HARRISBURG, Pa. — Transactions during a season are common, especially in the Minor Leagues, where players are constantly promoted and sent down.
Four games into the 2024 season, the Harrisburg Senators were part of a different transaction.
"The message is really simple. It's going to be the Harrisburg Senators, the affiliate of the Washington Nationals. It's staying in Harrisburg. We're committed to Harrisburg."
Peter Freund is the CEO of Diamond Baseball Holdings, which now owns the Senators.
"I was friends with Mark Butler and the Schwab family, who's in Harrisburg, who actually remains in the ownership group," Freund said. "The reality is we've always wanted to own the Harrisburg Senators. So, it was high on our list."
Diamond Baseball Holdings owns 33 affiliated Minor League teams. In addition to their focus on Pennsylvania teams, they know about the important role of the Eastern League, as they own the Curve, Fisher Cats, Senators, and as of last week, the Rumble Ponies.
"The Eastern League is a cornerstone of Minor League Baseball," Freund said. "As Minor League Baseball retracted from 160 to 120 teams, the Eastern League was not unlike the Texas League. You know, incredibly strong and had a great foothold in all the communities."
Freund's pitch to fans is that the names and faces that make the gameday atmosphere remain key to a healthy transition on City Island.
"We understand these are hyper-local businesses," Freund said. "We operate obviously at 40,000 feet. We have a lot of advantages given our scale, but the reality is at the end of the day if you're going to a Harrisburg Senators game, it's still going to be Kevin and it's still going to be the The Fan Experience that you've always enjoyed."