Mariachis night featuring a poncho giveaway, an Albuquerque homecoming and more in store this week at Isotopes Park
Apr. 8—OK, so their trip to Oklahoma wasn't particularly successful.
(I mean, going 1-5 against a team whose name this season is the Oklahoma City Baseball Club, Isotopes? Really?)
No worries.
The Albuquerque Isotopes are home again for a six-game series starting Tuesday night at Rio Grande Credit Union Field against the visiting Sugar Land Space Cowboys, and the 2-7 record on the young season hasn't put a damper on the promotions for fans.
In fact, one of the season's most anticipated giveaways is on tap for Saturday, and that's in addition to several top prospects in both the Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros organizations filling each roster for games all week.
The series is Tuesday through Sunday, and here are some of the promotional highlights:
THURSDAY: A college night promotion with a pregame (5:30-6:30 p.m.) concert outside McKernan Hall (the main home plate entrance of the stadium) featuring DJ Spunjy and $13 game tickets plus the rare ALL-AGES postgame fun run that is usually reserved for children 12 and under to run the bases.
FRIDAY: Malmo Oat Milkers Night presented by Oatly has the Isotopes wearing special jerseys and a pregame autograph session at 5:30 p.m. with players near the third base entrance.
SATURDAY: The first Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico night of the season also features an adult Mariachis poncho giveaway for the first 3,000 fans age 16 and older.
SUNDAY: A Jackie Robinson celebration is planned with players and coaches wearing special No. 42 jerseys in honor of Robinson with a commemorative Robinson hat giveaway to the first 1,500 fans in the gates.
FAMILIAR FACE(S): Tentatively scheduled to get the start for Sugar Land on Wednesday night at Isotopes Park will be a familiar face to Albuquerque fans.
Then again, maybe not.
Because he didn't play his more high-profile, get-your-name-in-the-paper high school years in Albuquerque, it might surprise you to know that one of the top prospects in the Houston Astros organization was born and raised (until his mid-teenage years) right here in Albuquerque.
Spencer Arrighetti is a 24-year-old right-handed starting pitcher who is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 3 prospect in the Houston Astros organization — you know, that program with the other Albuquerque kid, Alex Bregman.
Arrighetti is scheduled to take the mound Wednesday — about a decade removed from being an eighth- and ninth-grader playing at Hope Christian.
Arrighetti moved for his sophomore through senior years of high school to Katy, Texas, played at three colleges over the unique COVID years — TCU, Navarro Junior College in Texas and the University of Louisiana in Lafayette — before being a sixth-round draft pick of the Astros in 2021.
He did pitch against the Isotopes last year, but in a game in Sugar Land, going 4.0 innings of three-hit ball, allowing two earned runs and striking out two in a loss to Albuquerque.
One round before Arrighetti was drafted in 2021, the Astros drafted outfielder Quincy Hamilton from Alamogordo. Like Arrighetti, Hamilton spent most of his upbringing in New Mexico before moving out of state early in his high school years.
You can reach Geoff at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
