Kyle Matthew Roller (born March 27, 1988) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the major ...

Career

Amateur

Roller played college baseball at East Carolina University from 2007 to 2010. In 2008 and 2009, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

(CCBL) for the Bourne Braves, and was named both the league MVP and playoff MVP in 2009, leading the Braves to their first league title. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2016. He was drafted by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

in the 47th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and returned to East Carolina for his senior season. As a senior, he was named a first-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) after hitting .324/.531/.606 with 12

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

and 48

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(RBI). He finished his four-year career batting .319/.459/.584 with 51 home runs and 203 RBI in 223 games.

Professional

Roller was drafted by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

in the eighth round of the

2010 Major League Baseball Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

. He made his professional debut that season with the Staten Island Yankees. During his first season he hit .272/.367/.402 with five home runs in 67 games. Roller started 2011 with the Charleston RiverDogs. He was promoted to the Tampa Yankees during the season after hitting .305/.379/.545 with nine home runs in 50 games with Charleston. Overall, he hit .284/.371/.482 and 16 home runs in 110 games between the two levels. Roller spent the entire 2012 season with Tampa. In 121 games he hit .266 with a .828 on-base plus slugging (OPS) and 18 home runs. He was promoted to the Double-A

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the Double ...

for 2013. In 124 games, he had a .774 OPS and 17 home runs. Roller returned to Trenton to start the 2014 season. After hitting .385/.456/.808 with nine home runs and 23 RBI in his first 21 games of the season, he was promoted to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Overall, he batted .300 with a .941 OPS and 26 home runs. Roller spent 2015 with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and hit .232 with 14 home runs. He was released by the Yankees after the season. Roller signed a minor league deal with the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

in January 2016. Roller signed with the Somerset Patriots on July 22, 2016. Roller was released by the St. Paul Saints on May 17, 2017. On May 26, 2017, Roller signed with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Roller was released after 2018 season.

References

External links

East Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roller, Kyle 1988 births Living people People from Pinehurst, North Carolina Baseball players from North Carolina Baseball first basemen East Carolina Pirates baseball players Bourne Braves players Staten Island Yankees players Charleston RiverDogs players Tampa Yankees players Trenton Thunder players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players Minor league baseball players