Right-hander Elijah Pleasants, a former Kansas City Royals draft pick, has joined the Oakland Ballers (also known as the B’s) squad. Despite being taken in the 36th round of the 2018 Draft, he chose to start his undergraduate career at the University of Tennessee rather than sign with the Royals.
Pleasants played for the Volunteers primarily out of the bullpen while in college. Of his 33 games pitched, he started just five of them. After moving to Dallas Baptist in 2022 and Trevecca Nazarene in 2023, he started all 13 of his games and finished with a 4.36 ERA in 76 1/3 innings pitched.
Pleasants, who is 23 years old and will make his pro debut when he suits up for the Ballers this season, went on to pitch in the MLB Draft League with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, starting another 11 games in 13 appearances with an additional 55 innings.
The results weren’t quite as good, though, as the righty held an 8.67 ERA and saw his strikeout rate drop from 10 per nine to 6.5 per nine. His birthday falls exactly one month before the team’s first-ever game in Oakland on June 4 against the Yolo High Wheelers.
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