SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2025
EXPLORERS ADD J.D. SCHOLTEN TO ACTIVE ROSTER
45-YEAR-OLD STATE REP RETURNS TO MOUND
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers have announced that J.D. Scholten has been activated off the injured list and added to the active roster. The right-hander will be available this afternoon for Sioux City in the final game of the three-game series with the Cleburne Railroaders. Scholten will replace right-handed pitcher Joey Murray who has announced his retirement from the game on the active roster.
In 2024, his first season back with the Explorers, Scholten made 11 starts during the season, finishing 6-2 with a 5.40 ERA across 60 innings where he struck out 29 and walked 28. The X’s released Joey Murray as a corresponding move.
Scholten 45, is a native of Sioux City and is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 1 as a Democrat in the state legislature in Des Moines. The representative tossed a quality start in his first start back with the team in 2024, surrendering two earned runs in 6.2 innings in a 11-2 win over the Milkmen on July 6, 2024. Scholten then returned to the mound on July 11, 2024, and tossed another quality start, working six innings in a 3-0 win over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo, North Dakota. He would go on to tie for the team lead in wins with six, going 6-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 60 innings for Sioux City.
Scholten attended Morningside College, where he pitched and played first base for three years, and then he transferred to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to pitch for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as a senior. In 2002, he led the Cornhuskers in earned run average. He earned his degree from Nebraska in December 2003. He played baseball and basketball at East High School in Sioux City and was born in Ames. He began his pro career in 2003 and would spend parts of three seasons with the Explorers in 2004 and 2006 – 2007. Scholten made his return to professional baseball last summer playing in the Dutch League.
Joey Murray spent all of last season with the Explorers, going 5-8 with a 5.94 ERA in 94 innings. He would strike out 86 while making a team-leading 19 starts for the Explorers. This season Murray was 1-1 with a 6.88 ERA in 17 innings. The former Toronto Blue Jays farmhand is from Dublin, Ohio and played in college at Kent State University where he was drafted in the 8th round in 2018.
The Explorers will wrap up their three-game series with the Cleburne Railroaders this afternoon at Lewis and Clark Park with a first pitch at 4:05 p.m. The game can be heard on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM and the video stream will air on aabaseball.tv. Tickets for the season can be purchased online at XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. Stay tuned to the Explorers social media channels and the club’s website xsbaseball.com for all our news and updates.