Drillers Announce Initial 2026 Roster
Published on March 31, 2026 under Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
The 2026 opening day roster for the Tulsa Drillers is beginning to take shape. It is likely that Drillers manager Eric Wedge will have a number of players who played in the Texas League playoffs last year in uniform for Thursday's regular season opener at ONEOK Field.
The roster will be headlined by the top two prospects in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system as rated by MLB Pipeline. Outfielders Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope were recently rated as the #1 and #2 Dodgers prospects, and both are expected to be in Tulsa's dugout on Thursday night. The duo joined the Drillers at the end of last year's regular season and were active for Tulsa's divisional playoff series with Springfield.
Five more of the Dodgers Top 30 prospects on the MLB Pipeline list will also begin the season with the Drillers. Pitchers Adam Serwinowski (#12), Payton Martin (#25) and Patrick Copen (#30) are among the top 30. In addition, speedy outfielder Kendall George is rated as the #14 prospect, and infielder Elijah Hainline is ranked #26. George stole 100 bases in High-A last season, while Hainline joined the Drillers for their playoff games last year.
It is expected that Tulsa will begin the season with eight other position players who played for the Drillers last season. That list includes catchers Griffin Lockwood-Powell, Nelson Quiroz and Frank Rodriguez. Rodriguez will actually begin the season on the Development List.
Infielders Yeiner Fernandez, Sean McLain and Kyle Nevin will return, as will outfielders Chris Newell and Kole Myers. Newell recorded a 20-20-20 season with the Drillers last year, finishing with 23 doubles, 20 homers and 24 stolen bases. He has never been caught stealing in 31 career stolen bases at the Double-A level.
Position players on the initial roster who have never played for Tulsa will include infielders Joe Vetrano and Jake Gelof. George is also a newcomer.
The pitching staff will feature 11 returnees. This list includes Serwinowski, Copen, Wyatt Crowell, Cam Day, Luke Fox, Roque Gutierrez, Kelvin Ramirez, Adam Serwinowski, Christian Suarez and Lucas Wepf, all who pitched for Tulsa at some point last year.
Two other hurlers are also returnees. Reliever Nick Robertson last pitched for the Drillers in the 2022 season. Robertson has recently been in several other organizations while appearing in 27 major league games over two seasons.
Nick Nastrini, who was in the Drillers starting rotation in 2023 before being traded to the Chicago White Sox in mid-season, is expected to open the season in Tulsa.
The pitching staff will include four newcomers. This group consists of Maddux Bruns, Joel Ibarra, Payton Martin and Evan Shaw. All four pitched for Great Lakes last year, the Dodgers High-A affiliate in the Midwest League.
The current opening day roster can be viewed HERE.
The Drillers will open the 2026 season at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 at ONEOK Field against the San Antonio Missions. The Drillers will host the Missions for three games in the season-opening home stand that will run through Saturday, April 4.
Tickets for Opening Night, and the other two games in the series, can be purchased now.
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