CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Jamestown Jammers have gone through a multitude of transitions in the past two years. 2016 marks the team’s first season in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, only one year after making their debut in the Prospect League.
The Jammers, who play their home games inside historic Russell E. Diethrick Park, were in danger of leaving the stadium dormant for the first time in 75 years at the conclusion of the 2014 season. Jamestown, then a minor league short-season A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the New York-Penn League, announced they would be moving out of town and into a new $21 million stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia as the West Virginia Black Bears.
With the threat of baseball leaving Jamestown for good becoming very real, Mike Zimmerman stepped in and decided to take ownership of a new team in Jamestown. Zimmerman, a businessman from Wisconsin that has made most of his money in the health care consulting business, has started to expand his reach into the sports world after buying the Milwaukee Wave, a minor league soccer team, and wanted to get into baseball as well.
Dan Kuenzi, the senior vice president of Zimmerman’s Milwaukee Wave, was brought on in the same position for the Jammers, and work to keep baseball in Jamestown was officially underway.
2015 marked the first year Jamestown wasn’t affiliated with a major league team, playing its first season as a member of the Prospect League, a summer collegiate league.
“After the team moved from Jamestown, we decided to bring in a new collegiate league franchise to Russell Diethrick Park,” Kuenzi said. “We contacted the Prospect League and received approval in 2015. We then contacted MILB and received permission to keep the Jammers name in Jamestown.”
But long road trips due to Jamestown’s location compared to the rest of the league caused the team to travel 1,800 more miles than the other teams, and it was deemed necessary by Zimmerman and Kuenzi to change leagues again.
The obvious fit was with the PGCBL, a league that features numerous teams that Jamestown faced off against in the New York-Penn League.
“We wanted to keep baseball in Jamestown so we approached the PGCBL late last year and we were voted in,” Kuenzi said. “It appears to be a much better fit for our organization and we compete against some cities in the old New York-Penn League bringing back some natural rivalries.”
Shorter road trips to places like Elmira, Utica, Newark, and Geneva have made things easier for the new Jammers players, and it has made an impact in the win column as well.
The Jammers are currently 15-14 in the rugged West division that features three teams (Utica, Elmira, and Newark) that are at least nine games above .500.
Despite being six games back from Utica, the Jammers currently hold the final playoff spot in the West thanks to the work they have done at the plate this season. Although Jamestown is no longer a professional ball club, it seems like the Jammer hitters didn’t get that memo.
There are currently eight players on the roster with more than 45 at-bats that are hitting above .300 this summer. None have been more impressive than Ben Brookover, who is third in the league with 34 hits thus far.
Brookover, who plays his collegiate ball at the University of Texas, San Antonio, leads the league in several offensive categories including doubles, RBI and extra-base hits. His 13 doubles are four more than the next closest player in the league, and his number of two-baggers would be good enough for the most extra-base hits in the league by themselves. When you add in a triple and two long balls off Brookover’s bat, there’s a rather large gap between him and the rest of the league.
Skyler Valentine, a teammate of Brookover’s at UTSA and Jamestown, is sixth in the league in hits with 33 and second in runs with 24.
Brookover and Valentine have combined with the rest of the Jamestown lineup to create the toughest outs in the league, the way they go about their business at the plate looking very professional in nature.
The Jammers lead the PGCBL in seven key offensive categories, including runs (182), team batting average (.279), walks (145), and OPS (.749). The patient approach at the plate has gone over well for the team so far. Leading the lead in walks, hit by pitches, and on-base percentage while sitting at eighth in the league in strikeouts is a winning combination that lands most teams in the playoffs.
Pitching has been the spotty part of the Jammers season to this point, as one would expect with a record right around .500 and a lineup that has scored the most runs in the league.
Jamestown’s staff is 10th in the PGCBL in runs allowed at 152, and they have given up the third-highest hit total at 267. The Jammer staff has been on the wrong side of some bad luck this season it would seem: They are fourth in walks, only giving up 95 on the year, and first in wild pitches with a lowly 12 (league average is 26.) But they lead the league in hit batters with 42 (league average is 26).
The biggest bright spot on the staff is Belmont’s Dylan King. The 6-foot-4 righty from the other Division I baseball team in Nashville is 4-1 this summer through five starts. His 1.39 ERA is sixth-best in the league through 26 innings of work. He’s struck out 23 and only walked eight so far.
If the Jammers can find another starter to form a one-two punch with King, they could see themselves move up in the standings. For now, they will continue to have their lineup carry them into what could possibly be a playoff appearance in their first year in the PGCBL. That would make them feel right at home.