The colors were recently announced (black, gray, and red), and further branding elements await, but the Class A-Advanced Buies Creek Astros affiliate of the Houston Astros is on track to relocate to Fayetteville, North Carolina for the 2019 season.

Fayetteville last had professional baseball in 2000, when the Cape Fear Crocs left.

This is a move that has been in the works ever since Houston’s Player Development Contract (PDC) with the Lancaster JetHawks of the California League ended in the fall of 2016. The Hawks have been the High A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies since October 3, 2016.

The Rockies became the fifth affiliate in the JetHawks’ franchise history, replacing the Astros, who had been affiliated with the JetHawks for eight seasons (since 2009). The PDC between the Rockies and Hawks, incidentally, ends at the end of this season.

And They Shall Be Called….

While the move to Fayetteville will accompany a name change, five potential ones were revealed in the Fayetteville Observer, June 2017: Woodpeckers, Wood Dogs, Fatbacks, Fly Traps, and Jumpers (a nod to the 82nd Airborne at nearby Fort Bragg) emerged after 1,400 suggestions were sent in by fans. Uniforms, logo, and the finalized name choice will be forthcoming soon, according to the April 13, 2018, Ball Park Digest.

“There are a lot of moving parts in finalizing a team brand,” team president Mark Zarthar told BPD. “It’s more than a team name. It’s about uniform design, what the team stands for, logos, merchandising. We’re just trying to get every detail right.

“That is our next peak moment in engaging with the city of Fayetteville,” Zarthar said about the naming process. “We’re looking forward to a brand launch event sometime this summer. Right now we’re still evaluating options to make sure we make the right decision. This is a long-term decision, so we want to make sure we make the right one for the team and the city.”

The “Baseball Only” BC Astros

At the initial meeting of front office officials from the Houston Astros and members of Campbell University’s athletic officials nearly two years ago, the school’s liaison with the Buies Creek franchise, Ricky Ray, posed the most important question up front.

“Are we running this as a full-blown operation?” Ray asked, pointedly.

“No,” an Astros official responded, “it’s going to be baseball only.”

Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the Buies Creek Astros have been playing their Carolina League home games at Jim Perry Stadium, on the campus of Campbell University, 30 miles south of Raleigh, in Buies Creek, NC, population 3,000.

While the Astros, along with the Down East Wood Ducks (Texas Rangers affiliate), were joining the Carolina League for the 2017 season, the new $33 million ballpark in downtown Fayetteville (a city of 204,000, 36 miles south of Buies Creek) was clearly not going to be ready in time for the team’s debut. As a result, the Astros made an agreement to place the team at Jim Perry Stadium, a facility with a long history in college baseball.

The stadium was named for former Campbell star and 1970 American League Cy Young Award Winner, Jim Perry, a three-time All-Star and 17-year veteran, who played for four AL teams. Jim’s brother, Hall of Famer Gaylord, was a five-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young winner in his own right.

Build It And They Will Come… Just in Smaller Numbers

“‘This is the way baseball was in the 1960s,'” Omar Lopez, the BC Astros’ manager in 2017, told the Raleigh News & Observer last August. “[Lopez] was not born that long ago but surely has heard tales of games played without disc jockeys in the stands, ear-splitting music on the public-address system and Sumo wrestling contests between innings.

“There are no promotional gimmick nights at Jim Perry Stadium on the campus of Campbell University. No Thirsty Thursdays. No Friday Fireworks. No Military Appreciation Mondays. Just baseball.

“On top of that, the club is doing its all-out best to fight the high-level of noise pollution that has infiltrated just about every level of baseball. Batters are introduced in a manner that can only be described as low-key. Yes, walk-up music is allowed for the hometown Astros, but it hardly is an assault on one’s ears.”

While necessarily serving as a “way station” for the two years bridging Lancaster and Fayetteville, a high bar for attendance at Buies Creek was never expected. Jim Perry Stadium is, after all, a college baseball team’s home field.

No Shame in Low Attendance

At the end of the 2017 season, the Buies Creek Astros were at rock bottom of the Carolina League in attendance, totaling 30,518 in 59 games, averaging 517 per game. Just above them were the Wood Ducks, with an average attendance (in a conventional minor league venue) of 2,025.

“We’re not going to lead the league in attendance,” general manager David Lane explained to the Fayetteville Observer, June 2, 2017. “It’s more about baseball, putting the guys in the best situation with the best facilities so they can develop and not be hindered. That’s what it has been, and we’re happy. Everybody’s happy about it.”

In Buies Creek, though, the focus has been solely on baseball, an outcome that Houston’s GM Jeff Luhnow can’t be dissatisfied with, even though of course, he’d like all his affiliates to fill every seat. The BC Astros management and Campbell University officials believe turnout has been exactly what was expected. Merchandising sales, reportedly, have been brisk, as well.

“I thought we would average between 500 and 600 per night,” Lane said. “Campbell wanted to get acclimated to it. Drawing 1,200 a night would have been overwhelming. It would have been tough. We’d love to have it, but it’s more about the baseball.”

Defining “overwhelming,” Lane said larger crowds would have put a strain on Jim Perry Stadium’s one concession stand, one set of bathroom facilities and the lone merchandise trailer.

In 2018, through May 23, the BC Astros, in their Campbell U confines, have attracted 7,730 fans in 21 openings, for a per-game average of just 368.

Campbell officials agreed with Lane’s assessment, and have been more than pleased that minor league baseball has attracted visitors to the school.

Buies Creek Astros In Final Year

Former Houston Astro Morgan Ensberg (2000-2007) is in his first season as the BC Astros manager, following a year as the skipper of Houston’s short-season Class A Tri-City ValleyCats.

Related: Ensberg, Chris Holt Lead Former Astros Into Minor League Coaching Jobs

Ensberg, through May 22, has the Astros tied for first place with the Wood Ducks, two games on top of their nearest competitor, with a 26-20 record.

Top players on the BC Astros, this season, are pitchers Jorge Alcala (#7-ranked Astros prospect), Hector Perez (#10) and Brett Adcock (#27), and position players Ronnie Dawson (#14), JJ Matijevic (#24), Chuckie Robinson (#26), and Abraham Toro (#28).

Last year, the #2-ranked Houston prospect, Kyle Tucker, currently knocking on Houston’s door with a solid season for the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, hit .288 with 12 doubles, 4 triples, and 9 homers in 48 games with Buies Creek.

Related: Kyle Tucker Leads Buies Creek to Top of Carolina League