COMSTOCK PARK, Mich — The West Michigan Whitecaps are returning to the field after winning the 2025 Midwest League Championship, their first since 2015.
The team features 14 returning players from last year's championship squad. I was there when the players took the field for their first practice.
"It's nice to be back at the same team. It's nice to be back in West Michigan," Woody Hadeen said.
The returning players bring a familiarity to the team.
"I think just that group of guys or something about him, and just how close we were together as a group. And I think there's something to that, when you play 132 games in a year, and you got all those guys together for that amount of time, I think you really kind of grow close as a unit," Jackson Strong said.
"Seeing how cohesive we could be as a team, taking the stuff we learned last year into this year," CJ Weins said.
One of the new faces this year is Manager Rene Rivera, who takes the helm from Tony Capachelli. Capachelli was promoted to the Erie SeaWolves.
Rivera is not a completely fresh face to all the players.
"I had Rene last year in Lakeland, so I played with him, or he managed me quite a bit last year, so I've kind of gotten used to his style. For sure. Cap was great too. I mean, obviously led a championship team last year. But I think overall, it's just Rene has been there. He's played nine, nine or 10 years in the major so he has a ton of experience around in the game at the highest level. And I think, you know, he knows what it takes to get there," Strong said.
The team, fresh off their championship run, knows what it takes to win.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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