March 31     Texas A&M Corpus Christi 4-Corpus Christi Hooks 4

April 2         Frisco RoughRiders 5-Corpus Christi Hooks 1                  L

April 3         Frisco RoughRiders 10-Corpus Christi Hooks 2                L

April 4         Frisco RoughRiders 1-Corpus Christi Hooks 0                  L

An exhibition game tie against a college team and an opening night loss to a South division foe, not a good start to a championship season. In fact, I have already heard one staff member lament the ugly start of the season and his readiness to quit if the quality of play on the field resembles that of the previous few Hooks’ seasons.

Opening series losses and less than stellar play on the field to begin the season have doomed the team to poor starts which provide anticlimactic endings. The Hooks have played so badly early that they are out of playoff contention by August.

Here’s something that makes being a minor league fan tough. Every season begins with 75% veterans from the previous year and 25% new faces. By the end of a season, those ratios flip. The transition happens throughout the entire baseball year, but it accelerates in late June-early July. Favorite players are here, then they’re not.

I attended a game at Whataburger Field on July 29, 2015, where I watched Brett Phillips have one of the greatest games by a player I’ve ever seen. He went 4 for 5, ending the night for everyone with a walk-off single to secure a 7-6 win over the San Antonio Missions. The Astros traded him to the Brewers the very next day.

My first year in Corpus Christi, 2016, we had a young first rounder named Alex Bregman playing shortstop. After he’d made a rare error, Robert Tripson, a former high school baseball coach and a dear friend, said, “That guy’s going to be a major leaguer.”

“Why do you say that?”

“How he handled the mistake. He simply got set for the next pitch.”

At mid-season Bregman left for the Texas League All-Star game. He never came back. By late July, he was playing third base for the Astros. His departure was the first time I felt the loss of a player as a minor league fan.

In 2017, J. D. Davis played third base for the Hooks. Late in the season, I shook his hand and said, “I’ve enjoyed watching you play. I know you’ll be a major leaguer. I hope it’s in an Astros’ uniform.” He debuted for the Astros on August 5, 2017, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Last year, I got to know Zach Cole, a power-hitting outfielder for the Hooks. I discovered he had been promoted to Triple-A when I went to Sugar Land late in the season for a game. I saw him standing near the home dugout and asked him to sign that day’s ticket. He entered the game late and notched his first Triple-A hit.

Next Hooks’ homestand, someone said, “Did you hear? Zach Cole hit a first-pitch homerun.” I was confused about how news of a Triple-A homerun would be circulating among the fans. It turned out Zach got his first Major League start in left field for the Astros that day, September 12, 2025, and his first-pitch homerun came against the Atlanta Braves.

That same day the Hooks players lingered in the clubhouse to watch Zach’s first at-bat, and someone captured the locker room celebration when his hit cleared the fence. The video clip makes for a great YouTube moment.

Despite a spate of recent losing seasons in Corpus Christi, I still have those moments where the frustration gives way to pure joy—a walk-off homerun in extra innings, a well-executed double play to kill a rally, an out at the plate on a great throw from the outfield, and just an old-fashioned nailbiter from start to finish.

Despite a rough start to the season, I remain both curious and hopeful. How in the world are we going to win a championship in 2026?