Reid Detmers highlights Angels Double-A roster for Rocket City

The Rocket City Trash Pandas will play their first-ever game on Tuesday, on the road against Chattanooga. The Angels Double-A affiliate moved from Mobile, Alabama to Madison after the 2019 season, but with last year’s minor league season cancelled by the pandemic, it’s taken awhile for Rocket City to get underway.

The Trash Pandas unveiled their roster to open the season on Sunday, which includes Angels 2020 first-round draft pick Reid Detmers, a left-handed pitcher out of Louisville.

Detmers was a non-roster invitee in spring training this year with the Angels, as were pitchers Packy Naughton — acquired from Cincinnati in the Brian Goodwin trade last Aug. 31 — and Denny Brady, a seventh-round draft pick in 2017 as well as catcher Anthony Mulrine, a 25th-round pick in 2019.

Detmers was the Angels’ fifth-rated prospect by Baseball America heading into the season. Other prospects in the BA top 30 on the Rocket City roster include pitcher Oliver Ortega (No. 10), Brady (No. 17), Naughton (No. 19), and outfielder Orlando Martinez (No. 25).

Longtime major league infielder Jay Bell is the manager for the Trash Pandas, whose first home game is set for Tuesday, May 11.

Double-A Rocket City opening day roster

• Right-handed pitchers (10): Nathan Bates, Denny Brady, Cooper Criswell, Travis Herrin, Jake Lee, Kieran Lovegrove, Oliver Ortega, Hansel Rodriguez, Keith Rogalla, Kyle Tyler
• Left-handed pitchers (5): Adrian Almeida, Reid Detmers, Jhonathan Diaz, Connor Higgins, Packy Naughton
• Catchers (3): Michael Cruz, Matt Jones, Anthony Mulrine
• Infielders (6): Ray-Patrick Didder, Jake Gatewood, Ibandel Isabel, David MacKinnon, Mitch Nay, Michael Stefanic
• Outfielders (4): Spencer Griffin, Torii Hunter Jr., Orlando Martinez, Izzy Wilson