Now that their arrival to Pioneer Park is official, the Greeneville Reds (Rookie; Appalachian League) are preparing for the upcoming season.
Late last month, it was announced that the Cincinnati Reds were placing an Appalachian League affiliate in Greeneville. The Reds are taking the place of the Houston Astros, who brought an end to the Greeneville Astros following the 2017 season.
Paul Kleinhans-Schulz will serve as the Greeneville Reds general manager, and is getting to work on preparing for the team’s first season at Pioneer Park. Under Kleinhans-Schulz, the Reds will be placing an emphasis on providing an affordable family entertainment option, but plenty of work remains between now the beginning of the season this summer. More from The Greeneville Sun:
“My focus is on bringing family-affordable entertainment to town,” he said. “I don’t really look at the other teams in the league as competition for that, and often we actually share ideas with each other.”
“I’m in competition with staying home and watching Netflix, or going to the movies, or out to a restaurant. I want to provide a place for baseball fans and non-baseball fans alike to have a safe and fun place to be. Along with that, we don’t want it to break your pocketbook.”
The new general manager would liked to have had a smoother transition to the post and is still working on getting some basic operational necessities in place before things can really get rolling.
“I still don’t have a working phone in the office, we don’t have a website and I don’t have any other staff right now,” Kleinhans-Schulz said. “We are working on getting all of those things taken care of soon.”
Pioneer Park, which originally opened for the Astros in 2004, is located on the campus of Tusculum College.
RELATED STORIES: New for 2018: Greeneville Reds; Greeneville Reds to be Announced Friday; Talk of Reds Appalachian League Team Premature: Locals; Astros Pull Out of Greeneville, Appalachian League