Isotopes Park readies for winter weather during field improvements

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Baseball may be in the off-season, but Isotopes Park is in season – growing season, that is.

“You can’t grow grass in the middle of winter,” said John Traub, general manager of the Isotopes. 

Traub said it is unusual to re-turf an entire field this time of year.

“You need months of nothing happening on the field for the sod to grow and, and stuff like that our season ended Sept. 28. Soccer ended Oct. 15. So, you know, there were just certain things with the calendar that we didn’t have any control over,” he said.

They’re making it work though. Crews have been preparing for this since the last home game, and now they’re in the home stretch for the project and for good weather.

“We’re laying down this sod, you have to do it at a time when the soil temperatures are warm enough that this sod is going to root, and that the root depth gets strong enough to be able to sustain a what could be a difficult winter,” Traub said about the tight timeframe they have.

Traub said the rest of the grass should be in by Wednesday, and it’s right on time; before they have to batter up against mother nature.

“We’ll put turf blankets on we’ll do whatever we can do to keep the soil temperatures warm. But you know, with the weather that we’re in right now, it’s okay. You don’t want it to get much colder and you don’t want all these frost and freezes to happen overnight,” he said.

While baseball hibernates for the winter, Traub is already looking forward to the spring.

There’s a lot of “new” in store for next season.

“A brand-new video board state of the art can be the largest in minor league baseball, can’t wait for it to come up, we’re going to be able to show full video from you know, all 110 feet wide and 55 feet tall. We’re going to be able to use it in all kinds of different ways that are really going to entertain the fans,” said Traub.