Slightly more than 30 months after breaking ground for the construction of a Cobb County baseball stadium, the Braves will face the New York Yankees in the first game at SunTrust Park on Friday night.
It’s only an exhibition game, the official end of spring training, and will be treated as such by the Braves despite the novelty of introducing the new ballpark.
“It’s a test event, first and foremost,” Derek Schiller, the Braves’ president of business, said Thursday. “We are not putting into it any of the pomp and circumstance associated with an opening-day game. We’re going to save that for the 14th.”
The Braves’ first regular-season game in SunTrust Park is on April 14 against the San Diego Padres. The Braves open the season with eight road games.
About 20,000 fans are expected at Friday’s exhibition game. Tickets were limited to season-ticket holders and a relatively small number of people associated with the construction project, Schiller said.
“That gives us a building half full and is a perfect way for us to go through all operations and make sure everything is functioning,” he said.
All areas inside the stadium will be “open and operational,” including the concession stands, premium clubs, kids’ play area and Chop House restaurant/bar, Schiller said.
Another milestone is scheduled near the stadium Friday: The first 20 residents of apartments in the adjoining mixed-use development, The Battery Atlanta, are scheduled to move in, according to Mike Plant, the Braves’ president of development.
At least a half-dozen restaurants/bars in The Battery are scheduled to open by April 14, with others gradually opening throughout the season. The only ones slated to be open Friday night have entrances from both the ballpark and the development.
Plant, who has had a lead role on the stadium project from the start, said he was feeling “a great deal of pride” as he stood on the edge of the field Thursday afternoon.
“I say that on behalf of not only our entire organization but everyone who helped to work and plan and design and build this place,” Plant said. “I know it was a tireless effort. I know we have pushed this envelope on the timeline, which was very aggressive. We knew it from the start.
“It has happened the way we expected it to and the way we aspired for it to.”
The Braves players got their first look at the completed stadium Wednesday night after returning to Atlanta from their spring-training base near Orlando.
“It’s that little boy in them,” manager Brian Snitker said of the players’ first reaction to the new ballpark. “I don’t care how much money they’re making or how long they’ve been in the game, it’s a fun thing to go in (to a new stadium).”
“Very impressive,” catcher Tyler Flowers said. “We took a stroll pretty much everywhere we could, trying to figure out which way was up. We got real disoriented down there, but we’re starting to figure it out already. We’re pretty excited about this.”
The Braves practiced in the stadium for the first time Thursday afternoon.
Before the workout, about 350 fans got a glimpse of the ballpark — and of the 2017 team — by attending the Braves’ “Leadoff Reception” in one of the stadium’s club areas.
“Welcome to the new era of Braves baseball,” Braves Chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said to the gathering.
All of the players were introduced and many fielded questions from moderator Joe Simpson.
Right fielder Nick Markakis discussed dealing with one of the ballpark’s quirkier aspects: a 16-foot-high right-field wall that has padding on parts of it, vinyl-coated chain-link fence on other parts (through which fans in the “Below the Chop” section will watch the games) and brick on the top.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Markakis said. “There are lot of different pieces to that wall out there and I’ll have to check it out and see how those balls come off the wall.”
Bartolo Colon, the 43-year-old pitcher acquired by the Braves in the offseason, is scheduled to start Friday’s exhibition and will be followed to the mound by another new addition, 42-year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and probably four or more other pitchers.
Another baseball game will be played in SunTrust Park between this one and the Braves’ regular-season home opener: a college game between Georgia and Missouri on April 8.
