Brewers add artificial roots to field ahead of Opening Day

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Every spring, right before baseball season begins, the Milwaukee Brewers invite CBS 58 to the ballpark to see how the crew is preparing the field. Most of the time, the story is the same: the field will be ready, the field looks great and the team has put in long hours.

This season, a week before Opening Day, there is something new to discuss at American Family Field.

The Brewers have installed an artificial roots system on their field called GrassMax, a form of field that not only aims to offer players better footing on the field, but also help the field recover after concerts or other events at the stadium.

Senior grounds director Ryan Woodley says that the Green Bay Packers have a similar system at Lambeau Field, but that this is the first installation of its kind in baseball.

"We did a trial of it last year over the All-Star break. Players loved it. Coaches liked it. They were kind of blown away by not having the divots in the trial areas that we had. It just adds to the player safety and footing for them," said Woodley.

He added that GrassMax stitching is installed with what he calls a giant sewing machine that pushes fibers into the grass, so only about five percent of the field is synthetic with the rest being natural. He also says that the crowd will not notice the difference when looking at the field.