Smile Because It Happened: 2025 Renegades Season In Review

Wappingers Falls, NY -- Despite a bittersweet ending, the 2025 Hudson Valley Renegades season was one of the most-special seasons in team history, with the record books rewritten and countless memories made. Led by the best pitching staff in Minor League Baseball, the Renegades won a team-record 79 games and were in the playoff chase until the final day of the regular season.

It was clear early on that the Renegades were bound for a special season. The Break Camp Roster featured a star-studded pitching staff and over 20 returners from the 2023 and 2024 Renegades teams.

The early-season starting rotation of Ben Hess, Bryce Cunningham, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Carlos Lagrange, Josh Grosz and Kyle Carr was arguably the best in MiLB, and the lineup led by George Lombard, Jr., Jace Avina and Brendan Jones packed a punch that sent the Renegades to a 16-7 start in April. That included splitting a road series with the First Half champion Brooklyn Cyclones at Maimonides Park and taking a six-game set on the road from Asheville later in the month which saw Avina and Rodriguez-Cruz get named SAL Player and Pitcher of the Week for their respective performances.

Lombard, Jr. only lasted 24 games with the Renegades, but was one of the most-dominant hitters in the South Atlantic League in that time. He hit .329/.495/.488 with more walks than strikeouts while playing a nearly-flawless shortstop before being promoted to Double-A. He also stole 11 bases, which was tied with Jones for the team lead at the time.

Rodriguez-Cruz began his breakout season in style, posting a 2.42 ERA in 22.1 innings while striking out 30 and holding opponents to a .120 batting average. He won SAL Pitcher of the Week after a 12 strikeout performance at Asheville on April 25. Acquired in the offseason in a trade with the Boston Red Sox, ERC jumped from being the Yankees #16 prospect before the season according to Baseball America to being their #3 prospect and #99 in MiLB by the end of the season.

Also of note early in the season was the development of Lagrange. Beginning the season with notorious command issues, the right-handed fireballer dominated SAL competition, recording 64 strikeouts in 41.2 innings while only issuing 12 walks in eight starts before a June promotion to Somerset.

As the calendar turned and the Renegades lost Lombard to Double-A, they were bolstered by the return of standout fan-favorite Roc Riggio from a spring training injury, and the promotion of Parks Harber from Single-A Tampa. Riggio had a monster month, swatting a team-leading six home runs and posting a 1.056 OPS while Harber impressed in his first taste of High-A, batting .308/.364/.484 with 19 RBIs.

Hess had a strong month on the mound, racking up 29 strikeouts in 21.2 innings in four starts, and Cunningham started the month strong, but missed some time with injuries, posting a 1.50 ERA across 18.0 innings in three appearances.

Hudson Valley briefly was in first place in the middle of the month when the ‘Gades split a doubleheader with the Aberdeen IronBirds and fell out of first for good. They finished the month with a 14-12 record, and were never higher than third place in the first half standings after May 20. By that point, Brooklyn and Greensboro were firmly entrenched as the top two teams in the league, and the Renegades were struggling to find their way after losing several players up to Somerset and Jace Avina landing on the IL.

The end of May and early June saw the Renegades roster remade, with Cunningham landing on the IL and Griffin Herring called up from Tampa to replace him in the rotation, and Lagrange, Riggio and Brendan Jones promoted to Double-A with Dillon Lewis and Alexander Vargas joining the club from Tampa and Somerset, respectively.

Lewis provided spark at the top of the lineup with big-time power and speed, while the experienced Vargas packed a punch in the middle of the lineup. Starting on June 18, Vargas went on a 16-game hitting streak, the second-longest streak by a Renegades batter since 2005.

Mid-June also saw the start of the turnaround of Josh Moylan’s season. He started a 29-game on-base streak on June 17 which stretched until Aug. 1. He had been hitting just .154/.309/.263 on the season before that streak started and went on to hit .279/.374/.423 for the rest of the year while being one of the key stabilizing factors in the lineup during the second half.

Along the way, Moylan finished the season as the Renegades all-time franchise leader in games played (215), at-bats (717), runs (98), hits (167), doubles (39), RBIs (92), and walks (119).

June was also the month that saw Kyle Carr begin one of the greatest stretches of starting pitching in the 31 years of Renegades history. In his first start of the month on June 3, he allowed one run on two hits in 6.0 innings while striking out seven at the Aberdeen IronBirds – his first career quality start. That began a run where Carr allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in nine straight starts and in 13 of his last 14 starts of the year, including 10 quality starts.

From June 1 through the end of the year, the left-hander had a 0.98 ERA, the second-best in Minor League Baseball, and went on to lead the SAL in ERA (1.96) and win South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year.

The first half ended with the Renegades finishing 6.5 games behind the Cyclones, but the second half started in Jersey Shore with the ‘Gades winning their first two games, then losing five of their next seven to end June with a 4-5 second half record. It looked like the second half would be troublesome, but as the season moved onto July, something incredible happened.

July started with a rainout on the first, leading to a doubleheader with the Brooklyn Cyclones on July 2. The Renegades won both games, with Carr tossing a complete game shutout in game two, the first complete game shutout of longer than 5.0 innings by a Renegades pitcher since 2009. It was the first start of a month that saw Carr post a 0.37 ERA and win South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month.

Griffin Herring pitched the Renegades to a 4-1 win on July 3 in front of a Heritage Financial Park record crowd of 6,203, and Hudson Valley won two of the final three games of the series to take five-of-six from Brooklyn.

The Renegades then took five of six in the final pre–All-Star Break series with the Ashevillle Tourists, a series highlighted by Jace Avina hitting two home runs in back-to-back games, becoming the first Renegade to do so, and a walk-off home run by Tomas Frick on July 11. Sadly, earlier that day, both Avina and Rodriguez-Cruz were promoted to Somerset, and Frick would join them in Double-A after the All-Star Break. They were well-earned promotions by the players, but challenging for the Renegades as on- and off-field leaders departed.

After a brief hiccup by losing two games at Jersey Shore out of the break, the Renegades returned to their winning ways in their final July series, taking five of six from Rome. However, that series saw the beginning of three turbulent weeks for the ‘Gades during which their roster would be dramatically re-made.

On July 25, starters Josh Grosz and Herring were traded to the Colorado Rockies for Ryan McMahon. Grosz was a leader in the clubhouse and one of the most consistent starters for the Renegades in 2025. He had made strides in upping his fastball velocity and added a curveball which gave him an extra weapon. Herring performed admirably replacing Lagrange in the rotation, posting a 2.22 ERA and striking out a batter per inning in eight starts with Hudson Valley before the trade.

Five days later Gage Ziehl, who was called up from Tampa to replace Grosz, was traded to the White Sox after one appearance. On deadline day, Harber was dealt to the San Francisco Giants in the Camilo Doval trade. However, the team was able to persevere and take four of six at Wilmington to head back home on Aug. 3 with a 23-12 record in the second half, 2.5 games behind the division-leading Greensboro Grasshoppers.

The next three days would be some of the wildest that a Minor League team has ever experienced. On Aug. 5, Ben Hess was promoted to Double-A, and Engelth Urena, Kaeden Kent and Connor McGinnis were all added to the Renegades roster. The next day, Brandon Decker, Xavier Rivas, Juan Matheus, Owen Cobb and Tyler Wilson all joined the ‘Gades, and Brenny Escanio and Jose Colmenares were released. The day after that, the Renegades added Robbie Burnett, Joe Delossantos, Core Jackson and Camden Troyer as Jackson Castillo, Coby Morales and Vargas were promoted to Somerset and Anthony Hall and Kiko Romero were released.

A stunning 20 roster moves in a three-day span added 11 new position players to the roster and made the team almost unrecognizable. Despite that, the team continued on its winning ways, winning back-to-back series at home against Brooklyn and Aberdeen. Kent delivered a signature moment on Aug. 8 when his first professional hit was a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth against the Cyclones to give the Renegades a 2-0 win.

Kent, drafted by the Yankees in the third round of the 2025 MLB Draft, had his ups and downs as he began his professional career with the Renegades, but showed immense promise. He drove in 17 runs in 25 games, and had a perfect 5-for-5 performance at the plate on Aug. 27 at Brooklyn, the only five-hit game by a Renegades player in 2025. On top of that he played a smooth shortstop, helping the Renegades pitching staff by showing off impressive range and sure hands.

Rivas immediately established himself as one of the hottest pitchers in the South Atlantic League, going 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 24.0 innings in August, winning SAL Pitcher of the Month. He had a jaw-dropping performance of 12 strikeouts against Aberdeen on Aug. 15, and followed that up with 10 strikeouts in 5.1 innings at Jersey Shore on 8/22.

After winning the first three games of their series with the BlueClaws, the Renegades had mounted an incredible record of 30-10 since July 2, the best in MiLB, but still found themselves 0.5 games back of the Grasshoppers who had been playing nearly as well.

But then the team blinked. They went on their longest losing streak of the season, dropping five in a row to Jersey Shore and Brooklyn to fall 4.5 games back with 10 to play. The chances of a Renegades playoff berth looked bleak.

The resilient Renegades would not roll over, though. They managed to win three of the last four games of the series in Brooklyn, getting a gem from Cade Smith on Sunday to claw back to 3.5 games out with six to play, setting up a last-week showdown with Greensboro at Heritage Financial Park.

The Renegades won the first game of the series 4-0 behind a strong start from Brandon Decker and bullpen work from Brady Kirtner, Matt Keating and Tony Rossi. Greensboro struck back with a win on Wednesday to go back up by 3.5 with four games to play. One more Hudson Valley loss would officially eliminate the team from playoff contention.

Rivas and Jack Cebert pitched the Renegades to a 10-0 win in a rain-shortened seven-inning contest with Matheus and McGinnis each driving in two runs. Andrew Landry threw six shutout innings on Friday in a 3-1 Renegades win, with Troyer driving in two runs.

The Renegades won 1-0 on Saturday behind another brilliant start from Smith, who fired six shutout innings while striking out eight, setting up a winner-take-all regular-season finale on Sunday.

In the final game of the season, the Renegades struck first, getting an RBI single in the bottom of the third to take a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the Grasshoppers plated runs in the fourth and fifth against Landry to take a lead they would never relinquish in a 4-1 win, ending the Renegades season.

Even though this season didn’t end with the Renegades in the postseason – just the second time in the last 10 years that the Gades have missed the playoffs – it was still a magical season.

The pitching staff led MiLB in ERA with a 2.82 mark, the lowest in MiLB after the 2020 reorganization, and the 10^th-lowest mark by a full-season team in the last 20 years. Carr won SAL Pitcher of the Year, and reliever Hueston Morrill was named a SAL All-Star after posting a 0.47 ERA in 33 games. The Renegades won five games in walk-off fashion, and threw a team-record 20 shutouts, including an incredible five 1-0 wins.

Under the tutelage of manager James Cooper, hitting coach Tom DeAngelis, pitching coach Demetre Kokoris and defensive coaches Teuris Olivares and Caleb Hamilton, this team came together, evolved, and improved throughout the season. As players moved up within the Yankees organization or out to other orgs, the goodbyes were bittersweet, but the friendships and the memories made from the 2025 Renegades will last a lifetime.