Grand Junction Rockies announce impending name change

The Pioneer League baseball team that plays in Grand Junction, a town of 60,000 residents just east of the Utah border on Colorado’s western slope, has gone by the nickname Rockies since 2012. That made a lot of sense (though it was a bit boring) through 2020, because the team was affiliated with and owned by the Colorado Rockies, their parent club when the Pioneer League was a rookie-level affiliated league. It made less sense, though, that the team maintained the nickname for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, after Pioneer League teams lost their affiliation in the reorganization of Minor League Baseball.

Under new ownership, the Grand Junction Rockies made the long-overdue announcement this week that they would change their name with the 2023 season. They’ve opened a submission form for fans to offer suggestions. Going away with the former parent club nickname will be the team’s logo, which in its current form is half Colorado Rockies and half Pizza Hut. (It’s supposed to represent a distinctive mesa of western Colorado, but come on, it’s a Pizza Hut.)

Personally, I will advocate for the team to reprise its previous nickname, the Ghosts, which it held from 2008 to 2011, their last four years playing in Casper, Wyoming. Yes, the connection between Casper and ghosts is obvious, but Grand Junction Ghosts is alliterative, and they could revive that awesome glow-in-the-dark logo.

Another option that I will suggest is the Colorado Cutthroats, for the cutthroat trout that swim in the Grand Junction and Gunnison Rivers that flow through town.

Whatever their new name, the team will take the field in 2023 as the reigning champions after winning their first-ever Pioneer League title this season.