Oakland Ballers Bring Back Best

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The Oakland Ballers have begun announcing their roster for the start of the 2025 Pioneer League season, and the first three that have been unveiled are all players that were with the club in its inaugural campaign. The Ballers began last week by announcing the return of the "Slim Reaper," Connor Sullivan, and then capped the week off by re-signing catcher Tyler Lozano.

This week, they have announced the return of outfielder Tyler Best.

Best joined the club in its final series of the season against the Yolo High Wheelers. He made an
immediate impact with seven hits in 20 at-bats in his six games. Three of those hits were doubles and
he had three RBI in a series that saw the Ballers clinch a Second Half Championship and playoff berth.

He also drove in the first-ever playoff run in Ballers history with an RBI single in Game 1 of the first round, also against the High Wheelers.

Best played college ball at the University of Hawaii (2019-21) and Northwest Nazarene (2022-23), and spent the first part of the 2024 season playing in the Pecos League with the Martinez Sturgeon while batting .339 with 15 home runs and 50 RBI.

Ballers manager Aaron Miles said of bringing back Best, "Tyler joined us right at the end of the season, at a time when we needed some big performances. He only had a short time to make a good impression and he took full advantage of his opportunity. Now he’s earned a bigger opportunity to make an impact with us for next season.”

The Oakland Ballers season begins on May 20 at home against the Ogden Raptors. In fact, the Ballers will be home for the first two series of the season, so they will be at Raimondi Park from May 20-June 1, with Monday, May 26 as the only off-day.

The team is currently offering a "Ballers Love Bundle" for Valentine's Day, which includes two flex tickets, two special t-shirts, and two Valentine's Day cards. The first 50 people to buy the pack will also get a four-pack of Almanac Ballers Love Hazy IPA.

The Ballers will continue to announce roster additions in the coming weeks as they build up for the 2025 campaign. The initial group of announcements is expected to be the players that will be re-signing, followed by the new additions to the roster.


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Jason Burke
JASON BURKE

Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.