SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2025
EXPLORERS ADD OUTFIELDER DAVIS
MORE SPEED ADDED FOR 2025
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers have announced that the team has signed outfielder Austin Davis for the 2025 season. Davis comes to Sioux City after stealing 68 bases in two professional seasons and 86 over five years at the Division 1 level. The addition of Davis brings the total of players signed for the 2025 season to 10.
Austin Davis comes to Sioux City after playing 88 games for Rocky Mountain in the Pioneer League. He would slash a line of .328/.418/.500 while leading the club with 49 stolen bases in 2024. Davis clubbed 10 home runs with 49 RBI and finished second on the team with 27 doubles. He added 87 runs scored—good for fourth on the ball club. The 25-year-old Davis was joined on the Rocky Mountain roster by Kurtis Byrne, another Explorers roster addition in 2025. The pair were also teammates at Texas Christian University in 2023.
Davis made his professional debut in 2023 with the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League. He would hit .288 in 43 games with one homer and 12 RBI. Davis led the team with 19 stolen bases and finished with a .358 on-base percentage and scored 23 runs with eight doubles.
The native of Orlando, Florida spent five years playing collegiately. He would begin his career at the University of West Virginia from 2019 to 2022 and would spend his graduate transfer season at TCU in 2023. In his final year in college, Davis was one of two TCU Horned Frogs to play in all 68 games. He started 62 games in right field and another six in center field, hitting .283 with nine home runs and 57 RBI in 2023. Davis would finish second in stolen bases with 22 while finishing fourth in RBI. He would add a team-leading eight sacrifice flies on the season with 20 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI games. In his first series with TCU at the Higginbotham Showdown against Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Missouri, Davis went 7-for-13 with a pair of doubles, a home run and five RBI. TCU would eventually make their way to Omaha for the 2023 College World Series. On the way Davis went 4-for-10 with seven RBI in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional and had a homer with four RBI in the Regional Championship game against Arkansas. In the Fort Worth Super Regional, Davis knocked in a run in both games against Indiana State and finished the year with four hits and two runs driven in in the CWS.
In four seasons at West Virginia, Davis made 136 starts with a career .313 average with 162 hits with 25 doubles and five home runs. In his final season at WVU in 2022, Davis would cap off the year being named First Team All-Big 12 after hitting .330 with four home runs and 26 RBI. Davis finished second on the Mountaineers team with 26 stolen bases—second to future Major Leaguer, Victor Scott. He would slash a final season line of .330/.402/.442 in his last season in Morgantown.
In 2021 Davis would hit .320 in 51 games with one long ball and 18 RBI. He finished with a slash line of .320/.390/.400 and second in runs scored at 28 and second in stolen bases with 17, once again trailing teammate Scott. Davis would wrap up the year being named to the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention Team following the 2021 season. Davis flashed some great glove work in the field, twice making the “Top 10” plays on ESPN Sportscenter for his efforts in the outfield. In the classroom he would make the Academic All-Big 12 First Team for two straight seasons.
Davis would start all 16 games during a short sophomore season, hitting .322 with four doubles, a triple and 10 RBI while scoring nine runs for WVU. He would add six stolen bases in the 16 games played during the 2020 season. His first season in Morgantown, Davis played in 42 games, hitting .220 with three RBI. He would swipe 12 bases while scoring 14 runs. Davis had a seven-game hitting streak in his freshman campaign and went 1-for-2 with a double, stolen base and a run scored at Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Davis spent parts of four seasons playing summer league ball. In total during the summer seasons, he would hit .278 with four home runs and another 19 RBI in 61 games. On the base paths, Davis would steal another 34 bases in the summer seasons. For his career overall, Davis has 200 stolen bases between NCAA, summer league and MLB Partner baseball.
Davis majored in Sports Management as an undergraduate at West Virginia and was a two-sport star, playing baseball and football at Conrad Academy in Orlando. He was named to the Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American team in 2018 and was part of the 26th ranked nationally recruiting class by the University of West Virginia in 2018. While in high school Davis was a two-time all-Metro Orlando honoree in baseball and was all metro on the gridiron, being named defensive player of the year and Team MVP as a senior in football.
Players signed 2025:
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.