Fireflies Announce 2024 Opening Day Roster

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, today announced their 2024 Opening Day Roster. The roster is stuffed to the gills with talent for manager Jesus Azuaje, including the Royals top two 2023 draftees, 15 returners from the 2023 season and a handful of the Royals top international signees.

“We are excited and enthusiastic about this group of players that shows up every day ready to compete, bring a lot of energy and a love for the game,” Fireflies manager Jesus Azuaje said. “We’re looking forward to having a great season.”

The Fireflies’ roster is highlighted by Royals’ top prospect and eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft, Blake Mitchell. The backstop was the 2022 and 2023 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and helped lead a 2022 18U World Cup Championship roster before graduating high school.

Mitchell isn’t the only member of the 2023 draft class that will begin in Columbia though, he’s joined by the Royals’ second pick, Blake Wolters. Wolters jumped on the scene his senior year after winning the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year Award, but his draft stock shot through the roof when he hit 98 MPH on his fastball for a Super 60 Showcase record in February 2023.

According to Pipeline, the tandem make up the Royals top and seventh-best prospects and Mitchell is considered the 91^st-best prospect in all of baseball. The Fireflies also boast Austin Charles and Daniel Vazquez who are featured in the Royals’ top-30 prospects and are returning to the roster from the 2023 season.

The Fireflies have five additional 2023 draftees on their roster. Jacob Widener (9^th round), Logan Martin (12^th round), Ethan Bosacker (13^th round) and Connor Oliver (17^th round) will also help out the pitching staff to start the 2024 campaign.

In addition to the young, new talent, Columbia will bring along some experience. 13 members of the Opening Day roster spent at least part of the 2023 season in the Carolina League. It’s an experienced hitting group with Dionmy Salon, Lizandro Rodriguez, Brennon McNair, Erick Peña, Vazquez and Charles.

Vazquez enters the season with 146 hits for the Fireflies, which places him 33 hits behind Omar Hernandez, who owns the Fireflies all-time hits record. He trails Hernandez by 40 runs scored for the Fireflies franchise mark as well, entering the year with 82 runs scored over the last two seasons.

Charles had a .299 on-base percentage in 38 home games in the Carolina League as a 19-year-old. He also showed a plus glove in the field.

Returning pitchers include Felix Arronde, Emmanuel Reyes, Logan Martin, Eduardo Herrera, Chase Isbell, Hunter Patteson, Nicholas Regalado and Mauricio Veliz. Regalado finished the season as the Fireflies closer, tallying a 2.78 ERA, going 3-3 in save opportunities and fanning 43 hitters in 32.1 innings. Emmanuel Reyes also had a strong campaign, recording quality starts in three of his last five starts and keeping a 4.30 ERA as a 19-year-old in the Carolina League.

The Fireflies have some new international signees to be excited about as well. Jhonny Perdomo brings perhaps one of the top bats in the ACL in 2023 to the soda city. The infielder hit .336 in 36 games while tallying 11 extra-base hits in Surprise in 2023. It was the second-consecutive year that the 2019 signee hit over .300.

Erick Torres is another strong bat joining the Fireflies for the first time this season. The outfielder hit .319 with 10 extra-base hits in just 36 games last year. If that weren’t enough, he swiped 11 bags and drew 16 walks in his stint in the Arizona Complex League.

The Fireflies full 2024 Opening Day roster is available here.

The Fireflies 2024 season begins Tuesday, April 9 against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at 7:05 pm. Tickets for the season are on sale now. Go to ColumbiaFireflies.com for more information about promotions and ticket pricing for this summer.