MILWAUKEE — When the Milwaukee Brewers play at American Family Field, an important member of the team is making sure the grounds look pristine.
Ryan Woodley is the director of the grounds crew at American Family Field. He said he’s worked with the Brewers organization since 2019 and has been in baseball for nearly two decades.
Woodley said he’s excited about using synthetic stitching on the field for the first time this season. He said the Green Bay Packers have used it, but it’s a first in baseball.
“It’s a giant sewing machine. There’s needles in it and it just pushes synthetic fibers in, so it is 5%. So 5% of the field where we did the stitching is actually synthetic and the rest of it’s all natural,” said Woodley.
Woodley said you can’t see the stitching because it goes about four to five inches into the roots. He said it adds to player safety and footing. It also provides a more consistent playing surface throughout the season.
“Safety is our first priority, aesthetics come second and making sure they have footing and making sure everything is consistent across the field,” he said.
Woodley said the field is ready to go after strategic planning that started at the end of last season.
“We started really ramping things up a few weeks ago. We put new sod down in the outfield after the crane left after the new video board install,” said Woodley.
He said they started using grow lights about a month ago on the Kentucky Blue Grass, shipped here from New Jersey.
Woodley said he has seven full-time staff members year-round, and on game days, about 45 workers are on site.
“I mean it’s just part of a small part of a bigger picture, as an organization we all work together to get to the playoffs and we’re just a small little part of that,” he said.