Adrian Montilva, a native of Madison, WI, rejoins the Otters for his second season of professional baseball. The lefty was acquired by Evansville prior to the start of the 2025 season in a trade with Tri-City. In his debut pro season, Montilva tossed 24.0 innings across eight games (including five starts). He struck out 21 batters while giving up just 12 walks. Injuries killed his progress last year, as Montilva didn’t pitch again in 2025 after hitting the injured list on June 6.
Montilva pitched collegiately for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (NCAA DI), where he had a 4.83 ERA across two seasons for the Panthers. His final season of college ball featured over 60 innings of punchouts, striking out 71 batters to just 32 walks.
Veteran Tommy Shirley continues his long pro career with Evansville in 2026. After joining the Otters in 2025 for the Canadian road trip, Shirley pitched one game in Quebec on July 23. He went three innings, not allowing a run on four hits. He struck out three Capitales in the contest as well.
Shirley’s professional career began in 2010 in Tri-City, then as a member of the Houston affiliation after being drafted in the 9th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft. From ’10-’16, Shirley bounced around the Astros farm system, eventually pitching 42 games at the Triple-A level in 2014, ’15 and ’16. In 14 seasons of professional baseball, Shirley has a 4.43 ERA across 685.1 innings. He has 590 career strikeouts and has allowed just 244 walks in those 14 years.
Crix Taveras is back in Evansville for his first full season of professional baseball. After signings with the Otters on July 29, Taveras took a couple games to find the hit column. Finally, in his fifth professional game, he not only found his first pro hit but had a 3-for-3 outing with a trio of RBI. He followed the outing with multi-hit performances in two of his next three games.
Taveras played his college ball at Point Park University (NCAA DII), where he put together a .347 average in two seasons for the Pioneers. He had 105 hits in 98 games, including 24 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs and 81 RBI.
Also re-joining Evansville for his second pro season is Cohen Wilbanks. Hailing from Taylorsville, GA, Wilbanks served time last season as the Otters’ bullpen catcher for much of the middle of the season. Across his 28 appearances, Wilbanks put up a .277 batting average, with 23 hits, two doubles and a home run.
Wilbanks played collegiately at Georgia Gwinnett University (NAIA), hitting for a .398 batting average in three seasons with the Grizzlies. In 98 games at Georgia Gwinnett, Wilbanks had 102 hits, 33 doubles, a triple, three home runs and 86 RBI.
