The best Triple-A ballpark as chosen by fans in the Best of the Ballparks 2016 competition: Louisville Slugger Field, home of the International League’s Louisville Bats.
“Louisville Slugger Field is one of the many jewels that minor league baseball has in terms of ballparks built since the 1990s and we are honored to be chosen as one of those,” said Senior Vice President Greg Galiette. “We want to especially thank our fans for voting and helping us earn the title of best Triple-A ballpark, but also our hardworking staff that make Louisville Slugger Field look its best all season long.”
“Louisville Slugger Field has always been a top Minor League Baseball ballpark, and with improvements in recent years, it’s only gotten better,” said Ballpark Digest Publisher Kevin Reichard. “Triple-A features many of the best ballparks in all of baseball, and fans were smart to choose Louisville Slugger Field as their favorite.”
It was a battle of I-65 in the Triple-A final vote, as Louisville Slugger Field and Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians, were the two finalists. Over 14,000 fans weighed in just for this final round of voting, and it was a close vote: 51%-49%.
Here’s our ranking of Triple-A ballparks, combining International League and Pacific Coast League facilities. This was an extremely difficult list to seed and took several days of thought and deliberation. Occupying the top spot is Huntington Park, home of the Columbus Clippers, the winner of the Best of the Ballparks 2015 voting. This is the top level of Minor League Baseball and the top set of MiLB ballparks, and there’s not a whole lot of difference between the ballparks in the middle of this list; the rankings are a gentle guide, to be sure:
1. Huntington Park (Columbus Clippers; IL)
2. Coca-Cola Park (Lehigh Valley IronPigs; IL)
3. BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte Knights; IL)
4. First Tennessee Park (Nashville Sounds; PCL)
5. Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham Bulls; IL)
6. Southwest University Park (El Paso Chihuahuas; PCL)
7. Fifth Third Field (Toledo Mud Hens; IL)
8. AutoZone Park (Memphis Redbirds; PCL)
9. Greater Nevada Field (Reno Aces; PCL)
10. Victory Field (Indianapolis Indians; IL)
11. Isotopes Park (Albuquerque Isotopes; PCL)
12. Dell Diamond (Round Rock Express; PCL)
13. Werner Park (Omaha Storm Chasers; PCL)
14. Frontier Field (Rochester Red Wings; IL)
15. Coca-Cola Field (Buffalo Bison; IL)
16. PNC Field (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; IL)
17. Raley Field (Sacramento River Cats; PCL)
18. Cheney Stadium (Tacoma Rainiers; PCL)
19. Smith’s Ballpark (Salt Lake Bees; PCL)
20. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (Oklahoma City Dodgers; PCL)
21. Louisville Slugger Field (Louisville Bats; IL)
22. Principal Park (Iowa Cubs; PCL)
23. Chukchansi Park (Fresno Grizzlies; PCL)
24. McCoy Stadium (Pawtucket Red Sox; IL)
25. Harbor Park (Norfolk Tides; IL)
26. Coolray Field (Gwinnett Braves; IL)
27. Zephyr Field (New Orleans Zephyrs; PCL)
28. NBT Bank Stadium (Syracuse Chiefs; IL)
29. Security Service Field (Colorado Springs Sky Sox; PCL)
30. Cashman Field (Las Vegas 51s; PCL)
Here are the brackets:
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