{"id":17257,"date":"2026-05-15T12:03:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/mankato-moondogs\/?p=17257"},"modified":"2026-05-15T12:03:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:03:04","slug":"moondogs-add-experience-power-and-pitching-to-2026-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/mankato-moondogs\/2026\/05\/15\/moondogs-add-experience-power-and-pitching-to-2026-roster\/","title":{"rendered":"MoonDogs Add Experience, Power, and Pitching to 2026 Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>MANKATO, MINN. \u2013 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mankato Moondogs are bringing back a familiar face to the mound while adding two more talented players to the 2026 roster with the additions of pitcher Luke Ballantyne, pitcher Mathew Azordegan, and outfielder Liam Ebbs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ballantyne returns for his second summer in Mankato, bringing experience and talent to the Moondogs&#8217; pitching staff. The sophomore right-hander at Biola University made 14 starts during the 2025 season, with a 6-1 record, and 63 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. He also threw one complete game while holding the opposing team to a .258 batting average. He also earned Academic All-PacWest honors. Across his collegiate career, Ballantyne has totaled 11 wins and 131 strikeouts. The Chino, California native is a graduate of Ontario Christian High School and will look to make another impact on the mound for the Moondogs this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Azordegan joins Mankato after a strong junior year at Trinity University. The Madison, Mississippi native owns 28 strikeouts during the 2026 season while finishing with a 5.14 ERA. A graduate of St. Andrew\u2019s Episcopal School, Azordegan adds depth and experience to the Moondogs pitching rotation heading into the summer season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ebbs, a sophomore outfielder from Lafayette College, brings both offensive and defensive consistency to the Moondogs lineup. In 2025, the Atlanta, Georgia native appeared in 33 games with 29 starts for the Leopards, recording 20 hits, seven RBIs, and two home runs. Ebbs has continued to elevate his game in 2026, posting a .318 batting average while maintaining a stellar .987 career fielding percentage with 358 career putouts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ballantyne, Azordegan, Ebbs, and the rest of the MoonDogs are set to take the field for the 2026 season on Monday, May 25, when they host the Willmar Stingers at 6:35 p.m. at ISG Field in Mankato. Season tickets, group outings, flex plans, and Opening Day ticket packages are on sale now with ticket information available at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/mankato-moondogs\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.mankatomoondogs.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or by calling the MoonDogs ticket office at (507) 625-7047.\u00a0 The MoonDogs office is also open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. \u2013 5 p.m., 1221 Caledonia St., Mankato, MN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">###<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Northwoods League is the proven leader in developing elite college baseball players. Having completed its\u2019 32<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">nd<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 26 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires, and front office staff, over 410 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (NYM).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANKATO, MINN. \u2013 The Mankato Moondogs are bringing back a familiar face to the mound while adding two more talented  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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