SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2023
EXPLORERS ADD THREE PIECES FOR THE PLAYOFF RUN
DEADLINE MOVES BOLSTER THE CLUB
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers announced today that the club has acquired INF Daniel Lingua and right-handed pitcher John Sheaks from the Gary SouthShore Railcats in exchange for INF Miguel Sierra and LHP Franklin Dacosta. Sioux City has also signed former Explorer, right-handed pitcher Max Kuhns, to the roster to close out a busy 24 hours.
INF Daniel Lingua comes to Sioux City after playing in 272 games over the last three seasons where he hit .271 with 14 home runs and 128 RBI for the Railcats. The Texas native was a 2022 American Association All-Star being voted in as the “Last Man In” by the fans and played his college ball at Prairie View A&M University where he hit .380 in two seasons with 71 RBI in 105 games. In was also named the league’s Rookie Position Player of the Year Award in 2022. This season, playing 87 games at shortstop, he slashed a .258/.357/.362 with five home runs and 38 RBI for the Railcats. Lingua was third on the team in stolen bases with 25 in 2023 and has swiped 67 over three seasons.
Right-hander John Sheaks is 6-7 this season with a 5.22 ERA in 89.2 innings for Gary SouthShore. In three seasons with the Railcats, the Long Beach State product has pitched 228.2 innings with 176 strikeouts with a 5.00 ERA. In 2022 he pitched a career high 99 innings with a 4.64 ERA for the Railcats. He has pitched primarily as a starter, making 22 starts while making another 10 appearances out of the pen. Sheaks attended Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, where he earned All-Orange Empire Conference Second Team honors while leading the Gauchos to a Conference Tournament championship as a sophomore in 2016. Upon the conclusion of his junior college career, he parlayed that success into a transfer to Long Beach State University for his final two seasons. Over his three seasons in Long Beach, Sheaks compiled a 10-5 record along with 71 strikeouts in 124.1 innings split between the starting rotation and the bullpen.
Max Kuhns, a right-hander from Parker, Colorado, spent 2021 and 2022 with the Explorers. In 2021 he would pitch in 44 games, posting a 2.97 ERA with two saves in 60.2 innings while adding 88 strikeouts. The next season, Kuhns would work in 40 games with four saves, striking out 86 in 59 innings with a 3.20 ERA. He would go a combined 12-7 out of the pen in two seasons with 174 strikeouts in 119.2 innings. Kuhns spent three seasons at Santa Clara University before being selected in the 21st round by the New York Mets in the 2016 amateur draft. He spent parts of four seasons with the Mets before spending 2019 with Quebec of the Can-Am League. In 2023 Kuhns would sign with the Philadelphia Phillies organization after the 2022 season in Sioux City. That season he reached AAA with the Phillies, and in his three stops in the organization, he pitched in 31.2 innings with 43 strikeouts.
In an additional move, the Explorers have traded right-handed pitcher Francys Peguero to the Milwaukee Milkmen to complete an earlier trade this season for INF Delvin Zinn.
Sioux City sits in second place in the American Association West Division with 10 games left to play. Sioux City trails Kansas City by seven games and leads Sioux Falls by one game for second place. The top four teams make the playoffs.
The Explorers play game two of a three-game series against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks tonight with the first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. at Mercy Field at Lewis and Clark Park. Tickets for the season can be purchased online as XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. You can catch all the X’s action on aabaseball.tv and on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM.