The Pistol Shrimp are coming ... what to expect from the Prospect League

In a surprising but welcome announcement last week, the city of Peru revealed a collegiate wood-bat summer baseball team — the Pistol Shrimp, formerly of DuPage, Ill. — would be taking up residence at Veterans Park in Peru for the summer of 2021 and, if all goes according to plan, beyond.

With a deep passion for the game and a rich baseball history, our little chunk of north-central Illinois and the rechristened Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp of the Prospect League appear to be a perfect fit.

“We find that some of our better markets are where the team is a big fish in a little pond. Our best-drawing team is our smallest market, in Chillicothe, Ohio. They average about 2,200 a night. It’s a small market, but it’s the thing to do in town.”

—  Prospect League commissioner Dennis Bastien

But what kind of baseball and experience can fans expect from their new team and the Prospect League as a whole?

What is the Prospect League?

The college baseball season ends in late May/early June for most players. But as any parent or grandparent of a young ballplayer knows, baseball doesn’t end when school ball finishes up.

For players with the talent, opportunity and desire to keep playing after their college team finishes up, there are just under 50 collegiate summer leagues spread across the country, from the prestigious Cape Cod League to the Alaska Baseball League, home of the famous Midnight Sun game held on the summer solstice in Fairbanks.

Leagues draw from colleges at all levels from all across the nation. The Prospect League was formed in 2008 as a merger of sorts between the Frontier League and the Central Illinois Collegiate League.

“These guys get their first taste of what it’s like in minor league baseball — the bus trips, playing every night, scrounging for themselves, staying with host families, we feed every team every night after the game,” said Prospect League commissioner Dennis Bastien.

“This is a unique thing. People in the Illinois Valley are going to see a very high-quality level of play. ... It will be a big, big thing.”

Two big additions to the league this year will be two Iowa teams — the Burlington Bees and Clinton LumberKings, both previously members of the Major League Baseball-affiliated Class A Midwest League until MLB’s reformatting of its minor league system beginning this year.

What do the players think of the league?

A few local baseball products — including Spring Valley’s Brant Vanaman and Ransom’s Joe Byers — have participated in the league in recent years.

Vanaman, a Hall graduate and Parkland College outfielder, played for the O’Fallon [Missouri] Hoots in 2019 and, like Byers, took part in the Normal CornBelters’ four-team replacement season for the coronavirus-canceled Prospect League campaign.

“The best way I can describe it is just a group of college guys at all different levels — NAIA, JUCO, D-I kids — all coming together and playing baseball,” said Vanaman, who is concentrating on his next college destination and still uncertain where he might play this summer. “Leagues like that can differentiate players from each other, especially in the Prospect League where you have a lot of JUCO guys who can overpower the Division I athletes.

“With the Prospect League, something I’ve noticed is there are some who are OK, but you also play against guys who are top-of-the-line athletes.”

Byers, a Streator graduate and pitcher who had a cup of coffee with the CornBelters in 2019 before finishing out his summer in the Midwest Collegiate League and is in the midst of transferring from Heartland College to Quincy University, had planned to play a full season in the Prospect League in 2020 before COVID-19 shut things down. He unfortunately will miss the 2021 college and summer seasons with a shoulder injury.

“It definitely is a high level,” Byers said of the Prospect League. “You’re going to see a lot of guys there have that chip on their shoulder, trying to impress people. Even though it’s summer baseball and you want to have fun, you’re also going to see a lot of guys working hard to get to the next level.”

Is it a good fit for the Illinois Valley?

In Magic 8-Ball instead of baseball lingo, “SIGNS POINT TO YES.”

“The Pistol Shrimp were told back late fall/early winter that they, at best, could play in front of no fans at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill.,” Bastien said of the Pistol Shrimp’s previous home. “And that was the best-case scenario. There was a chance they couldn’t play at all.

“So we went searching for other places. I thought I knew pretty much every ballpark east of the Rockies that did not have a summer collegiate team, an independent professional team or a minor league team playing in it.

“I looked at the market first. Here are 100,000 people in the Illinois Valley, but I didn’t know if they had a ballpark.”

A quick Google search of the area provided Bastien and Pistol Shrimp owner John Jakiemiec two options — Veterans Park or Washington Park. The latter being boxed in and with smaller playing dimensions, they decided to put their efforts into relocating to Veterans Park and began talking to city officials, whom Bastien says have been “overly cooperative.”

“COVID pushed us to Peru, and honestly we could not be happier,” Jakiemiec said when the relocation was first announced. “We are over-the-top happy to be in Peru.”

Current plans involve free admission to home games for the 2021 season as upgrades are done to Veterans Park and to allow fans to become acquainted with their new team.

“It is the goal of the league to be there long, long term,” said Bastien. “Geographically, it fits in our footprint, it’s a good market, it’s a baseball community. ...

“We find that some of our better markets are where the team is a big fish in a little pond. Our best-drawing team is our smallest market, in Chillicothe, Ohio. They average about 2,200 a night. It’s a small market, but it’s the thing to do in town.”

The Pistol Shrimp open their season May 27 with a visit to Normal before returning to Veterans Park on Friday, May 28, for their home opener against the Lafayette Aviators. The 60-game regular season is scheduled to run through Aug. 4, with the Prospect League playoffs running through Aug. 12.

“I think it’s the perfect spot,” Vanaman said. “It’s something our area has never had, and with all these college guys coming in and how big baseball has been here, I feel like a lot of people will show up to the games.”

“I know with the Cornbelters,” said Byers, “a lot of people in Bloomington-Normal love going to the games, and I think people in this area are going to love watching all these great athletes and great baseball right here at home. People are going to have fun.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw a team was going there. It’s awesome.”