| Fredericksburg Nationals | |
| Founded: | 1984 |
| Misc: | Based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, since 2020 |
| Uniformlogo: | FredNats cap.PNG |
| Class Level: | Single-A (2021–present) |
| Past Class Level: | Class A-Advanced (2020) |
| Current League: | Carolina League (2020–present) |
| Division: | North Division |
| Majorleague: | Washington Nationals (2005–present) |
| Leaguenum: | 4 |
| Divnum: | 9 |
| Secondhalfnum: | 1 |
| Nickname: | FredNats |
| Colors: | Red, white, blue |
| Mascot: | Gus |
| Ballpark: | Virginia Credit Union Stadium |
| Pastparks: | Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium (1984–2019) |
| Owner: | Art Silber[1] |
| Gm: | Robert Perry |
| President: | Lani Silber Weiss |
| Manager: | Jake Lowery[2] |
The Fredericksburg Nationals are a Minor League Baseball team that is the Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and play their home games at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, with a capacity of 5,000 people.
In June 2018, Potomac Nationals owner Art Silber announced that he had signed a letter of intent to build a new stadium in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that would open in April 2020.[3] The 5,000-seat multi-purpose stadium, as then planned, would include a 300-seat club facility and 13 suites.[4] In November 2018 the Fredericksburg city council unanimously gave final approval for the Silber family to finance, build and maintain the $35 million stadium with the city as an "anchor tenant" making an annual payment to the club of $1.05 million for 30 years.[5]
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 24, 2019,[6] but construction work did not begin until July[7] or August 2019.[8] On September 25, 2019, general manager Nick Hall said, "We're 100 percent planning on opening April 23."[9] MASN reported on January 13, 2020, that Hall had said that construction was on schedule and that he was confident the venue will be ready for the 2020 season.[10] With the 2020 season start postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nationals held a virtual opening day on April 23, 2020. Hall said that the stadium was baseball-ready though construction was not yet complete, even though, with construction deemed as essential business, "The construction progress has gone off without a hitch."[11] [12] Construction was continuing at the start of June 2020.[13] Since its inaugural 2021 season the team has used the stadium, which in 2022 was renamed the Virginia Credit Union Stadium, under a 10-year naming rights deal.[14] [15] [16]
As part of a process to give the team a new name that included Fredericksburg, a "Name the Team" contest that began in April 2019 received more than 2,400 responses on the team name, colors, mascots, and ways to incorporate local history and culture. On October 5, 2019, the team announced that it had changed its name to the Fredericksburg Nationals for the 2020 season and that its marketing nickname for the team – "P-Nats" when the team was the Potomac Nationals – would change to "FredNats."[17] [18] [19]
The teams uniforms were revealed on November 16, 2019, along with a Mary Washington logo at an event on Mary Washington's 311th birthday.[20]
In March 2020, the team unveiled their new mascot, Gus, described as "fat and fluffy" with purple fur and bright green eyebrows.[21]
The 2020 minor league baseball season was initially postponed, and ultimately cancelled altogether, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22] [23] With no minor league season to play, Fredericksburg became the alternate training site for the Washington Nationals, hosting players who were not on the active roster, as well as a number of minor league players and instructors, during the 2020 season.[24]
Before the Fredericksburg Nationals could play a game at the Class A-Advanced level, the team was notified in December 2020 that it would need to accept relegation to the Low-A level to continue play as an affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Silber confirmed the Fredericksburg Nationals would continue their affiliation with Washington at the new level for 2021 and beyond.[25] They were organized into a newly named league, the Low-A East.[26]
Fredericksburg began competition on May 4, 2021, with a 16–3 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats at Bank of the James Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia.[27] The Nationals played their first home game at FredNats Ballpark on May 11, 2021, losing to the Delmarva Shorebirds, 7–5, with 2,065 people in attendance.[28] [29]
The team finished its inaugural 2021 season with a 44-76 win-loss record, ending in fourth (last) place in the North Division of the Low-A East League. However, the team's total attendance of 199,071 was the highest in its division.[30]
In 2022, the Low-A East renamed itself as the Carolina League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a Single-A circuit. The League also changed its structure, from three four-team divisions to two six-team divisions.[31]
The team finished the 2022 regular season with a 75-55 overall win-loss record, first in the Carolina League's North Division. More specifically, Fredericksburg finished fifth in its division in the season's first half, with a 33-33 record, and first in the second half with a 42-22 record. In the first round of Carolina League playoffs, the FredNats fell in 3 games to Lynchburg in the best-of-three game series, as the North Division's first-place teams in the two halves of the season.[32] [33] [34]