, Veterans and Military Appreciation Night, Wizard Night/Softball Night, SouthPaw's Birthday, Arts in the Ballpark Night (benefitting the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area with specialty Kobe Bryant "Black Mamba" jerseys), Fans for Life Night, and Sunday Fundays presented by Highmark BSNENY.

New promotions consisted of Hot Dog Appreciation Night on July 30th, where the ValleyCats provided a Relish bobblehead to the first 1,000 fans. A week later, Capital District Baseball Heritage Night featured the 9/11 Mobile Exhibit from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, along with an Andy Pettitte bobblehead distributed to the first 1,000 fans. Tri-City also donned specialty jerseys for Carnival Night benefitting the National MS Society Upstate NY Chapter. The ValleyCats hosted three Collar City Cats nights with cream colored uniforms and green caps, honoring Troy's rich baseball and industrial history. Other fun events included a partnership with WMHT for a special guest appearance from Cat in the Hat from the PBS KIDS series "THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!" at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on August 22nd during the Three Millionth Fan Celebration night, and a postgame drone show for ESports/STEM Night.

Who could forget the Dustin Lynch concert on August 15th? Lynch was opened by fellow country singer/songwriter Tucker Wetmore as over 4,000 fans witnessed the first major concert at "The Joe" since Billy Currington's Stay Up 'Til the Sun Tour in 2019.

Arlo Marynczak, a 6-foot-8 local right-hander from Delmar who pitched at Siena College, headlined the starting rotation during the last two months of the season, compiling three starts of six-plus innings, yielding one run or less. He trimmed the ValleyCats magic number down to one with his longest professional start of his career, going seven strong innings and striking out 12 New Jersey Jackals in a 17-0 win at Hinchliffe Stadium on August 29th to take the rubber game. The 24-year-old took home Frontier League Pitcher of the Week honors for his efforts. 

The following night, Tri-City began a three-game set against Sussex County at Skylands Stadium. Easton Klein would clinch the ValleyCats first playoff berth since 2018 with the win, tossing 5.1 innings of three-run ball. The sixth overall pick of this year's Frontier League Draft, Klein was one of the most durable starters, joining Vargas in 2024 as just the fifth and sixth ValleyCats pitchers ever to exceed the 100-inning threshold in a single season. The 'Cats took advantage of the new intradivisional format, compiling a 10-2 record against both the Miners and Jackals, a 7-5 record against both the Capitales and the New York Boulders, and a 7-4 record versus the Trois-Rivières Aigles.

Tri-City selected a franchise-record seven players from this year's Frontier League Draft. The 'Cats second-round pick, Gino Sabatine, came up huge in the final game of the regular season on September 1st with 3.1 scoreless innings in relief for the win to seal home field advantage for the Wild Card Game. Burgess provided the power in the victory with his 10th roundtripper of the year.

The home opener starter for Tri-City in Wes Albert got the nod for the one-game playoff against Ottawa on September 3rd. Albert struck out seven in 4.1 innings, and Marynczak followed suit with 3.2 scoreless frames, but the 'Cats fell 5-2 to the Titans, ending their postseason run.

Overall, the ValleyCats averaged more than 3,000 fans per game, third best in the Frontier League. The 'Cats ended the year with a 53-41 record for their fourth straight 50-plus-win campaign. Tri-City saw three new members make it from "The Joe" to "The Show" in RHP Blair Henley ('19), RHP Valente Bellozo ('19), and RHP Kumar Rocker ('22). OF Carson McCusker ('21-23) also made major strides, earning the call to Triple-A St. Paul in August.

Stay tuned for on the ValleyCats website at tcvalleycats.com and their social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for what's in store for the 2025 season.