Chillicothe Paints

The Paints played in the independent Frontier League from the 1993 season until the end of the 2008 season. They were one of the original teams in the league. The Paints play their home games at V.A. Memorial Stadium.

The Paints were the longest tenured franchise in the Frontier League to date. They reached the Frontier League Championship Series on six occasions (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006). However, they never were able to claim a Frontier League championship win.

In 2005, the Paints set a team record by drawing over 8,500 fans.

V.A. Memorial Stadium had grass from 1993–2005. The ballpark installed FieldTurf in 2006, the first baseball field in the United States to have a 100% FieldTurf playing surface, including base, mound and home plate areas.

Following the 2008 season, the ownership announced that they would leave the Frontier League, becoming an amateur collegiate summer baseball team. Since 2009, they have competed in the Prospect League, an amateur collegiate summer league.

In 2010, the Paints won their first Prospect League championship against the Danville Dans on an 11th inning walk off home run by Ian Nelson.

Two years later they made another playoff appearance, and lost in the first round to the West Virginia Miners, 6–2.

The Paints celebrated their 25th season in 2017. As part of the festivities, the Paints retired longtime coach Marty Dunn's number 25 in a pregame ceremony that included former players and staff throughout the first 24 seasons of Paints baseball. That season, the Paints averaged 1,959 fans per game, setting a franchise record in both average attendance and total attendance. The 58,755 total attendance marked a new Prospect League record. The Paints ranked in the top 10 of all summer collegiate teams nationwide in per-game attendance in 2017.

After missing the playoffs in 2016 and 2017, Chillicothe made a return to the playoffs in 2018, losing to the Kokomo Jackrabbits two games to one in the East Division Championship Series. It was the first playoff appearance for manager Brian Bigam since he took over the reins in 2016. Jack Raines was named the Prospect League's Galen Woods Fireman of the Year (Reliever of the Year)

The Paints began the 2019 season 2–7, but went 41-14 the rest of the campaign (including 3–1 in the playoffs) and defeated the Danville Dans in a one-game East Division Championship Game and then, after losing game one of the Prospect League Championship Series at home to the league's newest team, the Cape Catfish, the Paints won games two and three in Cape Girardeau, Mo., to capture the franchise's second league title. Trailing 2–1 in the middle of the game, Trey Smith hit a grand slam to put Chillicothe in the lead 5–2, the eventual final score. Closer Nate Haugh was named the Prospect League's Galen Woods Fireman of the Year (Reliever of the Year). For the first time in team history, the Paints averaged at least 2,000 fans per game (2,037) and totaled 57,040 for the season, leading the league and ranking 15th nationally in both categories among similar type teams nationwide.[1][2]

• 20 - OF Gator McBride (All-Star and hit leader)
• 22 - P Brian Tollberg (first Frontier League player to make it to the MLB with the San Diego Padres)
• 24 - SS Travis O. Garcia (2007 FL Most Valuable Player)
• 25 - Bench Coach Martin Dunn (Paints' Bench Coach from 1993-2015)
• 27 - 3B Mitch House (3-time All-Star)
• 29 - OF Steve Martin (retired in 2006, lost his life following a game in an automobile accident July 6, 2006)
• 30 - DH/1B Scott Pinoni (1999 Most Valuable Player; 3-time All-Star)
• 50 - Manager Roger Hanners (1993 FL Manager of the Year, managed Paints 1993-2000)

• P Brian Tollberg (Pitched for the San Diego Padres from 2000 to 2003)
• P A.J. Achter (Pitched for the Angels and Twins from 2014–2016; Pitched for the Paints in 2009)
• 3B Mike Cervenak (Played 10 games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008; Spent 13 seasons in the minor leagues; played for the Paints in 1999 & 2000)

Paints bench coach Marty Dunn served as Interim Manager in 2000 following Roger Hanners's heart attack late in the season. Dunn has served as an interim coach for a few games since Hanners's retirement. During the Wilson era, pitching coaches Jim Frisbee (2005) and Johnny Ruffin (2006) have filled in during an absence, although Dunn has been on staff. During a road trip to Traverse City, Michigan in 2006, former Cy Young award winner Doug Drabek served as manager while Wilson was tending to things at his Texas home.

In late 2006, Wilson saw his contract not renewed, due to many reasons. That same day, the Paints organization named longtime Washington Wild Things assistant Mark Mason their new manager. Mason also managed the Ohio Valley Redcoats, in 2005 winning the Roger Hanners Manager of the Year award.

After 2008, Mark Mason was named the fourth manager of the Washington Wildthings replacing Greg Jelks. Mason will not be returning to the Paints in the Prospect league.

The Paints began play in the college wood-bat Prospect League in 2009 with former player Brian Mannino as manager. He was at the helm for the Paints first league championship win in franchise history in 2010 and managed through the 2011 season. Mannino continues to serve as Director of Baseball Operations, finding players and signing them each season.

University of Missouri Hall of Famer and former longtime Ohio State assistant Greg Cypret took over managing duties in 2012 and collected the second-most wins of any manager in Paints' history, behind only Roger Hanners. A stroke following the 2015 season forced Cypret to step away from managing, though he returned to the staff as an assistant coach beginning in 2017.

Circleville native Brian Bigam took over managing duties in 2016 after guiding some of the best pitching staffs in the Prospect League as Chillicothe's Pitching Coach throughout several seasons. Bigam is currently the Paints' manager and helped the Paints to their 8th playoff appearance in 11 years of Prospect League play in 2019. The Paints led the Prospect League with the lowest ERA, fewest walks, and in several other categories in 2018. Bigam helped to guide the Paints to their second league championship in 2019. Again, the Paints boasted one of the best pitching staffs in the league, including the Reliever of the Year for the second-straight season.

• Official Chillicothe Paints website
• Paints page at OurSports Central