OKC Baseball Club Opening Day Roster Details
10 players from the 2023 Pacific Coast League Championship team return to start the 2024 season
Several familiar faces return to the Oklahoma City Baseball Club roster to begin the 2024 season.
Of the 27 players who made up OKC’s Opening Day roster—announced March 29—10 players were part of Oklahoma City’s 2023 Pacific Coast League Championship season.
That list is made up of outfielder Drew Avans, pitcher Tanner Dodson, catcher Hunter Feduccia, pitcher Alec Gamboa, pitcher Landon Knack, pitcher John Rooney, pitcher Ricky Vanasco, infielder Miguel Vargas, pitcher Gus Varland and outfielder 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).
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.
Additionally, OKC’s Opening Day roster features two of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top 11 prospects, per Baseball America: Outfielder Andy Pages (№3) and starting pitcher Knack (№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 was OKC’s Opening Day starting pitcher March 29 in Tacoma— 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 (№16) and relief pitchers Varland (№22) and Rooney (№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 roster features seven 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 and Vanasco, Feduccia and Vargas.
Of the 27 players on the March 29 Opening Day 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).
Oklahoma City next plays its home opener at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday against the Albuquerque Isotopes at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Tuesday also opens a six-game series between the teams in OKC.
Special thanks to Alex Freedman for contributing to this article.
