BELLINGHAM, WA — Friday, March 14, the Bellingham Bells announced the addition of three pitchers to the 2025 roster. Bossier Parish’s Ben McKinnon, VCU’s Nick Frers, and North Dakota State’s Tate Martin.

Ben McKinnon is a returning Bellingham Bell after pitching one appearance late in the 2024 season. Now with Bossier Parish, McKinnon is a freshman coming out of Semiahmoo High School.

McKinnon played for the White Rock Tritons in the B.C. Premier Baseball League. The Tritons won the Provincial Premier Championship last season and McKinnon was named the MVP after playing third base and pitching.

The 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher joined the Bells pitching staff for an August 4 appearance against the Victoria HarbourCats. He went 2.2 innings and earned the win in a 3-2 victory for the Bellingham Bells.

Nick Frers is a 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher from Virginia Commonwealth University. After just three short appearances in 2024, Frers has pitched in four appearances this spring for the Rams and is yet to allow an earned run.

Out of North Vancouver, B.C., Frers was a Provincial Champion his junior year with the North Shore Twins. He attended Argyle Secondary School and was a varsity player for three seasons.

This summer will be his second in the West Coast League after playing for the Victoria HarbourCats last summer. For the HarbourCats he pitched 14 innings and struck out nine batters on his way to a 2-1 record out of the bullpen. 

Frers even pitched against the Bells in the same August 4 game where Ben McKinnon was making his debut. This summer they will get to be on the same team after McKinnon bested Frers at Joe Martin Field last summer.

Tate Martin is a 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher from North Dakota State University. Martin was widely regarded as the top prospect out of B.C. for the class of 2024 after his time spent with the North Shore Twins and the UBC Thunder.

Martin was a stellar two-way player in his prep career but has shifted to mainly a pitcher despite taking some at-bats for the Bison. 

During his prep career he was Prep Baseball B.C.’s top prospect as a junior and senior for his class. As a result he played at the Canadian Futures Showcase hosted by the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Academy.

This summer Martin will join some former B.C. teammates on the Bells. Wylie Waters and Nick Frers both played with Martin in 2022 with the North Shore Twins.