KODAK, Tenn. — The minor league baseball season comes with a difficult schedule.
The players compete in roughly 140 games in 165 days. They will tell you the hardest part is being on the road for six months out of the year away from their family and friends.
However, this week is a homecoming for two East Tennessee natives playing at Smokies Stadium. The Smokies host the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.
Former Grainger High School standout, Trey Cabbage will check off a bucket-list moment by playing at Smokies Stadium this week.
"Oh, it’s a blessing." Cabbage said about playing at Smokies Stadium. "I’ve wanted to do this since I was knee-high to a grasshopper coming to these games."
Cabbage was drafted out of Grainger High School in 2015 and had not been back to his childhood ballpark before this week. He was taken in the fourth round by the Minnesota Twins. He signed a minor league free agency deal in November with the Angels after he completed his contract with the Twins.
"It’s kind of surreal." Cabbage said. "I’ve been to 150 to 200 games watching here (Smokies Stadium) before and it’s the first time I’ve ever played here before. I had it all built up in my head and it’s just kind of funny. It seems smaller because when I was a kid everything was amazing and bright and shiny. Now that I’m here it’s like ‘okay, we still have a job to do.’”
A job Cabbage does well. He was the number 72 ranked MLB prospect in 2015. Now, in his first ten games with the Trash Pandas, he’s hit three home runs and 12 Runs-batted-in.
In his career, he’s gone yard 59 times, but the goal now is to hit one out of the park at Smokies Stadium.
"It would be a core memory unlocked for sure." Cabbage told Hock. "Seeing all the guys play here and then coming back and actually playing here, I bet the first at-bat I’ll be a little shaky."
His teammate, and former Sevier County High School and Tennessee baseball standout, Zach Linginfelter knows the emotions Cabbage is filling this week.
"We used to come out here and I would run down foul balls," Linginfelter said about Smokies Stadium. "We used to wait until the players got done showering and everything and we would wait outside the locker room for autographs. It’s been a change of scenery since I last was here, but it will be great."
Linginfelter was drafted out of Tennessee in 2019 by the Angels and has spent his entire career with the organization and hasn’t played back in East Tennessee since his time as a Vol.
At the start of the season, Cabbage pitched two games, earning one win. In 3.2 innings pitched, he's totaled five strikeouts.
Now, as Cabbage and Linginfelter gear up for their series with the Smokies, they both are proud to show their teammates a touch of their hometown.