![\"Thunder](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TRT-L-ThunderPreview-0601-03.jpg\")
Thunder manager Shawn Chacon sits in the dugout on Monday, June 1, 2026 at the team\u2019s media day at Trenton Thunder Ballpark in Trenton. (Kyle Franko\/ Trentonian Photo)\nHow does the Draft League work?<\/p>\n
TRENTON \u2014 Jeff Hurley admitted to being a little nervous as the snow piled up and the temperatures plummeted this winter.<\/p>\n
The Trenton Thunder\u2019s team president needed the upgraded stadium to be ready for the team\u2019s MLB Draft League opener.<\/p>\n
It was probably a bit too close for comfort but Trenton Thunder Ballpark is good to go when the first pitch of the season is thrown at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime you go through a project that is this significant you are waiting for the fans to come in and see what has happened over this busy offseason,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cCredit to everybody involved for getting all this done in a tight timeline with the winter we had. The whole team came together and made sure this was done prior to the opening day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-phase $25 million renovations include a new playing surface, bullpens, video board and sound system added to the clubhouses that were completed in phase one. It all comes as a new era of Thunder baseball begins under Diamond Baseball Holdings.<\/p>\n
DBH acquired the club from the only ownership group it had known \u2014 Joe Plumeri, Joe Finley and Joe Caruso \u2014 in April.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2021 when Major League Baseball took control of the minor leagues and reduced the number of affiliated teams, DBH owns 49 franchises across all levels of the minors.<\/p>\n
The Thunder are the only one of those 49 not affiliated with a big league club, but the sale to DBH is seen as a major step toward reaffiliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made it no secret that is our goal,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to communicate with our new ownership group. They bring a lot to the table in terms of keeping the Trenton Thunder who we are and what we\u2019ve been. We want to entertain the fans, keep the fans coming in and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Draft League hasn\u2019t stopped those area baseball fans from showing up to the capital city\u2019s waterfront.<\/p>\n
The Thunder led the league in attendance by a wide margin in 2025, bringing in 192,074 fans for an average of 5,335 for their 36 home dates. That average would have ranked 24th in all of minor league baseball last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the history of the Trenton Thunder and what we\u2019ve always been able to do here with our entertainment experience,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cBaseball is very important to us, but it\u2019s also all the other things that go into coming to a game: the affordability, the family atmosphere, the fun. Things are always going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chac\u2019s Back<\/p>\n
Former MLB All-Star Shawn Chacon returns for his second season as manager and fifth overall with the club.<\/p>\n
Chacon, 48, spent 8 years pitching at the Major League level for the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. He was an All-Star in 2003 with the Rockies.<\/p>\n
Joining Chacon on the staff are pitching coach Ron Mahay and hitting coach Josh Johnson.<\/p>\n
Mahay is a familiar name to baseball fans in Trenton after spending parts of three seasons with the Thunder when the club was affiliated with the Boston Red Sox in the mid-90s. Mahay famously transitioned from fielder to pitcher during his time with the Thunder in 1996 and 1997, which ultimately revived his career and sent him to the big leagues in June of 1997.<\/p>\n
Throughout his 14-year career, Mahay appeared in 514 games and pitched 568 innings with 27-12 record and a 3.83 ERA. Mahay returns to the MLB Draft League for his fifth season as a pitching coach, after serving the previous four in the same role with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.<\/p>\n
Johnson was a former third-round pick of the Kansas City Royals and reached as high as Triple-A in both Kansas City\u2019s and Washington\u2019s organizations. He\u2019s managed in the minor leagues for the both the Nationals and Rangers and was the infield coach for the Padres in 2018.<\/p>\n
Thunder manager Shawn Chacon sits in the dugout on Monday, June 1, 2026 at the team\u2019s media day at Trenton Thunder Ballpark in Trenton. (Kyle Franko\/ Trentonian Photo)
\nHow does the Draft League work?<\/p>\n
The Draft League is consists of six teams \u2014 Trenton, Mahoning Valley, State College, West Virginia, Williamsport and its newest member Aberdeen \u2014 and the 80-game season is split into halves.<\/p>\n
From June 2-July 5 rosters are comprised of amateur\/draft eligible players from Divisions I-III, NAIA, junior college and graduating high school seniors. From July 8-Sept. 2 rosters consist of professional players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility. Those players receive housing, meal money, travel and weekly compensation.<\/p>\n
Since its inception in 2021, the Draft League has produced 233 MLB Draft picks and had more than 180 undrafted free agents sign with a Major League organization. Additionally, 15 players from the professional half of the 2022-25 seasons had their contracts purchased by a Major League organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s come such a long way not only just talent but the structure of the league, the communication with the president of the league and the roster stuff; having more interaction with MLB and support from MLB,\u201d Chacon said. \u201cFrom the first year I was here I loved the experience and I saw the vision where it was going. Sitting here today I get goosebumps because I feel like we are making that big step.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a championship game on Wednesday, Sept. 2 between the winners of each half and hosted by the first-half winner.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s on the roster?<\/p>\n
This is the draft-eligible portion of the season, but there is one familiar name from last summer and that\u2019s Carsten Sabathia.<\/p>\n
The son of the Hall of Fame left-hander is coming off his senior season at the University of Houston in which he batted .283 with six homers in 34 games.<\/p>\n
Another name to watch in Tuesday\u2019s Opening Night starter David Hinojosa. The right-handed pitcher out of Poly Prep High in New York is committed to Vanderbilt, but with a 98-mile-per-hour heater is expected to hear his name called early in July\u2019s MLB Draft.<\/p>\n
The initial roster also features seven players from New Jersey and another one who played his college ball in the Garden State (Jake Koonin, Princeton University).<\/p>\n
Bring on the Finches<\/p>\n
The Thunder will assume the alternate identity of the Fighting Finches on July 30 as part of a partnership with the Girls Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The Thunder \u2026 err Fighting Finches \u2026 take the field for that one night as a tribute to New Jersey\u2019s state bird, the eastern goldfinch.<\/p>\n
The eastern goldfinch is the most common subspecies of the American goldfinch that is recognized by the male\u2019s bright yellow summer plumage with a black cap, wings and tail. They are year-round residents often seen at bird feeders and particularly enjoy sunflower seeds.<\/p>\n
The night before transforming into the Fighting Finches, the Thunder will celebrate America\u2019s 250th anniversary on July 29 with an appearance by the Phillie Phanatic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TRENTON \u2014 Jeff Hurley admitted to being a little nervous as the snow piled up and the temperatures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[5,2291,21338,4,1586,5786,185,10665,21370,21369],"class_list":["post-714764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-draft","tag-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-draft","tag-mercer-county","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-draft","tag-new-jersey","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-trt","tag-trenton","tag-trenton-thunder"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116676644477466103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}