Western Nevada College News
Tigers Convert Former WNC Slugger to Pitcher; Bell Retires
Jul 5, 2023
Former WNC star Chad Bell retired after three seasons in the Yankees' minor league system.
The mysteries have been solved concerning the futures of Western Nevada College’s remaining two players in professional baseball entering the 2023 season.
Former New York Yankees farmhand Chad Bell has retired after spending three seasons in the Pinstripes’ minor league system. Bell, a 19th-round pick in 2019 who played collegiately at WNC in 2016 and then at Louisiana Monroe, ascended all the way to the Yankees’ Triple-A team.
His minor league career stats included 45 home runs, 141 RBI, 26 doubles and a .241 batting average.
“Baseball has brought me so many friends and great experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything,” Bell said in a story published by the Trentonian newspaper. “My first year of college in Nevada was an amazing experience, and then transferring to Louisiana and finishing my college there. I learned two different cultures. I got to play with a bunch of different types of players, and then throughout pro ball just going up and down the East Coast, it’s been really good. Learning from a lot of places and a lot of different cultures, whether it’s our guys from Latin America, from Venezuela, Dominican, you just learn different mindsets and you get to see a lot of cool people in cool places for sure.”
Bell announced his retirement on Twitter.
“Thank you, baseball, for the past 21 years. Thank you for all the memories, life lessons, and relationships I will never forget. I have enjoyed every single place baseball has taken me and I will be forever grateful for the journey I have had. On to the next chapter in life.”
As for the whereabouts of DJ Peters, the 2016 Scenic West Player of the Year from WNC, he’s still in the Detroit Tigers’ organization. But now he’s attacking hitters instead of trying to develop a swing with fewer strikeouts.
The Tigers are investing time into converting Peters from an outfielder to a pitcher on its Florida Complex League affiliate. So far, the results have been pretty encouraging.
After some expected initial struggles, Peters has pitched to a 2.45 earned run average in his three relief appearances in July. In those outings, he’s struck out four and walked three and allowed no hits.
At 6-foot-5 with a strong and accurate arm as an outfielder, it will be interesting to see if Peters can make it back to Major League Baseball. The Dodgers’ fourth-round draft pick out of WNC in 2016 played parts of two seasons in the big leagues — one with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the other with the Texas Rangers. He has 13 career homers, 38 RBI and a .197 batting average in those two seasons.
WNC fans will recall that Peters pitched in relief in his two seasons for the Wildcats and runs were hard to come by against him.
