Webb, Ramos comment on Sutter Health Park renovations

Playing an exhibition game at Sutter Health Park post-renovations, Logan Webb, Heliot Ramos, and others commented on the changes to Sacramento's ballpark.

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Mar 24, 2025, 1:27 PM Updated: 1:29 pm

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Sutter Health Park, the home of the A’s for the 2025 season, hosted its first baseball game since their new renovations in preparation for the arrival of their new, although temporary, major league franchise.

Home of the Sacramento Rivers Cats, the San Francisco Giants triple-A affiliate, they played an exhibition inter-franchise game in California’s capital Sunday afternoon.

The morning of their matchup, the A’s unveiled their Sutter Health Park upgrades that included a new scoreboard in right-center field, enhancements to the field itself, an “expanded network infrastructure and stadium technology,” upgraded digital displays, audio enhancements, as well as renovations to the clubhouses and dugouts.

“I noticed the scoreboard. The batter’s eye,” Giants ace Logan Webb said after warming up on the new-look field. “It looks good. I think there’s going to be a lot of people here tonight. So, we’ll kind of get to see what it looks like with a packed house.”

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Heliot Ramos, who played plenty of games at the park during his seasons with the River Cats before becoming an MLB All-Star with San Francisco last season, expects the changes to be well recieved.

“I think fans will love it,’ Ramos said pregame. “A lot of fans will come for sure. I feel like (Sutter Health Park) needed (the upgrade) already… and I think it’s a big adjustment, a big update.”

Given that it was the first time the renovations, which are still a work-in-progress, were being put to the test in live time. While the new scoreboard was certainly an upgrade, you can see mishaps such as shortstop Willy Adames being listed at a pitcher, or a no-name shortstop currently at the plate.

Pitch velocity was nowhere to be found, and some of the other digital screens reading pitch count were experiencing technical issues and being tended to for nearly half the game.

Of course, those sort of hiccups are to be expected given all the change. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle spoke with various Giants and River Cats personnel about the changes to Sutter Health Park after the showdown.

The new batter’s eye, freshly painted and moved to be nearly flush with the center field wall, was a common topic.

“The old one was about 150 feet behind the fence and the depth perception was different,” Auerbach said. “This will be a lot different.”

“Especially the catchers couldn’t see,” Sacramento coach Jolbert Cabrera said. “It used to be bad because the scoreboard was right there, too, and if they changed it and it was something white on the board, the catchers would lose the ball.”

Players embrace Sutter Health Park upgrades: ‘It’s all so pristine and beautiful’ by Susan Slusser

The A’s are set to kick off their season there on March 31st against the Chicago Cubs. Sacramento showed out well for Sunday night’s Giants-centric game, but there will be plenty of baseball in the coming months.

Renovations made to Sutter Health Park don’t take it up to typical major league standards, but they’re notable improvements that were executed on short notice.

More A’s coverage on Sactown Sports

The 2025 MLB season is right around the corner — the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have already kicked off the season in Toyko — the A’s starting pitching rotation for their first year in Sacramento has become clear.

With no real surprise, they’re expected to enter the season with a rotation that features Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears, and Joey Estes, per MLB.com’s A’s beat reporter Martin Gallegos.

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