BOONE, N.C. – App State outfielder Banks Tolley has signed his first professional contract with the Missoula PaddleHeads.
The PaddleHeads are a member of the Pioneer League, an independent professional baseball league that operates as one of Major League Baseball’s partner leagues.
Named a second-team All-American by ABCA/Rawlings and a third-team selection by D1Baseball, Tolley put together one of the best seasons in App State history in 2024.
Editor’s Note: Missoula is the second most populous city (approx. 80,000) in Montana, near the state boundary with Idaho.
The senior center fielder led the Sun Belt Conference in home runs (26), slugging percentage (.781) and OPS (1.265) while ranking second in batting average (.379) and RBIs (77), fourth in on-base (.484), fifth in runs scored (70) and tied for seventh in hits (85) on his way to being named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection.
Tolley, Georgia’s Charlie Condon and Austin Peay’s Lyle Miller-Green were the only Division I players in the country with at least a .375 batting average, 25-plus home runs and 75-plus RBIs. Tolley tied for 13th nationally in home runs and 17th nationally in RBIs while also ranking in the top 50 for highest batting average.
The Ole Miss transfer set the single-season program record with 26 home runs, blowing past the previous record of 17.
Tolley tallied five multi-homer games and registered the second three-homer game in program history, culminating with a walk-off blast in the 10th inning for a win over Georgia Southern on May 16 to secure the Mountaineers a top-six seed in the Sun Belt Tournament.
In Montgomery, Ala., Tolley went 5-for-16 with a double, a homer and six RBIs in four games and was selected to the Sun Belt All-Tournament team.
He also posted 27 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI games, hitting safely in 29 of his final 35 contests. Tolley set the App State single-season record for home runs (26), RBIs (77) and total bases (175). He ranks second in single-season history for runs scored (70) and slugging (.781).
Tolley joins Austin St. Laurent (Seattle Mariners), Drew Holderbach (Mahoning Valley Scrappers, Florence Y’alls) and Dante Chirico (Florence Y’alls) as members of the 2024 squad to sign professional contracts.
