Tag Archives: independent baseball

Independent Ball

United Shore League Names Managers

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A few months ago, I did a Q & A with the Executive Director of Baseball Operations for the United Shore Professional Baseball League. Today, the league issued a press release announces their three managers for the 2016 season.

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UNITED SHORE PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE NAMES MANAGERS
Leadership brings Vast Major, Minor League Experience to Inaugural Teams, Season
ROCHESTER, Mich. – Feb. 8, 2016—The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) today announced Managers for its three inaugural teams: The Utica Unicorns, Eastside Diamond Hoppers and Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers. The USPBL managers bring more than 80 years of combined professional baseball experience to the new league.
Manager Greg Grall
Utica Unicorns
Greg Grall has been involved with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) since 1993, bringing more than twenty years of experience as a player and coach.  He has been an instrumental coach at every level along with consulting and coaching internationally for the MLB World Games from 2004 to 2006. Over the past ten years, Grall had worked primarily in AA & AAA for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds. Throughout his career Grall has had the privilege of working with some of the biggest names in MLB, including: Cy Young Winner Jake Arrieta; All-Star Closer Mark Melancon; B.J. Ryan; Andrew Miller; Adam Dunn; and Corky Miller to name a few. Grall is a native of Chattanooga, TN.
Manager Chris Newell
Birmingham-Bloomfield Beavers
Chris Newell has served in professional baseball since 1997 as a player, manager and scout.  After a successful college career at Northwest Missouri State University, Newell played professional baseball in 1997 and 1998, earning a Gold Glove as a second basemen for the Kalamazoo Kodiaks in the Frontier League.  After retiring as a player, he began his scouting career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, spanning from 1999 to 2005. In 2003, Newell made his professional managing debut with the Kalamazoo Kings of the Frontier League, making him the youngest manager in professional baseball that year.  Since 2006, he has scouted for the New York Yankees. Through his private instruction, Newell has trained 44 players who have either been drafted professionally or signed professional contracts, including: MLB All-Star DJ LeMahieu; and 2015 Tampa Bay Rays Draftee Jacob Cronenworth. Newell is a native of Waterford, MI.
Manager Paul Noce
Eastside Diamond Hoppers 
Paul Noce has been actively involved in the game of baseball for over 33 years, including two stints in the Major Leagues with the Chicago Cubs (’87) and Cincinnati Reds (’90). In 1986, Noce was selected as a Topps All-Star shortstop for his play with the AA Pittsfield Cubs, a MiLB affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. A proven winner, he was a member of the AAA World Series-winning Indianapolis Indians (a Cleveland Indians minor affiliate) in 1988 and the 1990 World Series Cincinnati Reds. After a successful career as a player, he served as a minor league instructor and manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization before moving on to the collegiate ranks. In 1994, he took the reins as Head Coach at Hillsdale College in Adrian, Mich.  Over the next 20 years, Noce would win nearly 350 games. In 2012, he was inducted into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in San Mateo, Calif. Noce is a native of San Mateo, CA.
Also named:
Throwing / Pitching Coordinator Justin Orenduff
Jeff Orenduff is the founder of the Delivery Value System (DVS) and creator of the DVS Scoring System. DVS, which stands for Delivery Value System, is the first bio-mechanically based model that is statistically proven to predict the relative risk associated with any pitcher’s delivery. The model utilizes a proprietary scoring system based on six components of a pitcher’s delivery and establishes a validity with a Cox Proportional Hazard Statistical Analysis.
In 2004, Orenduff was a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers and, later, a member of the 2003 USA Collegiate National Team, pitching alongside MLB stars Jered Weaver and Justin Verlander. This followed a collegiate career as an All-American pitcher at both George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
About United Shore Professional Baseball League
During the summer of 2015, General Sports and Entertainment announced the creation of the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL), an independent professional baseball league in Metro Detroit. The league, headquartered in Rochester, Michigan, initially will be playing in a brand new state-of-the-art $12 million ballpark named Jimmy John’s Field, which is located in downtown Utica, Mich. First of its kind for Metro Detroit, USPBL will provide a fun and exciting family atmosphere while showcasing top baseball talent to fans of all ages. The inaugural season, which begins this Memorial Day 2016, will feature three teams—the Utica Unicorns, the Eastside Diamond Hoppers and the Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers. Additional teams and ballparks will be forthcoming each year.

Also, I know many players have been asking about tryouts. Here is the information we have so far.

The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) inaugural season tryout/showcase will be held May 16th – 19th. Players will be evaluated by all USPBL Managers and members of the USPBL baseball advisory committee. The USPBL has reserved an indoor & outdoor facility to assure all participants have an opportunity to showcase their skills and receive a thorough evaluation.

May 16th: Light workout consisting of batting practice and infield/outfield.
May 17th: Professional Player Evaluation drills.
May 18th: Players will be placed in game situations as well live games.
May 19th: Situational baseball and live games.

The cost per player to attend will be $200 dollars. Registration will open soon. A $50 non-refundable deposit is required with final payment due by May 15th, 2016 in order for players to participate.

For the 2016 inaugural season, players must be at least 18 years old and have been born on or after January 1, 1990 to be eligible to play in the USPBL. No player or player may have attained twenty six (26) years of age prior to January 2016. Please note that players with college eligibility remaining should check with their school compliance office before registering.

At the end of the showcase, players will be signed into the USPBL. A draft will be held in the following days and teams / rosters will be announced May 23rd.

Spring training will commence the week of May 23rd.

The United Shore Professional Baseball League will host its inaugural season at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, Michigan. Our season will start May 30th and concluded September 11th, 2016. Players will have access to a state of the art facility, customized strength & conditioning programs and our USPBL Hitting and Throwing Program during the course of the season. Our 2016 All-Star Game will be held September 9th followed by Championship Weekend.

For more information on the United Shore Professional Baseball League, you can visit their official website HERE.

Independent Ball

Q & A – The Desert League

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Recently, I posted an article on the Desert League’s new staff additions.  After the post went public, I worked on getting an interview to answer any questions that potential players and fans had about this new independent league.

I had the opportunity to talk with John Guy, the Director of Marketing for the Desert League.

How did the idea of creating the Desert League come about?

Luke Powell, a former independent and Mexican Minor League pro, came up with the concept two years ago.

Who are the main Front Office/staff members of the league?

Luke Powell – President
John Guy – Marketing Director
Tim Tucker – Statistician
Heather Oliver – Asst. Director of Operations
Aaron Cooper – PR Director

What cities are your franchises in, and why did you choose those locations?

Southern Arizona and California is our first year geographical hub. We will have a franchise in San Luis, Arizona, Yuma, Arizona, a city in Imperial County, California TBA, and a travel team based out of Yuma, Arizona.

What are your expectations for fan attendance and community involvement?

Playing in late September through Thanksgiving gives us the snowbird population that flock to this area of the southwest. Our imaginative promotions will be getting national attention so that the people will know that we are there and mean business. Top ticket prices will be $5 so this will be an enjoyable, inexpensive experience. Our promotions will be among those never ever seen at this level of sports.

We’ve seen a lot of independent leagues go dark due to finances and lack of marketing. Do you have any worries about that or about how you are going to finance the league?

Absolutely none. With all teams within an hour of each other, we have eliminated motels, charter buses and meal money. Unlike the Pecos League, we will be paying our players a salary that makes sense – something they can actually live on. All of our players will be covered medically with no deductibles and coached by former professionals. We are keeping our budget low and realistic so that we will have 50% of our total budget in the bank before the first pitch is even thrown. Our attendance will be strong due to aggressive marketing, low prices and the influx of snowbirds and Canadians who populate this area in the fall and winter.

When does your season run and what does the schedule look like?

We will have opening day on September 22nd and be done prior to Thanksgiving. We play 48 season games after a five day training camp staffed with former major leaguers. The concept of this league is to make sure we are reaching those college players who were not drafted in June. 12 of the 23 players on each team’s roster must be rookies, and we will work to get them to higher levels within independent ball and with foreign teams in Mexico, Europe and Asia.

What age and experience are you looking for with your players? Are there overall roster limits on age/experience?

We are looking to have 12 players with little or no experience on our rosters. That will mean less than a certain number of at-bats (75) or innings pitched (50). The rest of the rosters can be filled with pros who need the off-season workout or those looking to attract attention of higher leagues than where they had been playing. I anticipate many Pecos League players will be looking to play in the their off season.

How exactly does the pay system work for players? Are they given host families? Transportation? Meals?

Players are going to be playing eight weeks. We will be paying $100-$120 a week, full medical, some meals and some housing. We will be looking for host families, but the travel team will have apartments in the Yuma area for shared player housing. Because of the proximity of the teams, the players can carpool to games since nothing is further than an hour away.

Do you expect the players to get a fair look from scouts with a chance to move up to affiliated ball?

Absolutely. We will have scouts from independent leagues along with the Mexican major and minor leagues and connections with scouts, agents and teams overseas. Our schedule is also at the same time as the major league’s Fall League in Phoenix so we are looking to have scouts drive the two hours to see some of our players on their days off. Our goal is to provide players with a foot in the door, and the tools to move higher up the baseball ladder.

What are you goals for this year and beyond?

You schedule the games. You play all of the games. Everyone is paid what they are promised. Players move up the baseball ladder. Most of all, everyone has fun because, after all, baseball is a game, not a job. Next season we will look to expand to more divisions of four located within an hour or so of each other. We are the only playing professional independent league to be playing during this part of the year. A player has a choice of paying $3,500 playing for a month in the California Winter League, or they can make money playing in our league. This should be a no-brainer for a ball player who is looking to advance himself or stay in the game.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the readers about the Desert League?

Unlike some leagues, players will be playing in front of enthusiastic crowds. Our promotions will be unique. Fans will have a chance to meet Jimmy Hoffa on Witness Relocation Night. Our travel team is named the Dprk H-Bombs and will represent North Korea. Fans will get a grain of rice for attending. We will show that North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un is actually Eric Cartman of South Park. There will be a Cheech and Chong medical marijuana night. We will be celebrating Animal House, Napoleon Dynamite, Kramer’s friend Bob Sacamano, and free Karen Carpenter concert tickets. There will also be special nights for “Breaking Bad” and “Cool Hand Luke.”

You can visit the Desert League’s official website HERE for more information.