2024 Season Recap - Wilmington Blue Rocks

As the air cools and leaves prepare to turn, another Minor League Baseball season comes to a close. The Wilmington Blue Rocks competed in 132 games throughout the 2024 season and, in nearly 1,200 innings of baseball, showed intensity, grit, and aspiration to reach new heights.

The Blue Rocks began the season with a three-game home series sweep, but ended the first and second portions of the season in last place in the South Atlantic League North. They finished the year with a 57-75 record.

While many games did not fall in Wilmington’s favor this year, the growth and glimpses of super stardom garnering within the Blue Rocks’ clubhouse cannot be defined by the team’s win-loss record. Between the original roster that arrived in early April to the players who only saw a few innings in Wilmington, the 66 members of this team put on quite a show for their fans, or, as they coined them, Blue Rocks Nation.

Big Moments

In total, the Blue Rocks scored 514 runs, but two specific moments from this season will be remembered for years to come.

The first major moment was the team’s captivating performance in their three-game, season-opening homestand sweep against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Catcher Maxwell Romero Jr highlighted Friday night’s win with a two-run home run, the first of 60 Blue Rocks homers of the season.

Saturday and Sunday’s matchups had Jared McKenzie’s name written all over them. The outfielder gave fans an early idea of how much he’d be contributing to Wilmington’s offensive efforts with back-to-back walk-offs; a two-run home run on Saturday and 10th-inning sacrifice fly on Sunday. As McKenzie described it Saturday night, “We took care of business when we needed to.”

The other took place months later and, while showstopping all the same, yielded a much different emotional atmosphere. The Blue Rocks won their final Saturday home game of the season, but what happened following the win was bigger than baseball.

Frawley Stadium hosted its second annual WBR Vs. Pediatric Brain Cancer Night on August 30 to honor pediatric cancer patients currently fighting, survivors, and patients who lost their lives to the disease. Families affected by pediatric brain cancer were invited to join the Blue Rocks team, coaches, and staff on the field for an unforgettable lantern ceremony surrounded by over 3,700 fans shining their phone flashlights in solace.

Many players stayed after the ceremony and coinciding fireworks display to meet and spend time chatting with the families, including Romero Jr, who even gave one child a bat to take home and commemorate such a special night.

Key Players

Since April, 66 different players have come through Wilmington to suit up for the Blue Rocks. Of the 30 players that were listed on the team’s 2024 Opening Day Roster, ten were promoted to Double-A and two of those ended the season in Triple-A. Pitchers Carlos Romero and Brad Lord closed out the year with the Rochester Red Wings after stunning performances with the Blue Rocks and Harrisburg Senators.

While embracing the fluidity of the roster, the Blue Rocks leaned on its core foundation of players that stuck with the team from the beginning of April to September. This includes members of their pitching staff like Riley Cornelio, who led the team with 114 strikeouts and a .261 average, as well as hitters like TJ White and Jared McKenzie. White played in the most games for the Blue Rocks of anyone all season, and recorded the most RBIs (49) and home runs (14). McKenzie, although losing some time with the team due to a first-half injury, was the Blue Rocks’ captain this year. His leadership permeated with his teammates both on and off the field.

Despite not starting in High-A, Phillip Glasser and Jarlin Susana were undoubtedly two of the most impressive prospects to play at Frawley Stadium in 2024.

Susana, who joined the Nationals in the organization’s trade of Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres back in 2022, began the season in Low-A. The 20-year-old, 6’6” pitcher moved his way to High-A by wielding his high-speed fastball maxing out at 103 mph. Ending the season with multiple ten-strikeout games, Susana put on quite the show in his ten starts as a Blue Rock.

Glasser spent less than a month in Fredericksburg before getting the promotion to High-A. The shortstop spent the majority of the season with the Blue Rocks and quickly became the most productive member of the team’s offense, leading in five different categories before making his way to Double-A in mid August.

The 2024 Blue Rocks season was full of thrilling plays, wins, and road trips, but the best memories were made right at home at Frawley Stadium. With another exciting year in the books, it begs the question: Is it April of 2025 yet?