2025 Rochester Red Wings were haunted by late-inning pitching problems, but had flair for dramatic

BY DAN GLICKMAN

On Sunday, the 2025 season of the Rochester Red Wings came to an end with a 9-8 loss in Worcester. It concluded a 59-88 overall campaign, the worst record for the full 2025 season in the International League. The Wings finished the first half 27-45 – the worst record in the IL – before improving in the second half for a record of 32-43, placing eighth in the 10-team IL East.

“Wins and losses were definitely not what we wanted,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy during the Red Wings’ final homestand, which ended a week before the end of the season. “We wanted to be playing for something at the end of the year, but unfortunately, we didn’t. We didn’t make that happen.”

The loss on Sunday was partly because of the bullpen, which gave up six of the nine runs allowed and five of the eight earned runs given up to Boston’s AAA affiliate. Which was fitting, as if the 2025 Rochester Red Wings had a theme, it was bullpen problems.

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The 2025 team was perhaps unlikely from the beginning to match the 2024 squad that went 77-71 for the franchise’s first winning record since 2019. That team saw long stretches of play from top prospects James Wood and Dylan Crews – for a period, they even shared the same outfield. Except for a rehab stint by Crews during an injury-plagued season for the outfielder, neither were in Rochester this season. Fan-favorite slugger Travis Blankenhorn had left the Washington Nationals organization, while pitchers like Brad Lord and DJ Herz made the big league squad. But the 2025 team was not without talent- they began the season with well-regarded prospects in Brady House and Robert Hassell III, saw a month of action from another major prospect in Daylen Lile, and had a reasonably good starting staff helmed for much of the year by Andrew Alvarez, major league veteran Adrian Sampson, and a finally-healthy Cade Cavalli. Outfielder Andrew Pinckney, meanwhile, had the first season in Red Wings history with 20 or more home runs and 30 or more stolen bases, while also becoming the first Red Wing since Don Baylor in 1971 to go 20/20 in those categories.

The problems lie in late-inning pitching in general and the bullpen in particular. Red Wings relievers finished the season with a 6.01 ERA, the worst in the International League by nearly half a point and second-worst in the affiliated minors outside of rookie ball. Only the Salt Lake Bees of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League had a worse reliever ERA, with 6.50. Rochester’s ERA, including both starters and relievers, in the seventh inning or later, was 6.43, the worst in the entire affiliated minors outside of the rookie level. While Rochester’s ERA between the first and sixth innings was also one of the league’s worst at 5.47, it was still nearly a point better than the late-inning struggles.

Further bullpen statistics continue to paint the picture of what LeCroy called the team’s “Achilles’ Heel”- Wings relievers allowed the league’s highest opponent batting average (.274) and highest WHIP (1.72), while also recording the fewest saves – 18 – well behind the second-worst number, Norfolk’s 26. This was even though the Red Wings were in the middle of the road in the league in save opportunities, finishing tied for 12th with 55.

The continued issues with the bullpen affected other players as well. Alvarez, arguably the team’s ace until he received a Major League call-up in September, had a very respectable 4.10 ERA, but finished 3-7 on the year in Rochester. On many occasions, the left-hander would leave with the team ahead or tied, only to see the lead slip away in the final innings. It also masked a fairly good offensive season for the Red Wings: the squad was fifth in the IL with a .259 batting average and was in the middle-of-the-pack in the 20-team IL in stats like on-base-percentage (.339, good for 11th), slugging percentage (.411, 12th), and OPS (.750, 12th). In fact, the Red Wings were in the middle of the league or better in most offensive statistics and had a historic year on the basepaths, stealing 229 bases, which broke the previous record of 180 set in 1944. Leading the way were Nasim Nunez, Pinckney, and fan-favorite Darren Baker, who finished the year with 36, 34, and 26 stolen bases, respectively.

While those more positive stats were not enough to bring the Red Wings out of the basement of the league, they did provide some memorable moments for fans. The Red Wings didn’t have many wins this year, but many of the ones they did have were dramatic. Yohandy Morales, better known as “Yoyo,” hit two walk-off home runs after arriving in Rochester in May, despite having never hit a walk-off longball before at any level. Nick Schnell had a flair for big home runs – leading the team with 21- and dramatic catches in the outfield. The Red Wings won eight games in extra innings and earned the nickname “Never Say Die Wings” from Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason, who was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame this season.

The persistence was something that LeCroy took pride in.

“I just wanted us to keep fighting,” he said. “These kids worked their tail off all year long – everything that I expect out of my players, what our coaches expect out of these guys. They’ve lived up to it.”

And along the way, the team did what it was ultimately there for: to get players ready for the big leagues. Twenty-three Red Wings played in both Rochester and Washington this season, including players like Lile, Hassell, and House who may well prove mainstays of the Nationals as they continue their rebuild.

Some things aren’t clear, though. For example, it is not yet clear whether LeCroy will return to the team for a sixth year, although he says he’d love to come back if he doesn’t receive a coaching or managing opportunity in the big leagues. It’s also unclear who may be making their AAA debut for the Red Wings in the 2026 season. Three of the Nationals’ top-three prospects reached the AA Harrisburg in 2025, all pitchers: Travis Sykora (2), Jarlin Susana (3), and Alex Clemmey (5). Washington’s top prospect, shortstop Eli Willits, was the number one pick in the 2025 draft. He made it as high as Low A-Ball Fredericksburg in his first season but is unlikely to make it to Rochester next season unless he progresses even more rapidly than the Nationals hope.

There are some givens, though. One of them, of course, is the front office staff that will be there to welcome everyone to Innovative Field. Mason admits that this year’s attendance was a bit lower than hoped, a problem that affected many of the Northeast’s minor league baseball strongholds. He largely blamed the weather, infamously one of the things that minor league front offices have no control over.

“It’s been challenging not just here in Rochester, but all over the country,” Mason said during the final home stand. “I remember on June 13, typically a time with nice weather, a Friday night… we had a game that was so cold I was wearing a winter hat. We had so much rain early in the season, and then in the summertime it got hotter than most of our fans would like to sit in.”

“Hopefully it was an anomaly, and the weather will be a lot better next year.”

Regardless of the weather or the team on the field, however, Mason says they’ll be spending the offseason preparing the usual slate of promotions, food, and the other things that make the Red Wings the Red Wings. They’ll also utilize the team’s performance center for groups and hitting leagues, aiming to make Innovative Field a year-round destination for baseball players in the area. And there may yet be even more new attractions and events coming to Red Wings fans, says Mason.

“We have some ideas,” he said. “But we need to flesh them out a little bit more. But we’re looking forward to our games next year. The games are why we do what we do. And we look forward to welcoming our fans back to the home of the Red Wings…”

Those Rochester Red Wings begin play in the 2026 season on March 27 in Jacksonville before opening their home slate – the “welcome back” Mason so desperately awaits – on March 31 against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.