Ballers in the Bigs

Jason Burke | Jun 17, 2024

The Oakland Ballers have had a lot of success in the early going this season on the field, holding a 14-10 record, which ranks them fifth in the Pioneer League, five games behind the first-place Missoula PaddleHeads. It's also important to remember that this is Oakland's first season as a franchise in the PL, which makes it all the more impressive that they have already had three players' contracts purchased by big-league teams.

The first player to be signed was right-hander Danny Kirwin before the season began. The 24-year-old signed with the Boston Red Sox and reported to Salem where he has gone 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. His walk rate is just above ten percent, and he's striking out 17.3% of batters, which also lands him a 4.15 FIP.

Here he is after just a couple of appearances in the minors.

“Danny Kirwin, so nasty even the announcers can’t tell what pitch he’s throwing half the time” - @Tread_Isaac

After two progressional appearances, Danny’s stats are:

5.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K pic.twitter.com/DXTLSBdBCa

— Lucas Still (@imstilllucas) May 4, 2024

Kirwin has gone at least two innings in each of his appearances with the Salem Sox, and in his first seven frames he allowed just one run, but in the 17 innings since, he's had a couple of rough outings which have resulted in 11 total runs allowed. In his most recent outing on June 11, Kirwin went four innings, gave up one hit, no runs, walked one, and struck out four.

The next player to get signed was two-way Tyler Davis, who signed with the Chicago White Sox about a week and a half ago. He's made two appearances, one in the Arizona Complez League, and another in A-Ball with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Once a Baller, always a Baller.

In those two outings, Davis has combined for 2 1/3 innings pitched, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out two. He made his Cannon Ballers debut on Saturday, pitching a scoreless eighth inning.

The final contract that the Ballers have sold to a Major League club was that of Elijah Pleasants, who is set to sign with the San Francisco Giants, though his MiLB player page does not make it seem as though that move is official just yet. Since his signing isn't technically official, he doesn't have any stats accumulated in the Giants' system just yet.

With the Ballers he held a 4.32 ERA in the Pioneer League this season with a 1.14 WHIP and 23 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings. He'd also walked just four.

Following the MLB Draft, the Ballers will be looking at players that didn't get selected as potential additions to their roster for the remainder of the season. One big advantage that Oakland has is that they play in the largest market in the league, which means there is a better opportunity to be seen for their players. That could end up leading to some interesting additions in the next couple of months, which could also lead to more Ballers ending up in big-league systems.