When I first planned this trip, I expected to spend three nights in Las Vegas and fly home overnight, getting back in time for a Mets Thursday afternoon game. But then I found a cheap flight to Portland on Wednesday, along with a bargain first class flight home late that night. Why would I be interested in Portland? Because Hillsboro is a suburb with the last new minor league ballpark for me to see. So I left Vegas early and arrived in Portland in the morning, deciding to book a hotel room for the day rather than rent a car, with prices nearly the same.
I took the MAX Light Rail to Orenco Station (above), stopping at Mazama Brewing, who have half-price beers on Wednesday after 3:00. They happened to have the Blue Jays game on TV and Daulton Varsho was batting; I saw him hit two triples here on my visit to their previous stadium in 2017. Moreover, Jesus Luzardo was pitching for the Phillies and I saw him in Las Vegas in 2019. It's all connected.
Unfortunately, that old ballpark didn't meet the new MLB standards, so a new one had to be built, right next to the old one. So after enjoying a pint, I took a bus over to the stadium, arriving just after gates opened. If you drive, you will pay $9.50 to park. The ballpark doesn't have a naming rights sponsor yet and is thus known as Hops Ballpark, but there is no signage for that, just the address, which can be seen above. The box office is right next to the entrance, with tickets starting at $15 and going up to $142! Yes, $142 for A-Ball. Fortunately, I had bought a ticket in advance for $10 and walked right in. I should note that the Hops allow all bags, though they have to be thoroughly checked obviously.
Inside, the first thing you will notice are the colourful seats, with two shades of blue all around, though no identifiable pattern was observed. If you look closely at the photo below, you can also see some grey seats that are far more luxurious than usual. These are the aforementioned $142 seats, known as Meridian Platinum (the Meridian Club is upstairs).
A better view of the seats is below and although you get free food and beverages and club access, I don't think you get enough to justify that price. I guess I should contact the team in advance and ask for a credential so I can experience it for myself.
I sat there briefly between innings and the seats are a bit too comfortable, more like at a movie theater and not conducive to actually focusing on the game. The view from the seats is below.
The rest of the ballpark is typical for those that are being built these days. They start with a generic blueprint and then make small changes to give it a more local flavour. This is not a complaint, as the ballpark has to offer something for every fan and these new ones do just that. I appreciate discovering the differences and seeing five new parks in the past month, each has something unique to enjoy.
Here, the concourses are wide and had some standing tables, with concessions facing the alcove rather than the concourse. There are few standing spots along the concourse between the bases because the private "suites" are there; in this case they are covered in fake green hops. You can see one in the photo below.
Of course, the Hops motif is everywhere and remains one of my favourites in the minors.
They even have the precise location of the stadium listed on the wall.
Barley remains the main mascot, with Bacaanda more recently adopted for the team's Copa de la Diversión Soñadores (Dreamers) identity.
You can walk all the way around the park, and of course, I did just that, stopping to take pictures at each spot. The typical ballpark blueprint can be seen below, with an open concourse, suites and party areas above, with the press box no longer directly behind the plate, and picnic tables or other group areas in the outfield corners.
There is a large play area in the left field corner anchored by a Breakside Brewery concession; Breakside (from Corvalis) is one of two craft breweries featured here; the other is Fort George, based in Astoria, namesake of where I live. Prices for beer are a bit high and with an overnight flight looming, I chose not to imbibe.
Drink rails and tables are available in the outfield concourse, from where you can hassle the players for a ball.
The full stadium structure, where you can really appreciate its beauty.
Moving over to right field, you can see both bullpens here, with the berm right above them.
These small tables with four chairs are quite common at the newer ballparks and offer smaller groups a chance to enjoy a bit of a different stadium experience.
The starting lineups are on an interior scoreboard along the concourse behind home plate, something I haven't seen before. It certainly saves an intern a few minutes updating the lineups with a marker as in all the old parks. Standings are posted here too.
In addition to the main scoreboard, there are ribbon boards that show stats; what I found most interesting is that they correspond to the team in the dugout beneath them. So when Hillsboro bats, the board above the visiting team dugout shows the pitcher; it switches to the batter when the visitors hit.
Capacity is 6,000, quite a bit for the town and with only 1,366 on hand for this one, there was a lot of room to move around.
Overall, I really liked Hops Ballpark for its relaxed nature, friendly staff, and hoppy motif. To make things even better, I enjoyed one of the best minor league games I have ever witnessed.
The Game
The Tri-City Dust Devils (Angels) were the visitors at 31-27, while the Hops (Diamondbacks) had the mirror record at 27-31. My flight was just before midnight and with the game starting at 6:35, I wanted a quick one, though had some leeway until 9:30. I lucked out with the pitching matchup as Patrick Forbes (29th overall pick in 2025, now Arizona's #9 prospect) started for Hillsboro, while Lucas Knowles (14th round to Washington in 2019) toed the rubber for Tri-City. Knowles is now 28 and has had a good minor league career but has never stuck above AA. Still, he's too old for this circuit and that showed.
Forbes was perfect through three and then replaced after just 43 pitches, which leads me to wonder how he will ever learn to pitch. I mean, he's nearly 22, how long do you have to protect his arm? Anyway, he was replaced by Kyle Ayers (13th, 2024) who also pitched three scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Knowles was equally good and we went to the bottom of the sixth without a run. Yerald Nin led off with a double and was sacrificed to third. Wallace Clark (9th, 2025) then hit an infield single that scored Nin with the first run of the game. Slade Caldwell (29th overall in 2024, Arizona's 3rd-ranked prospect, below), had a chance to extend the inning but grounded into a double play.
The game had taken just over 90 minutes to play six innings, and I expected to be out of there soon, but Jaun Flores (Angels $19 prospect) hit a monster homer off Ayers in the 7th; the ball went so far that it bounced into a parking lot and hit a car. Neither team could do much after that and we entered the bottom of the ninth still tied at 1. Sam Tookoian (20th, 2025) came in to pitch for Tri-City and gave up a single to Clark. Caldwell followed and bunted past Jake Munroe (4th, 2025, Angels #30 prospect) charging in from third for a single. José Mejía grounded to first but Kevin Bruggeman threw wild to third, pulling Munroe off the bag to load the bases. Kayson Cunningham (18th overall, 2025, Arizona's #2 prospect, below) then grounded hard back to Tookoian, who could not handle the ball cleanly, and his last-ditch throw home went wild as Clark scored the winning run.
It was a great finish and the game ended in just 2:09, with an incredible PPM of 1.95. The photo above is of Cunningham's winning swing, while the scoreboard below is one of those where it is tough to get a full photo from just snapping a shot. It's always nice when a night game finishes before the sun sets.
With that, I headed back to the station and was at the airport just over an hour later, with plenty of time to catch my flight. Once again, I have completed all the minor league ballparks and hope that there are no new ones for a couple of years.
Notes
Notes
Hillsboro's first base coach is Gift Ngoepe (below), the first South African in MLB, who had brief appearances with Pittsburgh in 2017 and Toronto in 2018.
I flew via O'Hare and Dulles on my way to LGA and we passed by Citi Field as the Mets game was going on. Juan Soto was batting at the time, but we were too high to make out the players on the field.
Etihad Park is coming along nicely and will host NYCFC starting next year.
Landing at O'Hare, I was able to capture a photo of the entire field as we passed by on our approach.
We also went over Ryan Field, Northwestern's new football stadium, that will see its first game in October.
Philadelphia is one place where you can get three stadiums in one shot. Remember, always get a window seat and know where you are so you can capture similar shots.
Next Up
I'll be at home for June watching the World Cup and then heading to Japan in July, where I have five new venues on tap, including the three remaining farm ballparks. Check back then for updates.
Best,
Sean
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