Players

John Nogowski returns to Sioux City for the third time in his career. The Nogowski professional career story can be told in three chapters.  Chapter one—following his release from the Oakland Athletics organization in 2016, he came to Sioux City where he would open the 2017 season with the X’s. Nogowski would hit an outstanding .402 with a 1.089 OPS and four home runs and drive in 28 runs. The St. Louis Cardinals would receive the transfer of his contract after just 34 contests with the Explorers. Chapter two—climbing through the Cardinals system, Nagowski reached the Big Leagues in 2020. Chapter three—Nogowski played with the Pittsburgh Pirates for part of the 2021 season and spent time at AAA and in Mexico from 2021 to 2023.

Nogowski had two stints with Sioux City in 2023. He signed with the Explorers on June 15 after spending the first part of the 2023 season in the Atlantic League with the High Point Rockers where he batted lights out. Nogowski hit .294, blasting 11 home runs in 37 games while knocking in 49 runs. He would slash a line at the plate of .297/.419/.625 for the Rockers.

In his first 17 games with the Explorers, he hit .397 with two home runs and nine RBI before having his contract transferred to Monclova in the Mexican League on July 5.

While in Mexico, Nogowski hit .277 in 25 games with 14 RBI. Following the elimination of Monclova from post-season consideration, Nogowski returned to Sioux City on August 18 and was a big part of the club’s stretch drive to the post-season. He would drive in another seven runs in 17 games with two round trippers. Nogowski would hit another homer in five playoff games, going 7-for-23 with an RBI and scoring four runs. For the season, the Florida native hit .317 with five home runs and 16 RBI. Nogowski would add eight doubles to his stat totals in 2023, while slashing a line of .317/.419/.480.

In 2022, Nogowski started the season with the Atlanta Braves organization, playing in 40 games at AAA and getting on base at a .338 clip. After he was released by the Braves, Nogowski signed with the Washington Nationals on a minor league contract, splitting time between AAA and AA. At AAA Rochester he played well, earning a .290 batting average and .810 OPS over 203 plate appearances while also getting on base at a .409 clip. At AA that year, he landed on base .333 percent of the time over 30 games while posting a .682 OPS.

The 31-year-old spent parts of two seasons in the MLB between the Cardinals and Pirates organizations. He debuted in 2020 with the Cardinals before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in July 2021. In 2021 Nogowski made the Cardinals out of spring training and played parts of 19 games, recording one hit over 20 plate appearances. He would spend most of his time with the Cardinals organization at AAA Memphis before he was traded, batting .195 with a .601 OPS. Nogowski immediately made an impact for the Pirates following the trade in early July and went 2-4 with three runs, an RBI and a walk in his first game with Pittsburgh. Over his first 12 games with Pittsburgh, he batted .438 with a 1.074 OPS, including four doubles and a home run. On July 7, he went 4-5 against the Braves as one of his seven multi-hit games for the Pirates. He finished his time with the Major League club holding a .261 batting average with a .677 OPS over 33 games. In his 20 games with AAA Indianapolis, Nogowski posted a .406 OBP and .758 OPS before he was released. The San Francisco Giants picked him up to end the 2021 season, where he played in two series for AAA Sacramento.

During the COVID season, Nogowski spent most of his time with the Alternate Training Site for the Cardinals, but he finally made his debut on August 16 against the Chicago White Sox. In his one game that year, he went 1-4 with a strikeout before he returned to the training site.

In 2019, Nogowski spent the entire year with AAA Memphis. He hit .295 with a .413 OBP and .889 OPS over 117 games, including a 4-5 game where he added two runs, three RBIs and a homer against the Reno Aces on June 7. In 2018, he spent most of his time with the AA squad, batting .309 with an .855 OPS over 83 games.

As a 24-year-old in 2017, Nogowski joined the X’s after he was released by the Athletics the year prior. He had four three-hit games that season, including a two-home run, five-RBI game versus Gary on June 2. He had his contract transferred to the Cardinals on June 26 and played mostly at AA the rest of the season, working a .295 batting average with a .760 OPS over 59 games.

2016 was Nogowski’s last season with the Athletics organization, playing at AA and High-A over the year. While in High-A, he batted .285 with a .764 OPS over 84 games, and in AA, he batted .130 with a .535 OPS. He spent the 2015 season with High-A Stockton, batting .274 with a .716 OPS and 24 extra-base hits over 96 games. He spent his first season in affiliated ball between Low-A and rookie ball with the Athletics after his junior year with FSU. Across the season, he hit .264 with a .351 OBP and .699 OPS between the levels.

With FSU in 2014, he made the All-ACC first team as one of three Seminoles to play in all 60 games. He hit .307 with 12 doubles and five homers in his final season with Florida State. In his second year with the Seminoles, he played in 58 games, batting .277 with a .412 OBP and .821 OPS. In his first year with FSU, he hit .250 with a .699 OPS but added 23 RBIs over his 53 games and was part of the Seminole club that reached the College World Series in Omaha. He was originally drafted in the 34th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Athletics out of Florida State after playing in three seasons with the university. Nogowski returned to FSU to complete his bachelor’s degree and graduated in August 2023. He is also a graduate of North Florida Christian High School in Tallahassee, Florida. His father, John Nogowski Sr., was a long-time sportswriter in Tallahassee where he covered FSU sports, and he is also a published author.