SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2025
EXPLORERS HOT STOVE CONTINUES TO STAY WARM
RIGHT-HANDER TOKAR RETURNS AND BIG BAT TORIBIO ADDED
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The winter may be hovering over Siouxland, but the hot stove remains warm as the Sioux City Explorers have announced that the team has signed right-handed pitcher Heitor Tokar and infielder Luis Toribio for the 2025 season. The addition of the pair brings the total of players signed for the 2025 season to 14.
Heitor Tokar returns to Sioux City for the third season with the Explorers. The right-hander spent the early part of the 2024 season with Sioux City, appearing in eight games in relief and pitching 13.2 innings with a 3.95 ERA. He struck out 15 batters and surrendered six earned runs on 16 hits with a 1-0 record. Tokar picked up his lone win in his first appearance of the season on May 25, tossing two relief innings and yielding one earned run in an 8-7 win over Chicago. He struck out 10 hitters in his first 5.2 innings of the season, and after a scoreless inning of relief on July 10, Tokar would sign with the Dorados de Chihuahua in the Mexican League. In Mexico, Tokar would appear in nine games—all in relief—going 0-2 with a 13.11 ERA. He would finish with 11.2 innings and 13 strikeouts.
In 2023 Tokar was a valuable member of the Explorers staff, working in both long relief and in the rotation as the need warranted during the season. He was originally signed by Sioux City on May 2, 2023, making his X’s debut on May 14. Tokar tossed two scoreless innings on May 14 in a 2-1 win over Kansas City, part of a three-game sweep to start the season. For the season, Tokar went 3-4 with a 5.95 ERA, allowing 54 ER in 81.2 innings pitched. He would strike out 69 with 35 walks and garner a 1.629 WHIP for the season.
Tokar, 24, a native of Marília, Brazil, started his professional career by signing with the Houston Astros and playing in the Dominican Summer League in 2018 as a 17-year-old . At the time he was considered the 50th best international prospect by Baseball America. In his first season of pro ball, he went 0-1 with a 1.66 ERA and 0.76 WHIP for the DSL Astros. Tokar would appear in one game for Team Brazil in the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier, working one relief inning in a loss to Mexico. In 2019 he would go 1-0 with a pair of saves in 35 innings with a 2.83 ERA, making the move to the GCL Astros. He also struck out 29 batters while only walking 11 that year.
Tokar was set to appear once again for Team Brazil and was included on the 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifier roster before the WBC would be one of the first baseball events to be canceled due to the pandemic. After the cancellation of the 2020 season, he would return to the Astros organization, making two stops at the rookie-level FCL Astros and at class A Fayetteville. He was 2-1 in the FCL with a 3.86 ERA with 18 punchouts in 14 innings, and he added another 40 innings in A ball with a 4.73 ERA with a 3-3 record with two saves. In 2022, Tokar went 3-4 for at High A Ashville in 20 games with a 8.02 ERA. Tokar threw 76.1 innings with a 1.76 WHIP and 64 strikeouts over 20 games with 11 starts.
Tokar was once again a member of the national team for the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifier for Brazil. He was second on the team in appearances, working in two of the four games. He would come into his relief appearance and preserve a 4-3 Brazil lead, working 3.1 innings and shutting down a rally by New Zealand after Brazil claimed a 4-0 lead early. Brazil would go on to win the game 12-7.
Tokar also started in the finale against Nicaragua with a spot in the 2023 World Baseball Classic at stake, but he suffered a hard-luck loss, giving up two runs while Brazil saw their bats go cold for the second game in a row in a 3-1 loss.
Corner infielder Luis Toribio comes to the Explorers after playing in the San Francisco Giants organization. Toribio, 24, hails from in San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic and was an international free-agent signee by the Giants in 2017. He would make his professional debut in 2018 with the rookie-level Giants in the Dominican Summer League. In 2024 Toribio reached AA Richmond for the Giants. In 69 games, the left-handed slugger finished third on the team with eight home runs, slashing a line of .209/.307/.384 with 33 RBI. He would start 60 games at third base on the year.
Toribio hit .232 with 17 home runs and 61 RBI in 102 games in 2023 at high-A Eugene in the Northwest League. He tied for the team lead in home runs and was third in RBI and runs with 50 for the club. Toribio finished the season with a line of .232/.333/.432 while drawing 54 walks, good for second on the team. He started 60 games at the hot corner and another 33 at first base.
In 2022 Toribio played a career-high 111 games with Eugene. He would hit .209 with 21 team-leading home runs and finish second in the Northwest League in homers. His 59 RBI tied him for first on a team that would go on to win the league pennant. Toribio put up a slash line of .209/309/.429 while once again seeing time at both corners of the infield.
Toribio spent 2021 at low-A San Jose, playing 94 games with seven home runs and 39 RBI. He would hit .229 and was a teammate of recent Explorers addition Abdiel Layer. Once again Toribio played both first and third and finished the year with a line of .229/.351/.356. Prior to the cancelled 2020 season, Toribio played three games at low-A Salem-Keizer and 51 games with the Giants Orange club in the Arizona League in 2019. In Arizona he hit .297 with three homers and 33 RBI. He would lead the league in walks with 45 before joining Salem-Keizer for their playoff run. Toribio was named the seventh rated prospect for the Giants by MLB.com prior to the 2021 season.
Toribio made his pro debut in 2018 in his native Dominican Republic. With the Giants he played in 64 games with 10 home runs and 39 RBI. He finished tops on the club in home runs and RBI and would hit .270 on the season. He would put up a rookie slash line of .270/.423/.479 and finish third in the league in round trips. In six pro seasons, Toribio has launched 66 home runs while driving in 264 runs with a career .236 batting average.
Players signed 2025:
RHP Heitor Tokar
IF Luis Toribio
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.