May is here, teams have reported to camp, and the offseason is truly just about over. With that in mind, there’s not going to be much roster movement until teams trim their rosters down to 25 ahead of Opening Day on May 14-15.

Let’s look at what went down.

Chicago Dogs

Released: RHP David Reckers

The Spin: Chicago’s only move was the release of Reckers, who seemed like a long shot going into camp anyways. The 26-year-old pitched poorly over just 9.0 innings in the low-level Mavericks League last year and also got lit up in the Pioneer and Atlantic Leagues in his first pro action in 2024.

Cleburne Railroaders

The Spin: Cleburne was ahead of the gun, filling out most of their roster spots by Christmas. They’ve spent the last four months re-tooling, with a healthy number of signings balanced by players being released or traded away. However, Pete Incaviglia finally appeared to take a breather over the final week before camp.

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

Signed: RHP Wyatt Cheney, LHP Patrick Wicklander

The Spin: Fargo-Moorhead continued adding to their stable of arms this week, headlined by the 26-year-old southpaw Wicklander, who made 22 starts for Lexington in the Atlantic League last year. The good news? He went 11-8. The bad news…he logged a 6.71 ERA. Nonetheless, a man who’s reached Triple-A and had a fair amount of Double-A success has a decent shot at filling the back end of the rotation, especially after fellow lefty Tyler Grauer’s recent retirement,

Cheney is a promising bullpen prospect who missed 2024 due to injury, but in ’25 he logged a 2.51 ERA and 12.0 K/9 over 32.1 innings in High-A. A brief spell in Double-A didn’t go well, but the 25-year-old has shown enough swing-and-miss stuff to be a potential asset.

Gary SouthShore RailCats

Signed: RHP Jacob Coats, RHP Cade Herrmann
Released: RHP Bryce Hellgeth

The Spin: Gary SouthShore continued their strong recent push in the bullpen by bringing back their All-Star closer in Coats. The 27-year-old nailed down 13 saves with a 2.89 ERA in 36 games last year and figures to be back in the same role this summer. The RailCat ‘pen is continuing to get better and better.

Herrmann is a wild card: a 26-year-old who played Division II baseball and last year only pitched sparingly in the MLB Draft League. He definitely profiles as more of a camp arm, so we’ll see what becomes of him.

Another arm in Hellgeth was given his walking papers this past week. He logged a 2.02 ERA strictly out of the bullpen in the Frontier League two years ago, but his ERA swelled by three runs once he made a handful of starts last year. Perhaps a return to the Frontier may be in his future.

Kane County Cougars

Signed: OF Dave Matthews, OF Spencer Rich

The Spin: Kane County has been light in the outfield all winter and made an effort to address that late. The top billing goes to Matthews (no relation to the singer), a five-year Indy ball vet who’s had two great years in the Pioneer League…but done virtually nothing else across parts of three seasons in the other three Indy leagues, including a short stint in Lake Country last year. If the 28-year-old hasn’t hit outside the PBL by now, I have my doubts that he ever will.

Rich is another Pioneer League project, albeit a younger one (25) with only one year of pro experience. Last year he hit .385 with 1.085 OPS in an absurd Idaho Falls offense last year, so let’s see if that carries over in any way to a much more sane run-scoring environment.

Kansas City Monarchs

Signed: RHP Durbin Feltman

The Spin: A one-time third-round selection, Feltman flushed out of Triple-A in 2023 and after a summer away had an up-and-down season with two Atlantic League squads last season. After rarely being a problem in his affiliated career, the 29-year-old struggled to find the zone last year (30 walks in 29.0 innings), so that will be the first obstacle to overcome if he’s going to be a major piece in a crowded, competitive Kansas City bullpen.

Lake Country DockHounds

Signed: INF Julio Carreras

The Spin: Carreras will get his first taste of Indy ball as Lake Country bolsters the infield with a seven-year veteran of the Colorado Rockies system. The 26-year-old was formerly a Top-30 prospect in the Rockies system but fizzled out in Triple-A. An owner of a respectable .263/.336/.406 slash line over more than 600 career games, he brings plenty of experience.

Lincoln Saltdogs

The Spin: Nothing doing for the Saltdogs this week after they beefed up their bullpen with a pair of pitcher signings last week. Lincoln opened spring training on Sunday with 32 players under contract, so they have plenty of options at their disposal over the next ten days.

Milwaukee Milkmen

Signed: RHP Angel Gonzalez

The Spin: Gonzalez joins the Milkmen after five seasons with the Cubs and Cardinals organizations. In his career, he has an inflated ERA (6.73) and walk rate (8.7 BB/9) over 182.0 innings, including a whopping 47 walks in just 35.0 innings in High-A last year. There’s a lot of good arms in Milwaukee, so this is a guy I would be surprised if he made it out of camp.

Sioux City Explorers

Signed: INF Jonathan Araúz, RHP Anderson Bido, RHP Kelvin Cáceres, OF Austin Davis, RHP Jasseel De La Cruz, OF Henry George, RHP Nate Gercken, C Cade Marquardt, INF Luis Toribio, RHP Cody Tucker, INF Jackson Van De Brake and RHP Zach Willeman

The Spin: After several mostly quiet weeks, the X’s dropped a whopping 12 signings on Friday. Postseason All-Star Henry George (.291/.403/.439, 43 steals) and AA stolen base leader Austin Davis (60 steals) both are major disruptors returning to the outfield, while Toribio returns after played 48 games in the infield last year. On the mound, Willeman was dominant in eight starts (2.34 ERA, 65 Ks in 50.0 innings) before being picked up by Cincinnati and will return. The 33-year-old Gercken is back for his sixth year with the X’s and 11th in Indy ball after posting a 3.32 ERA and seven wins out of the bullpen last year.

Arauz and Caceres are both former big leaguers who will add pedigree and experience to their respective roles, while Bido and De La Cruz both reached Triple-A and have nearly a decade of professional experience each. Tucker split last year between two High-A clubs and will begin his fourth pro season.

Rounding out the group are a pair of first-year pros in Van De Brake, who posted solid numbers at North Carolina, and a local NAIA product in Marquardt, who will try to squeeze his way into what is now a three-man competition behind the plate.

Sioux Falls Canaries

The Spin: Until last Friday’s shopping spree (which probably was put together over the course of a few weeks, but processed and announced all at once), Sioux City was in the same boat as their rivals: a light roster that was especially light on pitching. Well, the Birds were quiet this week and still have a league-low 21 players signed, so there’s a very good chance that a solid number of unsigned players are in camp for Sioux Falls. At least, that’s what I hope is the case.

Winnipeg Goldeyes

The Spin: I suspected that Winnipeg was probably more or less done building their roster a couple weeks ago, and barring a one-for-one signing/release last week, that has been the case as the Goldeyes opened camp on Sunday without any further moves coming through.

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