Players

Cameron Bufford brings a big stick to Siouxland in 2026. Bufford hit 21 home runs for Oakland in the Pioneer League in 2025, good for third on the team, and he led the club with a .349 average at the plate. He slashed a line of .349/.403/.597–while also leading the team in hits with 121–and finished third in stolen bases on the team with 27.

Bufford has hit for power over the course of his playing career. He played for four years at Grambling State University (Louisiana) where he holds the program record in home runs with 46. In his four years at Grambling, Bufford never had fewer than 10 home runs in a season. Bufford broke a 37-year-old record, hitting his 38^th home run on March 5, 2024, against Florida A&M in the Tigers 3-2 win. He would add another eight long balls to cement his legacy in the Grambling record books.

In his final year at Grambling, Bufford helped lead the Tigers to the SWAC Baseball Tournament Championship and to an appearance in NCAA Regional at Bryan-College Station. Bufford slashed .345/.474/.553 with 10 HR and 56 RBI. He would lead the team in RBI, finish second in average, and his 68 hits tied him for second on the team. The Illinois native would be named the Preseason Player of the Year and All-SWAC First Team following the season. Bufford would spend the following summer in the MLB Draft League with the State College Spikes, hitting .285 with 2 HR, 37 RBI, and 20 SB in 45 games.

In 2023, Bufford played in 52 games, hitting 12 home runs with 68 RBI to go along with a .330 average for Grambling. He would post a slash line of .320/.410/.617, finishing second on the club in average and RBI in 2023. After the season, he played for State College in the MLB Draft League, hitting .275 with three homers and 17 RBI in 22 games. His sophomore season of 2022 saw Bufford play in a college-career-high 57 games with a line of .324/.421/.567. He would lead the team with 12 home runs and finish third with 54 RBI. In Bufford’s first season at Grambling, he hit .319 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI in 44 games. He finished the season with a .319/.389/.573 slash line, leading the team in home runs and finishing second with 43 RBI on the season.

Bufford finished his career at Grambling with 207 games with 46 home runs and 218 RBI and a hit .327 over his four years on campus. Defensively, Bufford will bring a versatile resume as well to the Sioux City roster. He played 100 games at third in college, another 84 at shortstop and 15 at first base. In his career, Buford has played 148 games at third, 105 at short 35 at first and added an additional 20 games in the outfield in the Pioneer League and in summer ball. Bufford hails from South Holland, Illinois where he graduated from Marian Catholic High School in the Chicagoland area.