Building More Than Just a Stadium
Published on July 20, 2026 under Pioneer League (PL)
Glacier Range Riders News Release
KALISPELL, Mont. - When Alex Fernandes arrived in the Flathead Valley, he was beginning his first season in professional baseball, and it did not take long for a Major League organization to notice him.
The Athletics have purchased Fernandes' contract from the Glacier Range Riders, making the dynamic outfielder the latest player to use Glacier Bank Park as a launching point into an MLB organization.
Fernandes quickly established himself as a difference-maker for the Range Riders. His speed changed games on the basepaths, while his ability to reach base, score runs, and pressure opposing defenses made him an important part of the Glacier lineup. His departure creates a hole on the field for the Range Riders, but it also represents success in one of the organization's primary objectives.
Glacier does not simply recruit players to win games in the Pioneer League. The Range Riders recruit, develop, and showcase players with the goal of helping them reach the next level of professional baseball.
Fernandes is the latest example of a current that continues to carry talent through the Flathead Valley toward the Major Leagues.
A Leader Among MLB Partner League Clubs
Across the four MLB Partner Leagues, 100 players have earned contracts with affiliated organizations during the 2026 season. Five of those players have come from the Glacier Range Riders.
Fernandes joins Luke Schafer, Luke Cooper, Jacob Stretch, and Jake Covey as Range Riders whose contracts have been acquired by MLB organizations during the season. Glacier is responsible for 5% of all affiliated contracts from the 52 teams competing across the MLB Partner Leagues in 2026.
That number grows to six when including pitcher Ty Bothwell, whose contract was acquired by the Washington Nationals organization during the offseason.
The success is not limited to one unusually talented roster or one productive summer. Since the Range Riders' inaugural season in 2022, 14 Glacier players have signed with MLB organizations.
"Our goal in recruiting is not just to find good Pioneer League players," Range Riders Assistant General Manager Kyle Spencer said. "We want to identify players who have the tools, work ethic, and upside to continue advancing in professional baseball. Once they get here, our job is to give them the resources, coaching, and opportunity to show MLB organizations that they belong at the next level."
The organization has become one of Partner League Baseball's most consistent destinations for players seeking an opportunity to be seen, improve their games, and earn their way into affiliated baseball.
"Every time one of our players gets signed, it validates the work being done throughout the organization," Spencer said. "It starts with recruiting the right people, but it continues with the environment our coaches create every day. We want players to leave Glacier better prepared than when they arrived, and ultimately, we want to help as many of them as possible earn an opportunity with an MLB organization."
Finding and Developing Overlooked Talent
The process begins before a player ever steps onto the field at Glacier Bank Park. The Range Riders seek players with identifiable professional tools, room for development, and the mentality required to handle the demands of a professional season.
Some arrive after successful college careers without receiving an affiliated opportunity. Others have been released by an MLB organization and are looking for a place to rebuild their value. Many simply need regular playing time and the right environment to demonstrate what they can do.
Glacier offers them that opportunity.
Once a player arrives in the Flathead Valley, the organization's coaches work to refine the individual skills that could translate to the next level. Players receive daily instruction, video analysis, and the opportunity to hone their craft in the top training facility in independent baseball.
For Fernandes, that also meant showcasing a collection of tools that could immediately affect a game.
He could steal a base, take an extra base, create pressure with his speed, and turn an ordinary trip around the bases into a scoring opportunity. His ability to change games as both a base-stealer and a run-scorer made him an important part of the Range Riders and helped earn him the opportunity to join the Athletics organization.
"We're trying to win every night, and Alex was a game-changer who helped us do that," Range Riders Manager Todd Pratt said. "But a big part of our responsibility is also preparing these players for their next opportunity. When a player gets his contract purchased, you lose someone who has been important to your team, but that is a win for the player and a win for the organization. That is why these guys come here."
Fernandes may be the latest player to move forward, but he is part of a much larger pattern.
More Than 90 Seasons of Major League Experience
The Range Riders' ability to develop players is strengthened by a coaching and advisory group with a combined 91 seasons of Major League playing experience.
Three members of Glacier's coaching staff account for 25 of those seasons.
Pratt played 14 seasons in the Major Leagues. During his career as a catcher, Pratt played for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs, and appeared in more than 600 MLB games.
"I've been in professional baseball for a long time, and I know how difficult it is to get an opportunity,"
Pratt said. "There are talented players everywhere. What separates guys is how they prepare, how they respond to adversity, and whether they can make adjustments. We try to create a Major League environment here and teach our players what will be expected of them when that next opportunity comes."
Bench coach Stu Pederson brings additional Major League playing experience and decades of knowledge from a lifetime in professional baseball. Baseball development has continued throughout the Pederson family. Stu is the father of two-time MLB All-Star Joc Pederson and professional baseball coach Tyger Pederson.
Pitching coach Will Ohman spent 10 seasons in the Major Leagues, appearing in nearly 500 games as a left-handed reliever. His career gives Glacier's pitchers direct access to someone who understands how to prepare for professional hitters, make adjustments, and establish a role within a pitching staff.
Together, Pratt, Pederson, and Ohman give Range Riders players daily access to coaches who have experienced the realities of Major League Baseball firsthand.
A Network With 66 More MLB Seasons
The Range Riders' development resources extend well beyond the coaches in the dugout.
Glacier's six-man advisory staff includes Jesse Crain, J.J. Hardy, Turk Wendell, Heath Bell, Raul Gonzalez, and Mike Hampton. Collectively, the group played 66 Major League seasons.
Combined with the Range Riders' coaching staff, Glacier's players have access to a baseball network representing 91 seasons at the sport's highest level. Crain pitched for 10 seasons and was selected as an American League All-Star during a successful career as a relief pitcher. Hardy played 13 Major League seasons. The shortstop was a two-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a Silver Slugger recipient. Wendell pitched for 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and became one of baseball's most recognizable and durable relief pitchers. Bell spent 11 seasons in the Major Leagues. The three- time All-Star closer recorded more than 160 saves during his career. Gonzalez played five Major League seasons and adds another perspective from a professional career that included extensive experience throughout affiliated baseball. Hampton pitched for 16 Major League seasons. The two-time All-Star won 22 games in 1999, earned National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player honors in 2000, and was regarded as one of the best-hitting pitchers of his generation.
Those 91 combined seasons encompass nearly every part of the game. The group includes starting pitchers, relievers, closers, catchers, infielders, and outfielders who experienced pennant races, postseason baseball, All-Star Games, and the daily demands of sustaining long professional careers.
That range of experience provides Glacier's players with far more than name recognition. It gives them access to people who understand how MLB organizations evaluate talent, what players must improve to advance, and how professionals are expected to conduct themselves once they receive an opportunity.
"There is an incredible amount of baseball knowledge connected to this organization," Spencer said.
"Our players have access to people who have played just about every role imaginable at the Major League level. That experience helps us evaluate players more effectively, recruit them to Glacier, and provide them with honest guidance about what they need to do to keep moving forward."
Developing More Than Players
Glacier's pipeline has also created opportunities for coaches. Former Range Riders pitching coach Glendon Rusch advanced into the Los Angeles Angels organization after helping lead Glacier's pitching staff.
Austin Nola also used his time with the Range Riders as part of his transition from playing into coaching before joining the Seattle Mariners' Major League staff.
The first-ever in-stadium host, Alexa Belcastro, has moved on to a role as a sports reporter with News 3 in Las Vegas, while last year's host Kristina Fusco is currently working for the Savannah Bananas. Former Assistant Broadcaster David Hulvey moved on to a position at James Madison University, while current Voice of the Range Riders Scot Gladstone has become a constant presence on University of Montana and University of Washington broadcasts.
In the summer of 2023, Holoakea Husen ran the in-stadium show for the Range Riders, and now he is the Director of Marketing and Game Operations at Montana State. Sam Konrath served as the Range Riders trainer for two seasons before moving on to a role with Colorado State athletics. There are numerous other examples of seasonal or hourly employees turning their start with Glacier into a full-time role, either with the Range Riders or another sports organization.
Their advancement provides further evidence that Glacier has become a place where baseball professionals can develop their skills, expand their experience, and prepare for opportunities inside affiliated organizations.
From Glacier Bank Park to the Major Leagues
The clearest evidence of the pipeline can now be found in Major League ballparks.
Former Range Riders pitchers Logan VanWey and Jonathan Pintaro both made their MLB debuts during the 2025 season. Both have continued to receive Major League opportunities in 2026. Their debuts made Glacier the only Pioneer League organization to produce multiple Major League players since the league began operating under its current structure.
VanWey and Pintaro represent the ultimate goal of the development process. They arrived in the Flathead Valley seeking an opportunity. They earned contracts with MLB organizations, advanced through the affiliated minor leagues, and eventually reached baseball's highest level.
Their journeys also provide a tangible example for every current Range Rider. The path may be difficult, and it may not be direct, but it exists.
It can begin in the Flathead Valley.
"When our current players see Logan and Jonathan pitching in the Major Leagues, it shows them that this is a real path," Pratt said. "Those guys stood on the same field and went through the same grind.
There is no substitute for being able to point to someone who came through Glacier and say, 'He did it, and you can do it too.'"
A Pipeline the Flathead Valley Can Call Its Own
For baseball fans in Northwest Montana, the Range Riders' success provides an opportunity that extends beyond a summer night at the ballpark. Fans can watch players at the beginning of their professional journeys, follow them after they leave Glacier, and potentially see them reach the Major Leagues.
Young players throughout the region can meet professionals who are pursuing the same dreams they have. They can watch former Major Leaguers teach the next generation and see firsthand how players prepare, adjust, and compete at the professional level.
Every contract purchase is bittersweet. The Range Riders lose a talented player, often in the middle of a season and without an immediate replacement capable of providing the same production. But those departures are also victories.
They validate the organization's recruiting. They demonstrate the quality of its coaching. They strengthen Glacier's reputation among players, agents, scouts, and MLB decision-makers. Most importantly, they give another player the opportunity to continue moving toward the Major Leagues.
"Our fans naturally want to see the best possible team on the field, and so do we," Spencer said. "But we also want the Flathead Valley to take pride in being part of these players' journeys. When someone leaves Glacier for an MLB organization, the community helped provide the stage where he earned that opportunity."
Alex Fernandes is now the latest Range Rider to take that step.
Now in their fifth season, 14 Glacier players have signed with MLB organizations. Five players have earned affiliated contracts during the 2026 season alone, with a sixth advancing during the offseason.
Two former Range Riders have reached the Major Leagues, and two coaches have also moved from Glacier into MLB organizations.
Behind that success is a coaching and advisory group with 91 combined seasons of Major League playing experience and an organization committed to finding players, developing their abilities, and helping them earn their next opportunities.
The results are no longer isolated success stories.
They are evidence of a pipeline.
The river to the show flows through the Flathead Valley.
The Glacier Range Riders are an MLB Partner League baseball team located in Kalispell, Montana.
Established in 2022, the Range Riders compete in the Pioneer Baseball League (PBL) and will begin their fifth season of play in May.
To learn about the team, visit GoRangeRiders.com.
Pioneer League Stories from July 20, 2026
- Building More Than Just a Stadium - Glacier Range Riders
- Fernandes Signs with MLB Program - Glacier Range Riders
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
