The Ogden Raptors are the Dodgers Rookie League team in the Pioneer League. They are an advanced rookie team that became affiliated with the Dodgers in 2003. Prior to that, the Ogden team was an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ogden, with a population of about 83,000, claims to be the oldest settlement in Utah dating back to 1845 and has a long history with minor league baseball of over 100 years.

The Raptors are blessed to play in one of the most beautiful settings in professional baseball. In fact, Lindquist Field, which was built in the heart of downtown Ogden in 1997, was named the “Best View” by Baseballparks.com – not just in the Pioneer League but in all of baseball. Digitalballparks.com gave Lindquist Field the same honor and also awarded it the 2007 Ballpark of the Year. Not alone in their assessment, a staff writer for Grand Slam Enterprises, Inc. also named the view beyond the fence as the best in professional baseball. The outfield fences are set against a breathtaking panoramic view the Wasatch Mountains, which majestically stand at 9,000 feet above sea level.

The Raptors have led the Pioneer League in attendance every year since 1997 and did so again in 2017 with an average attendance of 3,378. The continued yearly attendance is due to the historically strong fan base and is buoyed by the ownership’s efforts to thank the fans in a variety of creative ways.

With an especially loyal fan base and a strong parent organization, as well as one of the best venues in all of minor league baseball coupled with a creative and determined ownership, something was still missing with the Raptors in their fifteen-year affiliation with the Dodgers.

Ogden has not won a league championship dating way back to four consecutive league titles from 1966 through 1969, three of those championships fashioned by the legendary Tommy Lasorda with the Ogden Dodgers.

The Raptors have been bridesmaids losing out in three consecutive championship games from 2010 to 2012.

The 2017 Raptors erased all of those years by capturing a championship with a convincing win in the winner-take-all game on Sunday evening.

The 2017 Pioneer League champion Ogden Raptors.
(Photo credit – Kevin Johnson)

The Raptors gained a play-off berth with a first-place finish in the second half of the season with a 24-14 record in the Southern Division of the league. They had finished second to the Orem Owlz in the first half of the schedule going 23-15.

First-year manager Mark Kertenian, along with coaches Justin Viele, Pedro Guerrero and Bobby Cuellar, had the team primed for a play-off run as the season wound down, holding off the Orem Owlz and Grand Junction Rockies to capture their pay-off spot.

In their semi-final games, they swept the Owlz with impressive wins of 9-4 and 7-3. Nineteen-year-old right-hander Edwin Uceta gained the win in the deciding game giving up only two earned runs over five innings. Outfielder Romer Cuadrado set the stage for the win with five hits including a grand slam home run in the second inning.

Playing at home for the first game of the best-of-three championship series, the Raptors came away with a 7-4 win against the Great Falls Voyageurs. The offense was paced by third baseman Rylan Bannon’s two three-run home runs. Right-hander Devin Hemmerich picked up the win supported by effective relief work by fellow right-handers Zach Hartman and Miguel Urena. Left-hander Justin Hoyt earned a save by striking out the only hitter he faced.

The Raptors had a travel day to head to Great Falls needing to win one of the two games scheduled at Centene Stadium. The first game slated to go on September 16 was postponed due to wet grounds. A pair of seven-inning games were then scheduled for Sunday, September 17.

The Raptors undoubtedly would have liked to have completed a series sweep, but things totally unraveled in the first game of the two-game set as they lost 15-3 while giving up 12 base hits and eight walks. The Voyageurs hit two home runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a grand slam by catcher Nate Nolan, while plating a total of eight runs in the inning.

I wondered what Manager Kertenian could say to his troops after a sound shellacking and a second game to start in very short order. Perhaps he would remind them that on eight occasions during the year they had come back from a double-digit loss to win the next day. However, it turns out he said very little, letting the players work through it on their own.

“We said very little in between games, the players dominated the dialogue,” Kertenian said. “They just got ready to get back to work and that’s very characteristic of this group.”

The Ogden squad – as if by plan – quickly scored two runs in the top of the first inning on their way to an 8-3 win and handing Raptor fans their long-awaited championship.

Right fielder Romer Cuadrado, designated hitter Mitchell Hansen, shortstop Connor Heady, first baseman Luis Paz, second baseman Kevin LaChance and left fielder Donovan Casey all had doubles, three of them consecutively in the sixth inning. Center fielder Brayan Morales plated two runs with a single and a triple.

On the mound right-hander Edwin Uceta pitched four innings of one run ball. Relievers Devin Hemmerich, Zach Hartman, Conor Costello and Justin Hoyt held the Voyageurs to an additional two runs.

In the fifth inning Hartman pitched out of a jam, leading 5-3, with runners at second and third base and the go ahead run standing at the plate for Great Falls. The final play of the inning might have been the pivotal point in the game. With two out, Hartman sawed off the bat of Great Falls shortstop JJ Muno. Both the shattered bat and the ball took dead aim at first baseman Luis Paz, who was forced to flip his glove with the captured ball inside to an alert Hartman who covered first base to end the rally. If that ball had eluded Paz, the game would have been tied at five.

“That was a huge out,” Kertenian lauded. “Zach had some challenges there that he dealt with very well, and then he broke a bat and Luis went for the ball without caring for the bat. It was our best play of the season.”

Congratulations to the Raptors on a great season and a well-deserved championship. Manager Kertenian summed up their season which displayed an attitude that was evident each time they took the field.

“They were fired up,” Kertenian said. “They’re happy for each other and they’re enjoying each other. These guys understand that they are part of a good baseball team. They cared for each other and challenged each other, everybody feels very involved right now and they’re expressing that.”

When the Dodger affiliate line ups are released for the 2018 season, a number of these young men will be listed with the Great Lakes Loons of the Class-A Midwest League, while some may well start their first full season with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Advanced Single-A California League.