Oakland Ballers Sign Record-Setting St. Mary's Slugger
The Oakland Ballers have signed first baseman Christian Almanza to a contract for the 2025 season. He will attend the club’s upcoming spring training in May.
Almanza, the 2023 WCC Player of the Year and two-time All-WCC First team player, was a record breaker at Saint Mary’s College, setting program marks for most home runs in a season (24) and in a career (47).
In 2023, when he took home the top conference honors, Almanza hit .290 with 16 HR and 40 RBI in 51 games. He followed that up with an even bigger grad season in 2024, slashing .343/.459/.778 with 24 home runs and 69 RBI.
Tyler Petersen, Assistant General Manager, Baseball Operations said of the addition of Almanza, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Christian to our player program. The team puts a big emphasis on building our roster with the best local talent available and I don’t think you’ll find many players in the country that had a better 2024 than Christian. For our fans who are alums of Saint Mary’s, it will be exciting for them to see Christian put on the Green and Gold.”
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Almanza grew up in Stockton and attended St. Mary’s High School. He began his college career at the University of Utah where he played from 2019 to 2020, before transferring to be a Gael in 2022. If he continues to hit like he did in college, he could be one the players scooped up by a big-league team in 2025. The Ballers had four players end up signing with an MLB franchise last season in their inaugural year.
The Oakland Ballers have been quite busy this offseason, and have now announced eight members of the their roster for 2025, including Almanza. The rest of the list includes right-handers Connor Sullivan, Kyle Pijaszek, Connor Richardson and Brody Eglite, catcher Tyler Lozano, shortstop Tremayne Cobb Jr., and outfielder Tyler Best.
From what we have heard, the team is still working on getting some other fan favorites from last season re-signed for 2025, and there will be more announcements on the way soon.
Opening Night 2025 is quickly approaching! Season Tickets and Flex Packs for the 2025 season can be purchased now by going to tickets.oaklandballers.com. For more information on the Oakland Ballers visit our website at www.oaklandballers.com
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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.