SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2025
EXPLORERS ADD TWO “LAYERS”
BROTHERS COMING TO SIOUX CITY FOR 2025
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers have announced that the team has executed a trade to sign infielder Abdiel Layer while adding his brother Jose Layer, a free-agent outfielder, for the 2025 season. The Explorers sent outfielder Scott Ota to the Milwaukee Milkmen in exchange for Abdiel Layer and signed Jose Layer after spending time in both Puerto Rico and the Frontier League. The addition of the pair of brothers from Puerto Rico brings the total of players signed for the 2025 season to 12.
Abdiel Layer comes to Siouxland after spending 2024 with the Milwaukee Milkmen in the American Association. Layer slashed a line of .233/.291/.410 with the Milkmen, hitting 10 home runs and driving in 35 in 69 games. The 26-year-old infielder played 40 games at shortstop, 30 games at third base and one game at second base with a .938 fielding percentage with Milwaukee. He would finish second on the team with 12 stolen bases in 15 attempts. Layer has spent parts of four seasons playing winter ball in his native Puerto Rico, including 39 games this winter season, hitting .241 with three home runs and 15 RBI in 39 games for San Juan in the Puerto Rico Winter League.
Layer spent parts of five seasons with the San Francisco Giants organization after being the 40thround selection in the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from Miami Dade College. He played just eight games with the Giants Orange team in the Arizona Complex League. In those eight games, he launched one homer with six RBI, hitting .259. In 2022 Abdiel Layer played 30 games at class A San Jose in the California League, hitting .232 with five home runs and 16 RBI.
Abdiel Layer played in a career high 84 games in 2021 with San Jose. He would slash a line of .212/.270/.394 with 13 long balls and 46 RBI. He added 11 doubles and three triples to his homer total giving him 27 extra base hits for the Giants low-A club. His RBI and home run totals were good for fourth on the club in 2021. Layer would not play due to the world-wide pandemic in 2020.
In 2019 A. Layer played 40 games with rookie-level Giants Orange in the Arizona League, slashing a line of .292/.339/.507 with five home runs and 30 RBI. He added another three games at Salem-Kiezer of the Northwest League, going 2-for-11 in a short stay at the low A level. Layer made his professional debut in 2018, playing 43 games for the Giants Black in the Arizona League, hitting three home runs and 25 RBI. He would swipe nine bases in 11 attempts with a slash line of .289/.358/.428. He did see action at class A Augusta for four games in his rookie season, going 0-for-11.
Abdiel Layer would spend one season at Miami Dade College in 2018, playing in 51 games with eight home runs and 48 RBI. He added six stolen bases to go along with a .265 batting average. He would be drafted the first time in 2017 after his senior season at Colegio Angel David High School (Toa Alta, Puerto Rico) in the 13th round by the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead, he went on to Miami Dade where he was picked by San Francisco following his only college season. In his four winter seasons, he has played 104 games and hit eight home runs with 42 RBI, totaling .276 for his career in Puerto Rico. Layer has played 385 games professionally, including winter ball with a career slash line of .251/.310/.417 with 45 home runs and 201 RBI with 55 stolen bases.
The Explorers exchanged outfielder Scott Ota for Abdiel Layer brokering the deal with the Milwaukee Milkmen. Ota played parts of two seasons with the X’s after being released by the New York Mets organization in 2023. The native of California hit .284 with 20 home runs and 99 RBI in 135 games with Sioux City. Ota was selected in the 10th round by the Mets and was one of three Explorers named to the American Association West Division All-Star team in 2024.
27-year-old Jose Layer is the older brother of Abdiel Layer and shares a similar career path of his younger brother. Jose was drafted in the 13th round of the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft by the San Francisco Giants out of Colegio Angel Davis High School in Puerto Rico. The older Layer made his professional debut later that summer, playing in 15 games for the Giants rookie-level team in the Arizona League. He hit .283 with nine RBI in his first taste of pro ball. In 2017 he once again played in 15 games with the same Giants club in Arizona. He saw his batting clip rise to .375 with seven RBI.
In 2018 J. Layer played in 39 games with Salem-Keizer of the short-season A level in the Northwest League. He hit five home runs while slashing a line of .280/.354/.446 with four stolen bases for the season. Layer played a career high 92 games in 2019 with Augusta of the South Atlantic League, hitting four home runs and driving in 30 runs for Augusta. He earned a late season promotion to AA Richmond and played in two games, going 1-for-7.
Following the cancelled 2020 season, J. Layer would sign with Windy City of the Frontier League. He played 20 games in 2021, hitting .239 with four RBI and another nine games in 2022 with two RBI, hitting .191. J. Layer played the last two winters in his native Puerto Rico, joining his brother for six games this past winter with San Juan and another 15 games in the team’s previous name known as RA12. In 46 winter league games over parts of six seasons, J. Layer has hit .277 in Puerto Rico. For his career, J. Layer has played in 238 games and slashed a line of .244/.308/.340 with 11 home runs and 78 RBI.
Players signed 2025:
IF Abdiel Layer
OF Jose Layer
OF Austin Davis
OF Zac Vooletich
LHP Miguel Pozo
OF Emilio Corona
C/1B Kurtis Byrne
LHP Chase Jessee
OF Henry George
RHP Jeremy Goins
LHP Jaren Jackson
RHP Ben Madison
The Explorers are set to open their 32nd season in the Siouxland on the road Thursday night, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. against the Kane County Cougars. The club will celebrate opening night at Lewis and Clark Park Friday night, May 16 at 7:05 p.m., against the Kansas City Monarchs. Ticket packages for the 2025 season are on-sale now, including Full and Half-Season Tickets as well as 10, 15 and 25-game Flex Packs. More information is available by calling the Explorers front office at 712-277-WINS. Stay tuned to the Explorers social media channels and the club’s website xsbaseball.com for off-season news and updates. The official podcast of the Explorers can be found online and tune into the live show on Facebook Live during the offseason for more news and Explorers content.