By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Former Tennessee Tech slugger John Dyer has stepped into the ranks of professional baseball, recently signing a free agent deal with the Evansville Otters, an independent baseball team of the Frontier League, an MLB Partner League.
A local native of Mt. Juliet, Dyer became just the fifth Golden Eagle to claim All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team honors at multiple positions during their career. The first baseman joined an elite list including Jason Hinchman (2019 - 1B; 2022 - OF), Brandon Thomasson (2013 - DH; 2014 - OF), Chad Oberacker (2010 - OF; 2011 - UTL), and Jeremy Bonczynski (1996 - OF; 1997 - 3B), having collected First Team accolades as a designated hitter in 2019.
The veteran delivered an incredible senior campaign, batting .324 with 23 home runs, 11 doubles, 67 hits, 51 runs, 45 RBI, an on-base percentage of .413, and a .710 slugging percentage. In league play alone, he paced the OVC in average, slugging, OPS (1.476), hits, home runs, and total bases.
His 23 long balls ranked fourth in program history for a single season and gave him 47 for his career, ranking him sixth in school history. He also finished his career ranked 17th in OVC history for career home runs.
Dyer represents one of five former Golden Eagles currently competing or signed with a professional organization. His 2023 teammate, Hunter Mann, was selected in the 14th round of this year's MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, Tech's first representative in the draft since 2019.
Another former teammate of Dyer's and the OVC's all-time career home runs leader, Hinchman, joined the Rockies' organization after the club selected his contract from the Glacier Range Riders, an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, another MLB Partner League. Hinchman currently competes for Colorado's Rookie Affiliate.
A Golden Eagle from 2019-21, former utility man Gavin Johns is currently a member of the Spire City Ghost Hounds' roster, an independent baseball team in the South Division of the Atlantic League, another MLB Partner League.
Rounding out Tech's group of professional ball players is local Sparta native Ethan Roberts, a former All-American hurler that became the program's highest-ever draft pick following the historic 2018 campaign. Selected in the fourth round of the MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs, the right-hander worked his way up to the parent club and made his Major League debut in 2022 before suffering a season-ending elbow injury later in the season.
Roberts is currently on the Cubs' 60-day injured list, continuing rehab from Tommy John surgery with the hopes of rejoining the North Siders at the end of the season or for Spring Training in 2024.
Photo by Jim Dillon
