Woodpeckers Roster Announced For 2021 Campaign

The Fayetteville Woodpeckers, in conjunction with the Houston Astros, have released their preliminary roster for the 2021 season. 29 fresh faces will join the club and make their first appearances in red and black.

“I’m super excited, I think this team is going to perform well,” said Woodpeckers Manager Ray Hernandez. “I anticipate a large strikeout number from our pitching staff, and we have a lot of fun athletes in the position player group. Can’t wait to see the Woodpeckers faithful.”

Residents of the Cape Fear region will certainly recognize the name of Campbell alum and Dunn, N.C. native Matthew Barefoot. Barefoot was drafted in the sixth-round (196th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft after being named 1st Team All-Big South and terrorizing opposing pitchers to the tune of a .311 batting average, 14 HR’s, and 48 RBI’s.

The Woodpeckers boast two of the Astros’ Top 30 prospects, including outfielder Zach Daniels, who MLB.com ranks as the 12th-best prospect in the system, and infielder Joe Perez, ranked 30th. Daniels, who was drafted in the fourth-round (131st overall) of the 2020 draft out of the University of Tennessee was having a breakout junior season for the Vols prior to the cancellation of the NCAA season, hitting .357 with four homers, 18 RBI, and a 1.228 OPS in 17 games. Perez, who was taken in the second-round (53rd overall) in the 2017 draft out of Archbishop McCarthy High School in Florida spent the 2019 season at Tri-City, where he hit seven homers and drove in 27 runs in just 50 games. Fayetteville’s infield will also get a boost with the addition of Shay Whitcomb, who was listed as the Astros’ 20th-best prospect by Baseball America. Whitcomb was drafted out of UC San Diego in 2020 as the last pick of the fifth-round (160th overall). The 6’3 Whitcomb broke out in the Cape Cod League in 2019, slashing .303/.371/.606 with eight home runs in 34 games.

The Woodpeckers full roster is as follows:

Pitchers (17): LHP Brayan De Paula, LHP Whit Drennan, RHP Freylin Garcia, RHP Cesar Gomez, RHP Kevin Holcomb, RHP Ernesto Jaquez, RHP Alfredi Jimenez, RHP Angel Macuare, RHP Christian Mejias, RHP Jaime Melendez, RHP Janos Meszaros, LHP Cristofer Mezquita, RHP Mark Moclair, RHP Manny Ramirez, RHP Jayson Schroeder, RHP Jonathan Sprinkle, RHP Misael Tamarez

Catchers (3): Luke Berryhill, Juan Paulino, Nerio Rodriguez

Infielders (5): JC Correa, Joe Perez, Yeuris Ramirez, Ronaldo Urdaneta, Shay Whitcomb

Outfielders (4): Matthew Barefoot, Kenedy Corona, Zach Daniels, Justin Dirden

The Woodpeckers open the season on the road May 4th against the Carolina Mudcats. They will return to Segra Stadium May 11th when they take on the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. For tickets or more information, visit Fayettevillewoodpeckers.com or call (910) 339-1989.