AKRON, Ohio - Canal Park - home of the Akron RubberDucks - will have expanded netting installed for the 2018 season, the team announced Friday.

The Class AA team - an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians - joins the ranks of other baseball stadiums, including Progressive Field, that have announced that netting will be extended for the coming season.

Canal Park's netting now will stretch from sections 19 and 20 on the third-base side to sections 6 and 7 near first base.

RubberDucks General Manager Jim Pfander said the Akron deal has been in the works for quite a while, and that the timing was "serendipitous" with Major League Baseball's announcement Thursday that netting would be extended in all 30 stadiums.

Canal Park's seating chart.

"Fan safety is paramount, especially in our business," he said.

Pfander commended the city of Akron, which owns the ballpark, for being "proactive" about the netting. Anything regarding the ballpark's structure and safety must be run by city officials, he said.

"It's the right thing to do," he said. "We cater to so many families, the last thing you want to see is a ball going into the stands when no one is paying attention."

Fans sitting on the first-base side must be alert especially when right-handed hitters are at the plate. Foul tips slice at a high rate of speed, leaving little reaction time. The converse is true for left-handed batters and the third-base side. Also, a flying bat occasionally is sent sailing into the stands.

A young girl was hospitalized in September after she was struck by a foul ball in Yankee Stadium. In 2014, Bloomberg News reported that 1,750 fans are hit by batted balls at MLB games.

North Carolina-based Promats Athletics will remove and replace the netting with Field Green Ultra Cross Knotless Dyneema Ball Safety System Net. Work is expected to start the final week in March.

"It's so thin," Pfander said. "It's not going to impede your experience when you come to the ballpark. We don't want to have this netting you can't see through. The green color will blend in a little with the green grass."

The RubberDucks' home opener is 6:35 p.m. Friday, April 13, vs. the Trenton Thunder.