A Venezuelan power arm for the bullpen, two high-impact outfielders from San Diego State, the younger brother of a local NightOwls star, a rubber-armed reliever, and three returning players give a lot of story lines to the next signings of the Nanaimo NightOwls.
Outfielder/lefty Riley Paulino, who was a second-team WCL all-star, returns for a second season in the Harbour City — all he did was hit a team-best .350 in 2023, also appearing in six games as a pitcher. With Pikeville, playing for head coach Cody Andreychuk of Nanaimo, he’s batting .299 with four home runs and also the team’s top arm (8-0, 2.18 ERA) — where he is teammates with returning catcher Sammy Torres (from Puerto Rico) and lefty closer Richtter Castillo (from Venezuela), who has a team-best five saves. Castillo was scheduled to be a NightOwl in 2023 but travel visa issues delayed his debut until this summer.
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Carson Jones, a lefty, is the third returning player, looking to build on the 15 appearances and 21 innings he had in 2023, a product of St. Martins.
Those announced today:
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OF/LHP Riley Paulino, University of Pikeville, 5-11/180, Fife, WA (returning player)
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C Sammy Torres, University of Pikeville, 5-9/200, Yuaco, Puerto Rico (returning player)
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LHP Richtter Castillo, University of Pikeville, 6-0/215, Maracay, Venezuela
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IF Lucas Laukkanen, Cloud County commit, 6-0/190, Nanaimo
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LHP Carson Jones, St. Martins, 6-0/180, Walla Walla, WA (returning player)
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RHP Christian Lucero, Arizona Christian, 6-1/190, Sacramento
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OF Sammy Kahler, San Diego State, 6-0/185, Stockton, CA
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OF Drew Rutter, San Diego State, 6-1/190, Trabuco Canyon, CA
Lucero is a side-winder known for his durability — it’s not an exaggeration to say he pitched in nearly every game at college in the spring of 2023, and this year at Arizona Christian has 18 appearances already with a 3-0 record, 3.38 ERA and 11 hits allowed over 13.1 innings.
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Laukkanen’s brother Josh was the top pitcher and a team leader for the first year of the NightOwls in 2022, and Lukas will attend Cloud County JC in the fall. He is a strong-armed shortstop with a bat that has power potential, and will be making the big jump to the WCL.
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In Kahler and Rutter, the NightOwls are adding two Division 1 outfielders. Kahler was the top offensive player, with speed and power, in the Stockton region in his senior year of high school and added multiple all-tournament honours at Perfect Game events. He has three doubles in 11 games for the Aztecs as a freshman.
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Rutter, who lettered in lacrosse in high school as well, has three doubles in nine games as a freshman — like Kahler, he is expected to be a big part of the Aztecs for the next few years.
