OKC Baseball Club Releases 2024 Preliminary Roster

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Baseball Club, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Dodgers, have announced Oklahoma City’s preliminary roster as the team opens its 2024 season Friday in Tacoma, Wash.

The preliminary roster is not considered the official Opening Day roster, and the official roster will be determined prior to Friday’s season opener.

The roster features two of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top 11 prospects, per Baseball America: Outfielder Andy Pages (No. 3) and starting pitcher Landon Knack (No. 11). Pages (pronounced “PAH-hez”) got off to a hot start in 2023 at Double-A Tulsa and was promoted to Oklahoma City but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during his Triple-A debut May 16. Knack – who is scheduled to be OKC’s Opening Day starting pitcher – split last season between the Double-A and Triple-A levels and posted a combined 2.51 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and .229 opponent batting average across 22 starts.

Others ranked among Baseball America’s top Dodgers prospects are shortstop Trey Sweeney (No. 16) and relief pitchers Gus Varland (No. 22) and John Rooney (No. 29). Sweeney was acquired from the New York Yankees via trade this past offseason and was the Yankees’ first round draft pick in 2021. Varland and Rooney both spent significant time in OKC last year and will open the season as key members of the bullpen.

The preliminary roster features eight total members of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 40-man roster. In addition to Knack, Pages and Varland, the list includes relief pitchers J.P. Feyereisen, Matt Gage and Ricky Vanasco, catcher Hunter Feduccia and infielder Miguel Vargas. Feduccia enters his third season with Oklahoma City and served as the team’s primary catcher in 2023. Vargas has also been a mainstay with OKC over the last two seasons and has slashed .298/.405/.500 in his career at the Triple-A level.

A total of 10 players were part of OKC’s 2023 championship season, including pitchers Tanner Dodson and Alec Gamboa and outfielders Drew Avans and Ryan Ward. Avans is entering his fourth season with OKC and has spent the past two seasons as the team’s primary leadoff hitter and center fielder. He currently ranks second in career triples during OKC’s Bricktown era (since 1998) and also ranks third in career walks and stolen bases. Ward notched 21 home runs and a team-leading 95 RBI last season while leading the Pacific Coast League in games played (139).

Of the 27 players on the preliminary roster, 14 have previous Major League experience, with two appearing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023 (Vargas and Varland) while nine others appeared in the Major Leagues last season with a different organization, including pitchers Nabil Crismatt (San Diego/Arizona), Dinelson Lamet (Colorado/Boston) and Eduardo Salazar (Cincinnati), catcher Chris Okey (Los Angeles-AL) and infielders Jonathan Araúz (New York-NL), Andre Lipcius (Detroit), Chris Owings (Pittsburgh) and Kevin Padlo (Los Angeles-AL).

Others who have appeared in the Majors throughout their careers are pitchers Stephen Gonsalves and Jesse Hahn.

Only three players on the preliminary roster have yet to appear in a Triple-A game in their careers. In addition to Sweeney, the group includes infielder Kody Hoese and relief pitcher Kevin Gowdy Hoese was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first round draft pick in 2019 and has spent the last two-plus seasons at Double-A.

One other newcomer to the roster is pitcher Michael Petersen, who faced OKC while playing for Albuquerque last season.

After a three-game road series in Tacoma, Oklahoma City will open its 2024 home schedule Tuesday, April 2 against the Albuquerque Isotopes at 7:05 p.m. OKC will square off against the Isotopes for six games, including a $2 Tuesday during the home opener, the first OKC 89ers Throwback Thursday (April 4), the first Fireworks Friday (April 5) and the first City Celebration Sunday (April 7), with kids able to run the bases following the game.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit okcbaseball.com/tickets or call (405) 218-2182.