GASTONIA, N.C. – The Ghost Peppers have signed C Patrick Mazeika and RHP Raynel Espinal for the 2025 season, announced by general manager Brady Salisbury on Monday.
The soon-to-be batterymates are both former big-leaguers, with Mazeika playing for the Mets and Espinal pitching for the Red Sox and Reds.
Mazeika, 31, returns to Gastonia after playing for the Baseball Club last season. The catcher attended Stetson University, where he was drafted by the Mets in 2015. Mazeika played in New York’s system for eight years, making the majors in 2021. During his first year in MLB, Mazeika became the first player in big-league history to record two walk-off RBIs in his first four career games. The backstop played 61 games with the Mets between 2021 and 2022, and then spent the 2023 season playing for Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers organization.
Mazeika played 47 games for Gastonia last season, slashing .284/.389/.617, which equals a 1.006 OPS. The Wilbraham, Massachusetts, native crushed 14 homers and drove in 42 runs, striking out less than 12% of the time. On July 5, Mazeika had his contract purchased by Mexico City of the Mexican League, the team that ended up winning the league championship in 2024.
Espinal, 33, is a right-handed pitcher from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. He pitched in the Yankees organization from 2013-2019, reaching as high as Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was then selected by the Red Sox from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft after the 2019 season. Espinal made the big leagues with the Sox in 2021, making one appearance in relief. He made two relief outings for the Reds the following season. Since pitching in the majors, Espinal has spent the last few years in the Dominican Winter League, Japan Eastern League and he pitched in the Mexican League last year.
With the addition of these two players who made their MLB debut in 2021, the Ghost Peppers have now signed 26 players for 2025.
The players who have signed so far are:
RHP Jimmie Sherfy
RHP Parker Kruglewicz
RHP Ryne Inman
RHP Matt Hartman
RHP Nick Snyder
RHP Duane Underwood Jr.
RHP Raynel Espinal
LHP Nick Horvath
LHP Ryan Hennen
LHP Kevin Smith
LHP Adam Scott
LHP Justus Sheffield
LHP Nick Wells
C Gavin Stupienski
C Luis Aviles
C Patrick Mazeika
INF Jake Hoover
INF Alan Alonso
INF Ethan Skender
INF Braxton Davidson
INF Jack Reinheimer
INF Richie Martin
OF Eric De La Rosa
OF Kevin Watson Jr.
OF Narciso Crook
OF Dalton Guthrie
The team will complete the player signing announcements over the next week.
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Gastonia Ghost Peppers begins its second season of operations with Zawyer Sports & Entertainment – a sports ownership group with professional teams operating in the U.S. and the fifth season for the franchise at CaroMont Health Park in the FUSE District of Gastonia. The Ghost Peppers have made the ALPB Playoffs for three consecutive seasons, setting the league record for highest win percentage in a three-year span (.651 from 2022-2024.)
In their inaugural season, the Ghost Peppers had seven players with contracts purchased by other leagues, whether that be MLB-affiliated clubs or leagues outside the country. They also had two former players make their MLB debuts in 2024 — Spencer Bivens (Tigers) and Bryan Sammons (2024.) Bivens is on the Giants’ 26-man roster in 2025. J.C. Escarra, who played for Gastonia in 2023, is currently on the Yankees’ 26-man roster.
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.
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About the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) – Celebrating its third decade, the Atlantic League is Major League Baseball’s first Professional Partner League, a player gateway to the major leagues, and a leader in baseball innovation. Over its 26-year history, the ALPB has sent over 1,400 players to MLB organizations while drawing over 47 million fans to its 10 family-friendly ballparks that stretch from New York to North Carolina. Please visit www.AtlanticLeague.com.