Despite a push from Oakland Athletics ownership to relocate the Major League Baseball franchise to Las Vegas by 2028, professional baseball will be staying in “The Town” for the foreseeable future thanks to the Oakland Ballers, a new independent expansion team in the Pioneer Baseball League (PBL).

The Ballers, also being tabbed as The B’s, announced their first player signings in franchise history on Dec. 8, which included Turlock native and 2015 Pitman High School graduate Coleton Horner.

“I'm super honored and super pumped to be grandfathered into a town that loves baseball so much,” Horner said. “I'm so excited and so blessed that I get to have this opportunity because I know there's going to be a lot of movement behind it and a lot of support for it. It's going to be a really, really fun experience.”

Horner, 26, is a catcher preparing for his fifth year in professional baseball. In 2022, he spent time in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization playing for their Arizona Complex League squad. Later that year, he signed with the PBL’s Ogden Raptors (Utah). He returned to Ogden in 2023, helping them win the 2023 PBL Championship. He slashed .283/.351/.391/.742 with 52 hits including one home run, 16 walks, 26 RBI and 36 runs scored on the year. Behind the dish, Horner threw out 18 of 70 baserunners.

“We’re excited to have Coleton Horner as part of the Ballers in 2024,” said Tyler Peterson, assistant general manager. “He’s as solid of a catcher as there was in the Pioneer League last year. He brings good veteran experience to the team… And we’re happy to welcome a guy from Turlock to the Ballers, as well.”

“The chance to get to play an hour and a half from my hometown, that was a big for me,” Horner added. “I get to be closer to my family and they get a chance to see me play more often, which is a huge deal.”

The B’s announced the launch of their franchise on Nov. 28. According to a team-issued press release, they were created in response to the unanimous vote by Major League Baseball owners last month to relocate the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas.

“In response to the void created by the departure of the Oakland A’s, a group of A’s fans, community leaders and more have banded together to steal back Oakland’s baseball legacy,” the release stated. “Unlike the A's, the B's vow to never leave The Town."

According to the team, they have secured $2 million in seed funding from almost 50 investors with ties to Oakland and the broader East Bay. Fans will have the opportunity to become part owners of the team through a public crowdfunding campaign to be launched in 2024.

“I strongly believe that the real value of a sports team is in its relationship to the community it serves,” said Ballers co-founder Paul Freedman. “Baseball is a sport with deep roots in this country and a rich legacy in the East Bay. That could never be owned by one person. That’s why with the Oakland B’s we intend to build a team committed to honoring that legacy and our community.”

The pending relocation of the Athletics hits close to home for Horner, who grew up a fan of the team.

“I was a lifelong A’s fan. I guess I still am because I haven't really chosen my other team,” he joked. “But growing up, I remember A's baseball being so fun to go to. Me and my cousin would go to games. I remember going to the 2006 ALDS where they played the Twins, and oh my gosh, the electricity of that ballpark in a playoff game is something that I've never experienced before… The Coliseum is different when it's filled. That was a fun time to be an A’s fan.”

This past season, the Athletics posted an MLB-worst 50-112 record and was again last in average attendance at 10,276 per game despite the second-half call-ups of exciting young prospects like Zack Gelof, Lawrence Butler and Turlock native Tyler Soderstrom.

According to Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68’s fan club, the fans’ issues aren’t with the players or coaches, who they know have no control over relocation efforts. Instead, their differences lie solely with A’s owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval, who they believe have not invested enough into the team or stadium and have done the bare minimum to try to keep the franchise in Oakland.

“A lot of ownerships have taken for granted the fans and have tried to take baseball away from us, but this year, we organized a movement that got the attention of an entire nation,” Leon said in reference to the year-long, nationwide campaign urging Fisher to sell the team. “Now, we’re here with the Oakland Ballers to take baseball back for our community, fans and for the town. We will never let a billionaire dictate the end of professional baseball here in Oakland—a tradition so alive and undervalued. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of the effort to support the Oakland Ballers, building on the decades-long and deeply rooted legacy of Oakland as a baseball town.”

The Ballers will become the first Pioneer League franchise in California, set to play 48 home games in a 96-game schedule at Laney College, about five miles north of the Oakland Coliseum.

“It’s tough to see what the fans are going through, but shout out to the Oakland Community for putting this together because I know without their support behind, it wouldn't happen,” Horner said. “And with that said, I'm going to give them 100 percent of the player that I am.”
The Ballers’ inaugural season will get underway on May 21. Their full schedule can be found at www.OaklandBallers.com/schedule.