SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2024
EXPLORERS ADD TWO RIGHT-HANDERS AND A BAT
SIOUX CITY KEEPS THE HOT STOVE WARM
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers have announced that the team has signed right-handed pitchers Nico O’Donnell and Oswald Medina and added outfielder Daniel Montano for the 2024 season. The addition of the trio gives the Explorers 20 players under contract for the upcoming season.
Nico O’Donnell joins the X’s after spending the last two seasons in the Pecos League. The San Antonio, Texas native split time between Austin and Lancaster in the Pecos League in 2023. He began the year with Austin and would appear in one game making one start covering 5.2 innings and getting the loss. In his lone outing he would give up nine earned runs while surrendering 10 hits. With Lancaster, he would appear in 12 games all out of the pen working in 22 innings. He would strikeout 25 and post a 9.00 ERA while going 1-2. In 2022 O’Donnell made his pro debut with Austin in the Pecos League. He would make seven starts and seven relief appearances with a 1-4 record while notching one save. In 30 innings O’Donnell struck out 34 allowing 41 hits and 57 earned runs giving him a 17.10 ERA for the season.
O’Donnell would play two years with the University of Texas and one season at Fresno State University. In his final collegiate season in 2021 he pitched in two games for Freson and did not allow an earned run while pitching in situational relief. O’Donnell was in the University of Texas pen in 2019 picking up a save in nine innings over eight games with the Longhorns. He would strike out 14 and surrender nine earned runs on eight hits posting a 9.00 ERA. His first season on the “40 acres” he made seven starts with another five relief outings over 32 innings. O’Donnell would punch out 30 while giving up 17 earned runs on 30 hits with a 4.78 ERA. He was a member of the 2018 University of Texas team that reached the College World Series in Omaha.
Oswald Medina was originally signed as an International Free Agent out of Venezuela on May 9, 2019 by the Philadelphia Phillies. He would spend three seasons in the Phillies system reaching A ball in both 2022 and 2023. Medina made his pro debut in 2021 with the Phillies Red club in the Dominican Summer League. He would go 2-2 at rookie level in 14 games making 14 starts. The righty would pitch in 58.1 innings surrendering 14 earned runs on 48 hits while striking out 65 batters. He would finish with a 2.16 ERA, third on the team with a 0.926 WHIP, good for second on the club. Medina led the team in innings pitched and strikeouts and his 14 starting nods was good for second with the Phillies Red.
In 2022, Medina would open the season at A level Clearwater making eight starts with one relief appearance. He would pitch in 34 innings going 0-4 with 22 strike outs. He would allow 16 earned runs on 42 hits good for a 4.24 ERA and a 1.412 WHIP. He would be sent to the Phillies rookie level Florida Complex team in early June. In Florida, Medina would go 1-4 in 10 games (six starts) in 35 innings. He added another 21 K’s while giving up 22 earned runs on the season.
Medina would once again make two stops at both Clearwater and the complex team in 2023. He began his season with the complex club making four starts with a 0-1 record. He would pitch 14.2 innings with 15 strike outs and a 5.52 ERA. At Clearwater, he started another three games in July totaling 13 innings with nine strikeouts. Medina would allow seven earned runs on 11 hits giving him a 5.52 ERA for the season. For the season overall at two stops, Medina had a 5.20 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 27.2 innings. Medina is 4-12 overall for his career with 155 innings over 40 professional games. He has 132 strikeouts to go along with a 3.95 career ERA. Medina 22 was born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
Daniel Montano comes to Sioux City after seven seasons in the Colorado Rockies organization where the outfielder would reach the AAA level. Montano signed with the Rockies as an international free agent in 2015 out of Maracay, Venezuela. At the time of his signing, he was ranked 12th on MLB.com Top 30 International Prospects list. He joined the Rockies Dominican Summer League (DSL) team for the 2016 season at 17 years old and would slash a .228/.325/.427 line with 17 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, and 32 RBI. His nine homers led the club while his doubles ranked second. In 2017 he returned to the DOSL, playing in 52 games and slashing .270/.355/.423 on the season. He would add three home runs while leading the team doubles with 14 and RBI with 39.
In 2018, Montano would begin the season once again in the DSL, but he would only stay with the club for the first 11 days of the season before a promotion to rookie-level Grand Junction in the Pioneer League. He would slash a line of .279/.338/.433 in 62 games with Grand Junction. For the third straight season, he hit double digits in doubles at 15, hit a career high five triples, and slugged four home runs. He also put his speed to work with nine stolen bases, and he drew walks at a steady clip with 21 to his 57 strikeouts. Montano would make his first appearance on a top prospect list being named number 19 on MLB.com Pipeline’s top 30 prospects for the Rockies.
Montano would continue his climb in the Rockies ladder in 2019. He would cross the 100-games-played-in-a-season mark for the first time in his career while playing 122 at A-level Ashville. He would hit .218/.274/.344 with 33 walks but with 119 strikeouts. Montano once again was a doubles machine, having 32 two baggers to go with three triples and seven home runs.
With the reshuffling of the MiLB and not playing a season, Montano would end his run of being on a top prospect list in 2021. His numbers told a different story. At Low-A Fresno, he slashed .301/.380/.446 with nine doubles, three triples, four home runs, 24 walks, and six stolen bases over 52 games. Those numbers earned Montano a midseason promotion to High-A Spokane. At Spokane he slashed a .283/.353/.337 line with 20 walks and just 47 strikeouts in 44 games. He hit seven doubles with a triple for the second part of the season of 2021.
In 2022, Montano started the season with Spokane and would have a 32-game stay in the Pacific Northwest. He slashed a .321/.420/.523 line at Spokane with only 25 strikeouts with 20 walks. He hit one home run with seven doubles and a triple. He was named the Rockies organization’s Player of the Month of May before a promotion on May 31 to AA Hartford. In 82 games he would hit .253 with a .355 on base percentage. Montano hit a career high 14 home runs while driving in 39 runs and working 49 walks at the plate.
Montano would continue the steady rise up the Rockies system by playing 75 games at AAA Albuquerque in 2023. He would slash a line of .237/.350/.426 with eight home runs and 46 RBI. Montano added another 13 doubles with seven team leading triples for the Isotopes. On July 31 he had a four-hit night with a homer a pair of doubles and a single in a four-hit performance against Sacramento. Montano chose free agency following the 2023 season.
The X’s now have 11 pitchers and 9 position players signed for the 2024 season.
2024 Players signed:
OF Daniel Montano
RHP Oswald Medina
RHP Nico O’Donnell
RHP Jasseel De La Cruz
LHP Javier Reynoso
RHP Santiago Flores
INF/OF Nick Shumpert
INF Delvin Zinn
LHP Jared Wetherbee
RHP Pedro Gonzalez
INF/OF Brennen Dorighi
RHP Heitor Tokar
RHP Braunny Munoz
RHP Kyle Bloor
C Jake Ortega
C Wilfredo Gimenez
OF Scott Ota
INF Daniel Lingua,
INF Daniel Pérez
RHP John Sheaks
The Explorers are set to open their 31st season in the Siouxland at home Friday night, May 10th at 7:05 p.m. against the Kansas City Monarchs. Ticket packages for the 2024 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.