(KRON) -- The Oakland Ballers have signed three new players after hosting an open tryout last weekend, the team announced Wednesday. Among the new recruits is Kelsie Whitmore, a right-handed pitcher who is the B’s first woman player.
Whitmore, who is from Temecula, Calif., had already made history in 2022 as the first woman to sign a professional contract with a Major League Baseball Partner League team, where she played for the Staten Island FerryHawks. She also played professional ball for the Sonoma Stompers in 2016-2017.
"With Kelsie we had heard a lot about her coming into the day and she impressed our coaches when she got her opportunity," said Tyler Petersen, Assistant General Manager, Baseball Operations. "Her pitches offer a different look to hitters, similar to how a knuckleballer or submariner would.”
The B’s also signed right-handed pitcher Connor Caporale and infielder Andrew Martinez, the new minor league team said. Caporale, from Vacaville, has professional experience playing for the Westside Woolly Mammoths in Detroit’s United Shores League.
"Anytime you get someone like Connor who takes the mound and throws 95 mph your ears perk up and he had a great showing overall," Petersen said of Caporale.
Martinez, San Francisco’s own, was drafted out of University of California, Santa Barbara in the 2018 MLB Draft by Miami and the 2019 Draft by Baltimore. Over the course of three years in Baltimore’s system, Martinez reached the High-A affiliate Aberdeen IronBirds.
"Andrew stood out with his abilities in the field and can really offer us experience up the middle," Petersen commented about Martinez.
The Ballers will move into spring training with 31 players under contract, according to a news release. The team’s first-ever home game is slated for June 4 at Oakland’s Raimondi Park.