Minor league baseball has been a part of the Visalia community since 1946. Photo contributed

The Visalia Rawhide will call the Valley home for at least another decade after an announcement last week that the City of Visalia has reached an agreement on needed ballpark improvements to keep the team in town.

Earlier this year, the Rawhide — currently in 2024 playoff contention — faced uncertainty regarding its future at Valley Strong Ballpark after a judge’s ruling against the City of Visalia in a lawsuit against the team.

The team’s home facility, Valley Strong Ballpark, was found by Major League Baseball (MLB) in need of improvements to both safety and modernization, from new light towers to improved clubhouse facilities, as well as improvements and padding for the existing wooden outfield walls.

Additionally, the stadium required larger athletic training, bathroom and laundry facilities, as well as secure parking for staff and construction of a new female locker room.

Last year, the City of Visalia filed a lawsuit against the Rawhide, claiming that it was not responsible for the upgrades, which are mandated by MLB and implemented at affiliated ballparks across the country.

“When we were told that the City was fine losing baseball, we didn’t believe that lined up considering the Rawhide’s positive impact to our local economy and decades of community support,” Rawhide Co-Owner and President Sam Sigal said last year, at a time when the team’s future was still largely uncertain.

The upgrade is estimated to cost between $6 and $8 million. As part of the agreement, the city and Rawhide will share the costs of improvements, though details were scarce this week.

Visalia Mayor Brian Poochigian said that the stadium would have faced renovation regardless of team affiliation given its importance to the community. Valley Strong Ballpark hosts events year-round, including the winter and early spring months before baseball returns to the park for the regular season.

“This is the City’s stadium,” Poochigian told the Porterville Recorder last Friday. “We appreciate the financial commitments, through rent and other improvement contributions, that the Rawhide are making. Our work has resulted in an agreement that makes sense for both the team and the City.”

The stadium, which has stood at its current location since 1946 and played host to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ affiliate for the last 18 years, is the seventh-oldest minor-league ballpark in the country.

 

“Minor League Baseball has been associated with the City of Visalia since 1946,” said Rawhide play-by-play broadcaster Joey Gonzales. “There have been generations of fans that have come to this ballpark — they have seen Recreation Ballpark all the way up to Valley Strong Ballpark that it is now — it’s such a big part of the community.”

The Rawhide are currently locked in a playoff race for the California Division South, trailing the second-half leading Lake Elsinore Storm by two games. Visalia must either finish the season ahead of Lake Elsinore or must finish with a better overall record than the third-place Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, who currently trail Visalia in the overall season win/loss total by half a game.

Visalia played their final regular-season home game of the year on Sunday, beating the Fresno Grizzlies 2-1. This week they face off against the Quakes, wrapping up the regular season on Sunday.