By Dan Glickman
The 2025 Rochester Red Wings are unlikely to feature as many huge prospects as last season, when the team went 77-71 for the first record at .500 or better since 2019. That squad had two of the best prospects in all of professional baseball grace the Innovative Field outfield at one point or another in the form of James Wood and Dylan Crews. However, this year’s squad will still feature some of the Washington Nationals’ top prospects, as well as some familiar faces and players with MLB experience.
Matt LeCroy is returning to the team as skipper for a fifth straight year. The folksy South Carolinian who played for the Red Wings in one of the final years of his professional playing career has been the only manager the Wings have known since the Nationals took over as the team’s parent club after Major League Baseball’s still-controversial reorganization of the minor leagues ahead of the 2021 season, is optimistic about how the team looks this campaign.
“I’m excited to get going,” he said at Wednesday’s media day. “I’m excited about the guys we have. We’ve got some good athletes, [some] who were here last year, and some new guys. It should be a challenge again, but we’re looking forward to getting out in front of fans.”
The opening day roster includes 12 players with MLB experience, most notably catcher Andrew Knizner (293 games, primarily with St. Louis) and outfielder Franchy Cordero (251 games, including stints with San Diego, Kansas City, Boston, and the Yankees). Popular players from past years, like infielders Darren Baker and Juan Yepez, have returned, as have pitchers like Joan Adon and Jackson Rutledge. Three players will make their AAA debut in their first appearance with the Red Wings, most notably Japanese pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara, a left-hander who comes to America after nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon Pro Baseball league, earning All-Star honors in 2023.
Even without Wood or Crews, the Red Wings still have one of Washington’s top-five prospects in third baseman Brady House. Ranked number four in the system by MLB.com Pipeline, House slashed .250/.280/.375 in 54 games with the Red Wings last season, including six home runs.
House recognizes that he hasn’t done enough to earn a call-up yet, even as other others have. He understands, though, that ultimately he can find a path to the big leagues by playing well for the Red Wings.
“You just kind of have to be patient with what you’re working on,” he says. “You never know when your time is going to be. It could be now, it could be later. It usually happens when you’re least expecting it. I think what they’re looking for most up there is consistency.”
Another well-regarded prospect who knows he needs to bring his AAA performance up to reach the show is outfielder Robert Hassell III, the organization’s No. 11 prospect. Part of the Juan Soto trade that brought a treasure trove of prospects into the Nationals’ organization, he struggled in his first stint in Rochester late in 2024, hitting .125 with a .188 on-base-percentage in 17 games and 69 plate appearances. Since then, though, the left-hander has improved, slashing .281/.360/.517 in the elite Arizona Fall League before tearing up spring training for Washington, hitting .370 with a .308 on-base percentage and .544 slugging percentage in 49 plate appearances in a preseason that had some wonder if he would earn a spot in the big leagues. His spring performance came after he arrived at Spring Training weeks early- “the middle of January”- to prepare and develop good habits for the 2025 season.
He knows he needs to continue his good habits and hot play in Rochester to show he has conquered AAA and is ready for the final step into the big leagues.
“[I need] to keep it going and stay on the field,” he says. “It was a great opportunity to come last year for the last three weeks, and I didn’t do as well as I thought I should have. It’s a good opportunity for me [now] to keep it going here and prove to them that I can play AAA.”
Among the newcomers to watch include infielder Nasim Nunez- a speedy former Marlins prospect who spent 51 games with Washington last season before hitting .419 for the Nationals in Florida.
“He’s an exciting shortstop and a tremendous athlete who can bring energy to the ballpark,” says LeCroy.
On the mound, LeCroy expects that left-hander Andrew Alvarez (who is set to start Friday’s opener) and No. 17 prospect Andry Lara will be mainstays of the rotation to begin the year. The team will be without Brad Lord, who went 10-4 between Rochester and AA Harrisburg last season, after he played his way to a bullpen spot with the Nationals with a good spring.
Regardless of who is or isn’t on the team, however, the squad will take the field for the first time in the International League season on Friday at Buffalo for a 2:05 p.m. start. It’ll be opening day, the day that every player, coach, manager, and fan waits for all winter.
“You put all your work in during the off-season,” says LeCroy. “Opening day can be special, no matter if it’s minor leagues or the big leagues because it’s a start to a new season.”
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