Prospect League baseball team Pistol Shrimp find new home in Peru

It means more people will be coming into our city and using our hotels and restaurants.

—  Peru Mayor Scott Harl

The city of Peru is set to join a list of 16 cities that will play host to a Prospect League franchise. The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp (formerly DuPage Pistol Shrimp) will kick off their 2021 season at the end of May.

The Pistol Shrimp will call Veteran’s Park in Peru home for the upcoming season, as both the organization and the city are hopeful to work together for many years to come.

Attendance is planned to be offered for free during their first year in Peru in order to help residents become acquainted with the team and provide a glimpse to what the future may hold for the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp.

The city aldermen and Mayor Scott Harl welcomed the Pistol Shrimp, and expressed hope that this partnership will last long past its initial season in Peru.

“This is fantastic,” Harl said. “It puts you on the map for another quality of life aspect. It’s a great thing, and I thank [Director of Parks, Recreation and Special Events Adam Thorson] for the research he did and everything that happened so quickly. It means more people will be coming into our city and using our hotels and restaurants.”

The team will be a part of the Prospect League, a summer collegiate wooden bat league that has 16 teams scattered across seven states in the Midwest.

The league serves as the summer home to many NCAA Division I baseball players from colleges across the country. Each team is equipped with a 32-man roster and plays a 60-game schedule, ending with the Prospect League Championship Series during the second week of August.

More than 200 players that have played in the Prospect League have gone on to play in Major League Baseball. Some notable Prospect League alumni include Mike Schmidt, Jonathan Papelbon and Ben Zobrist.

The league is promoted nationally and offers a live broadcast of all of their games via Amazon FireTV, Apple TV, Android TV, and several other platforms.

The opportunity to house the Pistol Shrimp came quickly after Thorson was first approached with the idea just more than a month ago. Before Peru, the Pistol Shrimp called Benedictine University in Lisle home for their first two years in existence.

“COVID pushed us to Peru, and honestly we could not be happier,” Pistol Shrimp Owner John Jakiemiec said. “We are over-the-top happy to be in Peru.”

After COVID-19 limited their 2020 season and local restrictions said they may forbid fan attendance for 2021, the Pistol Shrimp found themselves looking for a new home.

Jakiemiec and Prospect League Commissioner Dennis Bastien began searching for a place to play and salvage the at-risk season.

“We got on Google Earth and came down and saw lights and a couple of fields,” Jakiemiec said. “We made a call, and it has come together really quickly. We are so very thankful for that.”

The demand for Prospect League baseball is high, as, according to Bastien and Jakiemiec, they attracted a good crowd following as well as the attention from Major League scouts from across the country.

Bastien said the league runs its teams almost similar to minor league teams. They play all throughout the week, have promotional nights and, most importantly, provide the players with an opportunity to play in front of scouts.

Jakiemiec made the trip to the Illinois Valley from California a few weeks ago and, after speaking with residents and city officials, decided this was an opportunity they didn’t want to pass up.

“I came away super impressed, not only with the staff under Mayor Harl, but with all the folks in town,” Jakiemiec said. “As we stated when we came out of our initial site visit, we want to make this work for the long haul. We consider Peru to be our home going forward.”

Many of the specifics of the Pistol Shrimps’ relocation will be ironed out in the coming weeks, such as groundskeeping, food and beverage, and housing.

Jakiemiec said he hopes to see the Shrimp embraced as part of the community, and currently plans to explore the opportunity of having local restaurants provide food, as well as doing what they can to give back to those who welcome them into the Illinois Valley.

“Giving back to the community is huge, and having the support of the business community is our lifeline,” Jakiemiec said. “My preference is to always work with local businesses. That’s why, to us, this is a partnership for the long term.”

As far as current responsibilities of Peru, at this moment the construction of any type of stadium is not on the table, as Thorson said the team is just in need of the field. If the venture is successful for both parties, the idea may be revisited for a long-term solution.

Some additions in the short term to Veteran’s Park will include additional seating, dugout improvements, and the construction of an up-to-date bullpen.

Aside from improvements to the field at Veteran’s Park, the team also will begin looking for host families for its players and coaches for the three-month season.

The newly designated Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp will open their season at 6:35 p.m. May 27 in Normal as they take on the CornBelters.

The Shrimp will then return home for their Peru debut with back-to-back games against the Lafayette Aviators on May 28 and 29. Both contests will kick off at 7:05 p.m.