(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — For the first time since 2019, baseball will return to Kane County.
The Cougars are opening their first season as a member of the American Association, which is a Major League Baseball partner league.
Prior to the pandemic, the Cougars were affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the local roster was filled by the team's pipeline of Major League prospects.
Players in the independent American Association include some former major-league players. The Cougars recently signed Kacy Clemens, son of longtime major league pitcher Roger Clemens, notes Vice President and General Manager Curtis Haug.
"We're in control of our roster. In the past, when we were affiliated, you were getting the players the Major League team sent you,” Haug explained Monday. “They were controlling every aspect of it, to the point where they were limiting the amount of pitches the pitchers could throw. They were telling you what the lineup was going to be.”
The new affiliation also puts the Cougars in the same league as the Chicago Dogs in Rosemont and the Gary Southshore Railcats in northwest Indiana.
Haug anticipates a rivalry develop between the Cougars and the Dogs and promised the fan experience will remain the same.
"We are still going to have the fireworks after the games, the opportunity to run the bases, the theme nights that we offer, the promotions, some of the great bobblehead giveaways that we're going to have. The food will be great and the beer is going to be cold," Haug said.
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