Austin Gamblers Rock PBR Teams Free Agency in Signing Sage Kimzey

“The Big Green Machine” will field a formidable team in 2025.

Sage Kimzey / Bull Stock Media

The Austin Gamblers have been described as "the New York Yankees of bull riding." But the cowboys in green are becoming more like the Big Red Machine -- the heavy-hitting squad in the 1970s considered by many to be the fiercest offense in major league baseball history. 

The Gamblers – who won the 2024 PBR Teams Championship after taking the regular season title the league's first two years – became stronger today in signing seven-time PRCA World Champion Sage Kimzey, an unrestricted free agent who rode for the Carolina Cowboys. 

Kimzey went 13-for-23 (56.52%) as the Cowboys closer in 2024, helping his hold the No. 1 spot until the final day of the regular season.

The humble soft-spoken Oklahoman, who also won the 2024 PBR World Finals event, will offer the Gamblers so much more than the ability to convert consistently, including the rankest bulls when it matters most, according to Team President JJ Gottsch.

"Sage is very unique in that he brings not one thing, but many things," Gottsch said.  "With his talent and world championships, he also brings a wealth of experience, a methodical approach to training and nutrition, and someone who looks at the entire sport of bull riding – not just the act of riding."

Gottsch and Gamblers Head Coach Michael Gaffney spend a lot of time talking about team culture and locker room chemistry, which factors into every decision they make. 

Kimzey, now 29, grew up in a ranching family in a small Oklahoma town, pop. 23. He possesses the understated gravitas and maturity that should allow room for another star who can gel seamlessly with the established leadership triumvirate of Jose Vitor Leme, Kaique Pacheco and Dalton Kasel.   

Gaffney had put two-time World Champion and two-time PBR Teams MVP Leme in the closer spot. His leadoff man was either 2019 Rookie of the Year Kasel or 2018 World Champion Pacheco. The addition of a rider with 7 gold buckles adds a universe of lineup card options for Gaffney when the 2025 Teams regular season begins in July. 

It makes for great sports talk to pore over a team’s starting five, but in bull riding what’s more important than the “batting order” is which bulls the coach puts each rider on.

To use the baseball comparison, bull riding adds strategic complexity. Each batter faces the same pitcher – the starter until he’s relieved. In PBR Teams, each rider faces a different bull, matched to that beast by the head coach.

For the lineup order and bull matchups, Gaffney, the 1997 PBR World Champion, is used to shuffling a deck full of aces as the team continues to add talent. The Gamblers have been the league's most aggressive in seeking the right players to win a world championship, seen in blockbuster trades for Kasel in 2022 and Pacheco in 2023. 

"After losing the title in 2023 we really felt like we were one rider away from winning it all, and believed Kaique was that rider," Gottsch said. "He more than proved that in Las Vegas in October."

JJ Gottsch / Andrew Giangola

Gottsch, who spent decades in executive positions in professional baseball, understands that the only thing harder than winning a title is defending it. 

That relentless pursuit of back-to-back titles was the impetus for the biggest free agency transaction made in PBR Teams’ three seasons. 

"By signing Sage, we think we are putting a team together to give us the best chance to do that," Gottsch said. "Our minority owner Michael Dell has a saying inside his company (Dell Technologies), 'Be pleased but not satisfied.' It's the idea of continuous improvement, something the Japanese call kaizen. Even though we just won the Teams Championship, we know there is still room for improvement, and signing Sage is a commitment to that idea."

As much as baseball fans in the mid-70s marveled at a team that batted Cesar Geronimo eighth, bull riding fans are going to have fun watching the continuously improving 2025 Austin Gamblers -- the most decorated starting five to enter the bucking chutes in the history of bull riding games.  

Go ahead. Print up the Big Green Machine t-shirts showing the lineup, just like those classic 1970’s shirts with Ken Griffey batting freaking seventh!

There’s only one mitigating factor to consider.  

The bulls really don't care.