Left-hander Les Walrond will return to the Lancaster Barnstormers for the 2012 season.

He will be joined on the pitching staff by right-handers Todd Doolittle and Beau Vaughan, who will come to Lancaster and the Atlantic League for the first time.

Walrond, 35, opened last season on the Lancaster staff and appeared in nine games. The Oklahoma native went 1-0 and posted a stingy 1.38 ERA.

He was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies organization on May 27, the first of nine Barnstormers purchased by major league organizations during the 2012 campaign.

Walrond split the remainder of the season between Class AA Reading and Class AAA Lehigh Valley. He was a combined 4-2 with three saves and a 1.80 ERA. He fanned 47 batters in 45 innings of work in the Phillies system.

A product of Kansas University, Walrond signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998. He has pitched a total of 23 games at the major league level for Kansas City, the Chicago Cubs, and the Phillies.

In the minors, he has tossed a seven-inning no-hitter in 1999 and recorded 17 strikeouts in a shutout in 2008.

Doolittle, 29, spent the first seven seasons of his professional career in the Florida Marlins farm system, including the last two with Class AAA New Orleans, where he was 3-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 52.2 innings in 2011.

In his first full season in 2006, played in Class A, Doolittle had a 7-2 record and combined 1.23 ERA while fanning 105 batters in 80.1 innings of work. The following season, he recorded 28 saves for Class A Jupiter.

For his career, the former Mississippi State Bulldog has a 29-23 record and 3.03 ERA. He has averaged 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings over his first seven seasons.

Vaughan, 30, was Boston's third-round draft choice in 2003. He began his career as a starter but converted to the bullpen in 2006 and has remained there.

The former Arizona State hurler had his best season in 2008 when he was 3-2 with 17 saves and a 2.33 ERA for Class AA Portland and Class AAA Pawtucket.

His last work in the United States came in 2010, when he was 2-3 with six saves and a 2.92 ERA between Class AA Midland and Class AAA Sacramento in the Oakland system.

Like Doolittle, Vaughan has impressive strikeout numbers with 432 in 443 career innings of work.

With these signings, the Barnstormers have 20 players under contract for the 2012 season.