PORTLAND — JD Urso discovered rapidly that being a member of the Loco Beach Coconuts was much less about sustaining a baseball focus and extra about making a vibe. Baseball is an uncontrollable sport. You might hit 4 onerous line drives in a sport, every one proper at a fielder, and go 0 for 4. Playing Banana Ball is a aid, Urso mentioned.
“My job’s no longer trying to go get four hits. It’s try to build fans for Loco Beach and Banana Ball as a whole,” Urso mentioned Friday afternoon, a couple of hours earlier than the Coconuts took on the Texas Tailgaters at a sold-out Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field. “We have the opportunity before and after games to be out on the plaza, meeting these fans. The stories I’m hearing, the people I’m meeting, it’s so rewarding.”
The roving get together was in Portland all weekend. Fans arriving early had been handled to a live performance by the three-piece band that accompanies the Coconuts on tour. Players from each groups signed autographs and posed for photographs.
Urso’s story isn’t a lot completely different from plenty of the ballplayers who make up the rosters of the six groups travelling the nation taking part in and selling Banana Ball, the model of baseball popularized by the Savannah Bananas. Grow up taking part in baseball, they rapidly alter to the new guidelines.
Banana Ball is an up-tempo model of baseball wrapped round a celebration. What began with the Savannah Bananas is now known as The Banana Ball Championship League. There’s a 2-hour time restrict for video games. Bunting is strictly forbidden. If a pitcher throws ball 4, the hitter doesn’t take first base. He can dash to first and past, if he could make it earlier than each participant in the discipline touches the ball. If a fan catches a foul ball, the batter is out.
“As a hitter, I believe in being a little more patient. Because of the ball-four sprints, I can now get to second base on a walk. I try to get deep in counts,” Urso mentioned.
When he was carried out taking part in at the University of Tampa, the place he received an NCAA Division II nationwide championship for his head coach and father, Joe Urso, in 2025, Urso seemed to remain in the sport. He reached out to Chase Achoff, a former rival at Rollins College who now performs for the Party Animals, one other Banana Ball workforce. That led to a chance final season to affix the Visitors, the workforce the Bananas set as much as introduce gamers to their model of the sport.
Kaden Bowler is additionally in his first season with the Coconuts. Bowler performed at Utah State, and after graduating in 2022, he labored as a touring musician, taking part in guitar for nation acts together with Kane Brown and Shaboozey. The baseball itch by no means went away, although, and final 12 months he signed on as a guitar participant with the Tailgaters’ band.
Playing music was fun, Bowler mentioned, however for those who can nonetheless play baseball? You must attempt. Of course there’s an adjustment to the guidelines which you could’t actually make till you begin taking part in video games.
“There’s definitely a learning curve. There’s a lot of guys who come in and struggle at first, me included,” Bowler mentioned. “There’s so many different rules to the game. It moves to a different pace. It’s a different sport. It’s not even the same sport.”
Bowler spent a lot of the sport Friday driving a custom-built surfboard outfitted with a wheel. When he discovered he’d be assigned to the Coconuts this season, Bowler and his father, Paul, kicked round concepts that may be fun for the followers. His dad got here up with the surfboard and constructed it whereas preventing most cancers.
“He literally went from the hospital, to building it, back to the hospital,” mentioned Bowler, who wore a teal Sea Dogs hat Friday.
Bowler despatched a video of himself driving the board to Jesse Cole, the proprietor of the Bananas and the league. Cole cherished it, and Bowler’s trademark bit was born. He’s recognized to take at-bats on the board and journey it to first base.
For all the frivolity, there’s nonetheless a sport to be performed. They maintain rating, and the Coconuts received 3-2 on Friday. In the backside of the fifth inning, Urso ripped a double to the hole in proper middle. After reaching second base, he lengthen his arms and shimmied, as if driving an invisible surfboard.
Above all the pieces else, the sport is about ensuring everybody has fun, from the followers to the gamers. For the gamers who took the sport so critically their total lives, it appears to be like like they’re having a blast taking part in Banana Ball.
“We absolutely are,” Urso mentioned. “It’s a dream job, and now my goal is to stay here as long as I can.”
