They’re building a baseball tradition in Casper.
When the Casper Ghosts take the field Monday night against Ogden at Mike Lansing Field, it marks their 10th opening day as part of the Rockies’ farm system.
The day will be designated Tony Diaz Day in honor of the team’s manager. Opening day is a special day for Diaz — he has been with the Casper franchise either as a hitting coach or a manager all of the previous nine seasons. He begins his fourth season as manager, following P.J. Carey’s time at the helm.
For the first seven years, the team was known as the Casper Rockies, to make the connection to the big- league team. But management believed the team needed its own identity and switched to the Ghosts for the 2008 season. The nickname provided a unique opportunity, and the chance wasn’t wasted. The ghost logo on the players’ caps glows in the dark.
“The name change has caught on with our fans,” assistant general manager Chris Maxwell said. “We always were pretty much last in merchandise sales when we were the Rockies. We’ve moved up to the middle of the pack with the Ghosts logo.”
Maxwell outlined some special days during the team’s 38 home games to mark the 10th anniversary. The team will wear old Rockies uniforms Aug. 27 as a look back at the early days. Also as a way to acknowledge the team’s history, it’s having a special baseball card day Aug. 6.
Twenty-four players who started their careers in Casper have made it to the big leagues. Fans will be given packets of player cards that will include some of the top alumni.
Maxwell also noted the results of a fan vote that asked who the first former Casper player inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame will be.
“Ubaldo Jimenez was first, Ian Stewart second and Dexter Fowler third,” Maxwell said.
Jimenez pitched in Casper in 2002 and compiled a 3-5 record. Stewart was in Casper in 2003 and hit .317 with 10 home runs and 43 RBIs. Fowler hit .273 with four homers and 23 RBIs in 2005.
There have been some great performances by Rockies farmhands in Casper, starting with first baseman Ryan Shealy. He hit 19 home runs, 21 doubles and drove in 70 runs in 2002; keep in mind, the short-season Pioneer League schedule is 76 games.
Current Rockie Seth Smith hit 21 doubles in 2004, and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin worked 92 innings in 2007.
The Ghosts also have a prominent hometown supporter in Josh Kalinowski, once a hot pitching prospect in the Rockies system.
His left arm delivered a devastating curveball that led to 215 strikeouts at Asheville in 1998 and 176 strikeouts the next year at Salem.
Kalinowski developed arm problems in 2002, and his career ended.
“I sponsor a few events each year at the park,” said Kalinowski, a Casper businessman. “We’re doing some things because it’s the 10th anniversary season. I still have flashes and moments thinking about my baseball career, especially when it’s time to go to spring training. But I’ve moved on.”
Casper is becoming a baseball town. A national publication rated it among the 10 best baseball pilgrimages in the country.
It needs more exposure in the postseason. The team been in the playoffs once, during its first season in 2001.
Minor-league spotlight
Chaz Roe, P, Colorado Springs Sky Sox
Right-hander Roe was cruising along toward a rough landing in his first season in Triple-A with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.
He was 1-7 and not living up to his draft selection by the Rockies between the first and second rounds of the 2005 June draft.
“It was frustrating, but I knew I had to keep my head up and work hard and it would turn around,” Roe said.
It turned around in a big way. Roe has won his last four starts to reach 5-7, the key being six walks and 18 strikeouts over 28 2/3 innings. He pitched a complete game in one of the victories and eight innings in another.
“Triple-A was a little different for me at first,” Roe said. “The hitters are more selective. I wasn’t pitching ahead in the count. When I was struggling, I was ahead in the count under 50 percent of the time. The last four starts, I’ve been ahead in the count well above 50 percent of the time.”
Marc Gustafson, Rockies director of player development, sees the difference.
“He’s pitching as if he’s not scared,” Gustafson said. “He has pitched right up there with our best starting pitchers over his last four starts.”
