2026 Season Coming Soon
2026 Season Coming Soon
Three Lefties Join Stormers ’26 Squad
The Lancaster Stormers have signed four pitchers to 2026 contracts over the last 24 hours, it was announced today by manager Ross Peeples.
With these four contracts, the Stormers now have 17 players on the roster for the 2026 season, more than three weeks prior to the start of spring training for the Atlantic League franchise. Lancaster now has 10 pitchers and seven position players signed for the season.
Veteran left-hander Phil Diehl will join Lancaster for the third straight season. The one-time Major League southpaw will be joined by another lefty with big league experience, Thomas Szapucki. A third lefty, Quinton Martinez, has been signed by the Stormers along with right-hander Matt Stil, who was acquired earlier in the week in a trade with the Frontier League’s Sussex County Miners.
Diehl, 31, has appeared in 93 games for the Stormers after first arriving in Lancaster into the 2024 season. He has posted a 7-7 record and 10 saves while compiling a 3.14 ERA. Over 94.2 innings of work, exclusively out of the bullpen, Diehl has walked only 14 batters while striking out 113.
The Cincinnati native pitched in 21 games for his hometown Reds and Colorado Rockies from 2019-2022. He was the 27th round draft pick for the New York Yankees out of Louisiana Tech in 2016. As well as the Yankees, Reds and Rockies systems, Diehl has pitched in the Cleveland Guardians and New York Mets’ systems.
“Diehl is one of our go to guys in our pen,” said Peeples. “We have been very blessed to have him with us. He takes the ball every time his name is called and goes out and competes his tail off.”
Szapucki, 29, made a dozen Major League appearances with the New York Met and San Francisco Giants during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The native of Toms River, New Jersey has stellar minor league numbers, posting a 2.77 ERA in 273.1 career innings. He has walked 119 and struck out 350. He has allowed only 14 home runs in that time.
The southpaw was New York’s fifth round draft pick out of high school in Florida in 2015.
“Thomas is a veteran guy who will bring some experience to our club both on and off the field,” Peeples added. “He has good stuff with a live arm and will fit somewhere in the back of our bullpen.”
Martinez, 27, will be in his first season with the Stormers but his second in the Atlantic League. The left-hander from Orlando, Florida spent the 2025 season pitching for the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars, putting together a 1-8 record and 5.44 ERA.
Peeples saw the best of the lefty, who went 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings against the Stormers over the previous season. Martinez held Lancaster hitters to a .195 average in 22 innings of work.
“We faced Quinton a lot last year, and he did very well against us,” stated the Lancaster manager. “He has a good arm and is fairly young. He will open the season as a starter for us, and having another lefty is always good for us.”
Martinez had previously pitched in the Los Angeles Angels organization, peaking at Class A+ Tri-City.
Stil, 25, has pitched for the Miners over the past three seasons, compiling a 7-6 record and seven saves with a 4.51 ERA in 76 relief outings. The native of South Jersey also spent four years in the Kansas City system after being selected in the 21st round out of Rowan in 2019. He peaked at Class A Columbia.
“We tried to sign Matt a couple years ago,” said Peeples. “He has a solid arm and has been successful through his career and offers versatility out of the bullpen. He wanted an opportunity in the Atlantic League, and we are going to give it to him.
The four-time Atlantic League champion Stormers will open their 2026 season at York on April 21 and will begin their home schedule three nights later with a 6:45 first pitch against the division rival Long Island Ducks.