The Gateway Grizzlies will be beginning training camp in about a month, with an eye on Opening Day on May 10. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Jason Barnes
Staff Writer
SAUGET, IL — The Gateway Grizzlies announced on Monday that they have signed five players who played in the Pioneer League in 2023 to their roster for the upcoming 2024 season. The Grizzlies added former Boise Hawks Trevor Minder, Sean Skelly, and Matt Voelker, and also signed former Grand Junction Jackalopes Adam Bloebaum and Matt Golda.
Each player will be on the Gateway roster when the team begins training camp next month and is expected to be a contributor to the defending Frontier League West Division champions this season.
An infielder who hails from Springfield, Ill., Minder is coming off a strong season with Boise in 2023, hitting .309 with eight homers, 17 doubles, 61 RBIs, and 102 hits over 91 games. Minder also batted .281 with two homers, 20 RBIs, and 12 doubles in 63 games in 2022 with the Hawks. He finished his college baseball career at Tulane, after playing two seasons at Parkland College, hitting .244 with seven homers, 31 RBIs, and 14 doubles over 60 games as a regular for the Green Wave in 2022.
Skelly, a catcher, played for Boise for the last three seasons. He posted solid numbers in 2023, hitting .277 with 10 homers, 12 doubles, and 42 RBIs in 54 games, marking an improvement across the board from his previous season. Skelly finished his collegiate career in his home state at Cal State Northridge, earning 2nd Team All-Big West honors in 2019 by hitting .288 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 50 games.
Voelker joins the Grizzlies out of Granite Bay, Calif., and was primarily a starting pitcher last season, going 7-5 with 42 strikeouts in 81 innings over 17 appearances (16 starts). He also put up a 2.29 ERA in 14 relief appearances along with 16 strikeouts and six walks with Frederick in the MLB Draft League in 2022 after a season at Baylor, where he had a 37:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 43 1/3 innings over 23 games. A southpaw power pitcher, Voelker also pitched four years at Loyola Marymount, and amassed 17 saves in his collegiate career.
Bloebaum comes to Sauget as another left-handed pitcher, and as a rookie with Grand Junction had 74 strikeouts and only 25 walks in 63 innings over 16 games in 2023, nine of which were starts. He had a similar role in two seasons at the Washington, posting a 5.23 ERA with 34 strikeouts and 14 walks in 41 1/3 innings as a redshirt sophomore in 2022. The previous year, after transferring from Pittsburgh, the 6’5″ North Carolina native was the Huskies’ Sunday starter, owning a 4.15 ERA in 18 games (10 starts) with 59 strikeouts and only 16 walks over 60 2/3 innings.
Golda joins Gateway after batting .303 with a pair of homers and 27 RBIs over 50 games in 2023. The Acushnet, Mass., native finished his college career at Alabama-Birmingham in 2022, after also playing one season at Oklahoma State.
Gateway Grizzlies media information contributed to this story.