Former Glacier Range Riders Pitcher Signs MLB Contract
Ty Bothwell, who had a standout 2025 season with the Range Riders, becomes the ninth player in organization history to sign an affiliated contract
By Lauren Frick
The Glacier Range Riders on Monday announced that left-handed pitcher Ty Bothwell signed a contract with the Washington Nationals, becoming the ninth player in Range Riders history to sign an affiliated contract.
Bothwell will report to the Nationals’ spring training camp before being assigned to a Washington minor league affiliate ahead of the 2026 season.
The Range Riders’ former southpaw is coming off a historic 2025 campaign in which he won Pioneer League Pitcher of the Week honors twice and set a new league record for strikeouts in a single season. He emerged as a cornerstone of a pitching staff that finished as the best, statistically, in franchise history.
“Ty earned every bit of this opportunity,” Range Riders Manager Todd Pratt said in a press release on Monday. “From the day he arrived, he showed the work ethic, competitiveness and maturity you want in a professional pitcher. Watching his growth over the past two seasons has been special, and we couldn’t be prouder to see him move on to the next level.”
Bothwell in 2025 ranked among the team’s top three pitchers in starts, wins, innings pitched and strikeouts. After breaking the Range Riders’ single-season strikeout record of 92 in early August, Bothwell set a new Pioneer League record with his 130th strikeout in his final start of the season at Idaho Falls.
Marking both the start of his professional and Glacier career, Bothwell came to Kalispell during the summer of 2024, when he made his debut on Aug. 25 against the Missoula Paddleheads at Glacier Bank Park, tossing four innings. Bothwell went on to start the final game of the postseason that year, delivering five shutout innings for the Range Riders in the 2024 PBL Championship.
Prior to joining Glacier, Bothwell played five years at Indiana University, cementing himself as one of the most accomplished pitchers in program history. He finished fifth all-time at the university with more than 200 career innings pitched and served as the ace of the 2024 Hoosiers squad that advanced to the Knoxville Regional, according to the press release. Bothwell started in the Hoosiers’ regional opener victory against Southern Miss.
“I’m so thankful for the opportunity with the Range Riders and their coaching staff,” Bothwell said. “The developmental program there is the best in independent baseball, and you can see the results with how many players, and even coaches, have moved up after being a part of it.”
In addition to nine players signing affiliated contracts out of Glacier, two former Range Riders — Logan VanWey and Jonathan Pintaro — made their Major League Baseball debuts last season.
The Glacier Range Riders are an MLB Partner League baseball team based in Kalispell. Established in 2022, the Range Riders compete in the Pioneer Baseball League (PBL) and will begin their fifth season of play in May.