Meet The Bash Pandas: Rocket City Brings Power at the Plate

The feeling is hard to describe. But when it happens, you know it.

For the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the feeling has happened early and often in their inaugural season. Over the first 98 games, Rocket City has launched 146 home runs, far and away the most in Double-A South. Some just barely clear the fence, others leave ballparks entirely. But they all have that feeling.

“I like to say it’s like hitting a pillow. You don’t even feel it. You can’t replicate it in batting practice,” said Mitch Nay, whose 22 home runs lead Double-A South. “It’s like you hit nothing. You’ll know when you hit them; they come off at a different speed. I look up into the window of where the ball is flying and it’s at a different speed.”

“As soon as you hit the ball, you don’t even feel it on the bat because you just hit it,” said Luis Aviles Jr., with 15 home runs in 54 games. “It doesn’t feel like anything. There’s no ballpark that can hold us when we get that feeling off the bat.

“For me, the feeling is more like the emotional feeling after you hit it,” MacKinnon said. “Once you see the ball go over the wall, there’s nothing like rounding the bases.”

“When you hit the ball on the sweet spot, you don’t even feel it,” catcher Michael Cruz added. “That feeling that you put in the work before and go the result in the game, it feels amazing.”

Everybody get up, it's time to slam now. @LJaviles99_Jr goes KABOOM! 💥 pic.twitter.com/c3c3bBr9fB

— Rocket City Trash Pandas (@trashpandas) July 15, 2021

For the Trash Pandas, the long ball has been the key to the offense since day one. On the season, 49 percent of the Trash Pandas’ runs (236 of 482) have come from the big fly. Seventeen players have gone deep for Rocket City as part of a lineup that has kept the Trash Pandas in the playoff race heading into the season’s final weeks.

“It makes it a lot easier to put runs on the board. It makes the games when we’re down seem a little more attainable,” said David MacKinnon, whose 11 home runs rank sixth on the team.

“One through nine, we will get you. If you make a mistake in the strike zone, we will get you and we can get back in the game,” Aviles Jr. said. “It doesn’t matter how much we are losing by, we feel like we can come back in any game.

“This is the first time I’ve been on a team where the whole lineup can do damage,” said Izzy Wilson, whose 21 homers are second in Double-A South. “It’s a great atmosphere to be around.”

Fifth Inning Fireworks!

💥 @IzzyWilson1 goes oppo to join the 20-20 club!

💥 @mitchnay7 blasts his league-leading 22nd homer of the season!

💥 @AnthonyMoose_36 with a mash! pic.twitter.com/g9iVvwV2sA

— Rocket City Trash Pandas (@trashpandas) August 22, 2021

The atmosphere leads to emotions, especially playing in front of a packed Toyota Field crowd, where the Trash Pandas have uncorked 84 of their 146 home runs. With lights flashing and the crowd cheering, it is part of the feeling that can’t be replicated.

That feeling is infectious in the Rocket City dugout.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that can hit,” Nay said. “It’s almost like it’s contagious. They hit one then I hit one, it’s been like that the past few weeks. It definitely picks the dugout up.”

“Hitting is contagious,” added Aviles Jr. “Once you hit one, the guy behind you wants to do it. Whatever it takes to get the team fired up. The fans here are also a great motivation for us.”

For the Trash Pandas to keep dazzling fans with their great run at the plate, they will need to keep swinging for the fences in the final stretch.