Storm Chasers Reveal 2025 Breaking Roster
PAPILLION, Neb. – The Omaha Storm Chasers, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, announced their Breaking Roster for the 2025 season on Thursday ahead of the season opener on Friday, March 28 in Des Moines, Iowa, against the Iowa Cubs. The active roster of 28 players includes 20 players
PAPILLION, Neb. – The Omaha Storm Chasers, in conjunction with the Kansas City Royals, announced their Breaking Roster for the 2025 season on Thursday ahead of the season opener on Friday, March 28 in Des Moines, Iowa, against the Iowa Cubs.
The active roster of 28 players includes 20 players who played for Omaha in 2024, 8 newcomers, 2 players poised to make their Triple-A debuts, 9 members of Kansas City’s 40-Man Roster and 16 players with over 1,800 combined games of Major League experience, or over 29 combined years of Major League service time.
A downloadable version of the complete 2025 Omaha Storm Chasers Opening Day roster can be found HERE.
The roster is highlighted by five top prospects, led by returning left-handed pitcher Noah Cameron, who enters the season as the No. 5 prospect in the Royals organization per MLB Pipeline. Cameron joined Omaha in late July 2024 before being added to Kansas City’s 40-Man Roster in the offseason. Pitchers Luinder Avila (MLB Pipeline Royals No. 13), Chandler Champlain (MLB Pipeline Royals No. 20) and Tyson Guerrero (MLB Pipeline Royals No. 24) also return to the Storm Chasers after making their Triple-A debuts with Omaha last summer. Like Cameron, Avila was added to the Royals’ 40-Man roster in November 2024. Tyler Gentry (MLB Pipeline Royals No. 25) returns for his third season in Omaha, with 250 games for the Storm Chasers over the last two seasons. Gentry made his MLB debut with Kansas City in August 2024.
The list of returners includes several familiar hitters to Storm Chasers and Royals fans, including first baseman Nick Pratto (145 games played for Kansas City and 291 games with Omaha), outfielder Drew Waters (137 games played for Kansas City and 153 games with Omaha ), outfielder Nelson Velázquez (104 games played for Kansas City and 62 games with Omaha) and infielder Nick Loftin (76 games played for Kansas City and 178 games with Omaha). Pratto’s 291 games with the Storm Chasers since his Triple-A debut in 2021 rank as the 5th-most of a player in the Storm Chasers’ era (since 2011), a category led by Paulo Orlando, who played 432 games for Omaha between 2011 and 2018.
Catcher Brian O’Keefe (72 games with Omaha in 2024), infielders Cam Devanney (137 games with Omaha in 2024) and Tyler Tolbert (27 games with Omaha in 2024), as well as outfielder John Rave (212 games with Omaha since 2022) all return to Omaha in 2025 as well, after playing key roles in the Storm Chasers’ International League Championship a season ago.
Returning pitchers include relievers Jonathan Bowlan, Austin Cox, Steven Cruz, Andrew Hoffmann, Anthony Simonelli, Evan Sisk and Jacob Wallace. Cox returns for a fifth season in Omaha, while Bowlan, Cruz, Hoffmann and Sisk will each don a Storm Chasers uniform for the third straight year.
Pitcher Cruz Noriega will make his Triple-A debut in his first Storm Chasers appearance, after spending all of 2024 at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Signed in January 2018 as an international free agent out of Venezuela, Noriega received the Carlos Fortuna Award from the Royals in 2023, recognized for his commitment to improving his English-speaking abilities both on and off the field. Catcher Luca Tresh will make his Triple-A debut as well in 2025, after spending parts of the past three years at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Drafted in 2021 out of North Carolina State, Tresh has played 213 games for the Naturals since 2022 and his 174 runs batted in over the last three years rank as the 3rd-most of any Royals Minor League hitter in that span.
The crop of newcomers includes former Royals reliever Taylor Clarke, who appeared in 105 games for Kansas City between 2022 and 2023, as well as 1 with Omaha on rehab assignment in 2022. Clarke, who signed with the Royals as a Minor League free agent in December 2024, is entering his 11th professional season in 2025, with 134 games of Major League experience between the Diamondbacks and Royals. He was traded to Milwaukee for RHP Ryan Brady and INF Cam Devanney on December 14, 2023, but only appeared in Triple-A games with the Nashville Sounds last season.
Beyond Clarke, new Omaha arms include veteran pitchers in right-hander Junior Fernández, who has pitched parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues with St. Louis and Pittsburgh; and right-hander Thomas Hatch, who has pitched parts of four seasons in the big leagues with Toronto and Pittsburgh. Both Fernández and Hatch spent 2024 abroad pitching in Japan – Fernandez for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NBP) and Hatch for the Hiroshima Carp of NBP.
Outfielder Joey Wiemer joins the Storm Chasers as one of nine 40-Man Roster players on Omaha’s breaking roster and is one of five players on the 28-man roster new to the Royals organization. Weimer was acquired by Kansas City with infielder Jonathan India by Kansas City from Cincinnati on November 22, 2024, in exchange for right-handed pitcher Brady Singer. Originally drafted by Milwaukee in 2020, the move to Kansas City was his second time traded in 2024, after being traded from the Brewers to the Cincinnati Reds on July 30, 2024.
Additionally, the Storm Chasers welcome veteran catcher Luke Maile and infielder Harold Castro to Omaha. Maile is a nine-year Major League veteran with five teams, including Tampa Bay (2015-16), Toronto (2017-19), Milwaukee (2021), Cleveland (2022) and Cincinnati (2023-24). Originally drafted by the Rays in 2012 out of the University of Kentucky, he signed with Kansas City as a free agent in February 2025, opted out of his contract near the end of Spring Training, then re-signed with the Royals on a Minor League deal. Castro brings six years of Major League experience to Omaha with Detroit (2018-22) and Colorado (2023), originally signed by the Tigers as an international free agent in 2011. He spent 2024 with Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League and signed a minor league deal with Kansas City in January 2025.
2025 Storm Chasers Opening Day Roster
(Underlined players currently on Kansas City’s 40-Man Roster)
Pitchers (15): RHP Luinder Avila, RHP Jonathan Bowlan, LHP Noah Cameron, RHP Chandler Champlain, RHP Taylor Clarke, LHP Austin Cox, RHP Steven Cruz, RHP Junior Fernández, LHP Tyson Guerrero, RHP Thomas Hatch, RHP Andrew Hoffmann, RHP Cruz Noriega, RHP Anthony Simonelli, LHP Evan Sisk, RHP Jacob Wallace
Catchers (3): Luke Maile, Brian O’Keefe, Luca Tresh
Infielders (5): Harold Castro, Cam Devanney, Nick Loftin, Nick Pratto, Tyler Tolbert
Outfielders (5): Tyler Gentry, John Rave, Nelson Velázquez, Drew Waters, Joey Wiemer
The Omaha Storm Chasers begin the 2025 season tomorrow, Friday, March 28 on the road against the Iowa Cubs. The homer opener will take place on Tuesday, April 1 vs. Louisville, as the Chasers welcome fans back to Werner Park for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch. The full 2025 schedule can be found here and single-game tickets are now available here.
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