‘I see tremendous opportunity.’ Legends welcome new team president and GM.

The Lexington Legends’ transformation continued this week with the hiring of a new president and general manager.

The minor league baseball team, under new ownership since October, named Justin Ferrarella as the new front office boss two weeks after naming a new manager for the team on the field.

The 29-year-old Ferrarella, who began his new role with the Legends on Thursday, comes to Lexington after nearly eight years with the Sussex County Miners, an independent minor league team in New Jersey. The Miners play in the 16-team Frontier League, which includes the Florence (Ky.) Y’Alls.

On Oct. 28, 2022, the Legends announced Nathan and Keri Lyons’ acquisition of the team and all related assets, as well as Wild Health Field and its real estate. On Dec. 22, the team announced the hiring of former major league catcher Barry Lyons as the manager.

“Lexington is an incredible sports town, and I’m thrilled to be joining the city’s baseball club and the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball,” Ferrarella said in Wednesday’s news release. “I see tremendous opportunity for the Legends — both on and off the field — and I’m looking forward to kicking off a new era of baseball in Lexington this season.”

Initially hired as Sussex County’s operations manager in 2015 for the team’s inaugural season, Ferrarella transitioned to general manager in 2017. Over the course of his tenure as general manager, the Miners reached new levels of success and navigated a league change.

Under Ferrarella, the Miners won their first league championship in 2018 in the independent Canadian-American League. When that league ceased operations in 2019, the Miners moved to the Frontier League. Like the Legends’ Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, the Frontier League is an independent partner of Major League Baseball.

“Justin has been greatly successful with the Miners, and we’re excited for him to be bringing his impressive baseball experience to Kentucky,” Legends owner Nathan Lyons said in the release. “We wanted to find a general manager who could help baseball in Lexington truly grow and succeed, and Justin’s experience with the Miners demonstrates his ability to do just that.”

In 2022, Ferrarella’s Miners team finished fourth in the Frontier League’s East Division with a 54-41 record.

After two decades of playing as a Single-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League — the Houston Astros’ from 2001-2012 and the Kansas City Royals’ from 2013-2020 — the Legends joined the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2021 under former owner Andy Shea in the wake of the MLB contracting its minor league system by 40 teams. The Legends won three league championships under the ownership of the Shea family, which bought the team in 2005.

The Legends’ 2023 season begins on April 28 at home against the York (Pa.) Revolution.