Monarchs Welcome Back All-Star Bissonette for Third Season

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Kansas City, KS — 2025 American Association All-Star Josh Bissonette, who served as the team’s everyday shortstop for the past two seasons has re-signed with the club for 2026.

“I am excited to be back in Kansas City for my third season – we just love the city and playing for the Monarchs, it is like our second home” said Bissonette. “I really enjoy playing for Joe and the Monarchs. The last two years have been great, and I am looking forward to helping lead the team to another Championship. We have a lot of motivation going forward after falling a bit short in 2025 – we are all going to be focused on winning in 2026.”

Bissonette, a fixture of the Monarchs’ lineup in 2025 playing in 98 of the team’s 100 regular season games is back. He had a .287 batting average with 55 walks; 33 runs batted in and .350 on-base percentage. Bissonette was a strong contender for Defensive Player of the Year in the American Association with a .974 fielding average.

“We’re very excited to have Josh Bissonette back. He is an extremely loyal ballplayer who does not miss games” Monarchs manager Joe Calfapietra said. “He was a key part of our ball club last year, not only on the field, but off the field. He brings leadership and enthusiasm every day to Legends Field. He has a complete body of work and displays what a true Monarch ballplayer is made of. We are looking for even more exciting things out of him this upcoming season.”

Bissonette, 29, from Orange, California joined the Monarchs in 2024 from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, where he played with Triple-A Indianapolis in 2023. The Pirates drafted him in the 31st round in 2019 after a four-year career at Baylor University. Bissonette was named Honorable Mention All-Big XII while at Baylor, playing in three NCAA regionals.

The four-time league champion Monarchs will open their 2026 season on May 15 at Kane County with Opening Night at Legends Field being Tuesday May 19 at 6:35 p.m. versus the Chicago Dogs. To view the full schedule, fans can visit monarchsbaseball.com/schedule. Tickets for the 2026 season are on sale now.

About the Kansas City Monarchs:

The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team in the American Association, an MLB Partner League. 2026 will be their 23rd season at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. In 2020, the team partnered with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and changed their name from the T-Bones to the Monarchs in honor of the legendary Negro League franchise that played from 1920 to 1965.