GASTONIA, N.C. – The Ghost Peppers are signing catcher Luis Aviles and relief pitcher Parker Kruglewicz to contracts for the 2025 season, announced by general manager Brady Salisbury on Friday.
Aviles, 25, played at Rice University and Tulane University before joining the Atlantic League. In 2022 with Tulane, Aviles hit .306 with a 1.013 OPS, crushing 13 home runs in 53 games.
Kruglewicz, 23, is a right-hander from Greer, South Carolina who attended Winthrop University. He made 18 appearances with Williamsport of the MLB Draft League last season, posting a 2.18 ERA and recording 30 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.
Aviles and Kruglewicz are the sixth and seventh player signings announced by Gastonia.
The players who have signed so far are:
RHP Jimmie Sherfy
RHP Parker Kruglewicz
C Gavin Stupienski
C Luis Aviles
INF Jake Hoover
INF Alan Alonso
INF Ethan Skender
The team will aim to announce a player signing every Friday for the remainder of the offseason.
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The Ghost Peppers open the 2025 season on Friday, April 25 against the York Revolution. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Single game tickets are currently on sale. Contact the Ghost Peppers office at 980-415-2255, or visit www.ghostpeppersbaseball.com for more information.
Gastonia Ghost Peppers concluded its first season of operations with Zawyer Sports & Entertainment – a sports ownership group with professional teams operating in the U.S. and the fourth season for the franchise at CaroMont Health Park in the FUSE District of Gastonia. The Ghost Peppers had a historic inaugural season, leading the Atlantic League with 83 wins and 201 home runs. Gastonia went 46-17 in the first half of the season, which is the highest winning percentage (.730) in a single half in league history. The club became the first organization with multiple 200+ home run seasons and set the league record for highest win percentage in a three-year span (.651 from 2022-2024).