Bill Dawley was the starting pitcher for the Sounds' inaugural April 15, 1978, opener.Tom Filer was the Opening Day starter for the Sounds' 1980 season in which the team won a franchise-best 97 games, losing only 46.[1]Jamie Werly made the first Opening Day start at Nashville's Herschel Greer Stadium in 1981.Zach Jackson made back-to-back Opening Day starts in 2007 and 2008.Johnny Hellweg was selected as the Sounds' 2014 Opening Day starter after winning the 2013 PCL Pitcher of the Year Award.[2]Chris Smith made the first Opening Day start at Nashville's First Tennessee Park in 2016.
The Nashville SoundsMinor League Baseball team has played in Nashville, Tennessee, since being established in 1978 as an expansion team of the Double-ASouthern League.[3] They moved up to Triple-A in 1985 as members of the American Association before joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998.[3] With the restructuring of the minor leagues in 2021, they were placed in the Triple-A East, which became the International League in 2022.[4][5] The first game of the new baseball season for a team is played on Opening Day, and being named the Opening Day starting pitcher is an honor which is given to the player who is expected to lead the pitching staff that season,[6] though there are various strategic reasons why a team's best pitcher might not start on Opening Day.[7] The Sounds have used 43 different Opening Day starters in their 46 seasons.[8]
Nashville's Opening Day starting pitchers have a combined Opening Day record of 11 wins, 16 losses, and 19 no decisions. At Greer Stadium, they had a record of 5 wins, 4 losses, and 8 no decisions in 17 Opening Day starts. At First Horizon Park, they have 0 wins, 2 losses, and 2 no decisions in 4 Opening Day starts. They have an aggregate record of 5 wins, 6 losses, and 10 no decisions in 21 Opening Day starts at home. Nashville starters have a record of 6 wins, 10 losses, and 9 no decisions in 25 Opening Day starts on the road.
^ abWeiss, Bill; Wright, Marshall (2001). "Top 100 Teams". Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
^ abcdSeely, Chad; Brooks, Peter; Scopel, Doug (2021). 2021 Nashville Sounds Media Guide(PDF). pp. 170–171. Archived(PDF) from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021 – via Minor League Baseball.