Midwest summer baseball heads to Salina!

With the summer fast approaching, many people are preparing to head back home and enjoy their few months off. But the few athletes in town looking to find extra competition may have a new opportunity this summer.

The Diamond Baseball league is a newly formed summer collegiate team based in the Midwest. There are five starter teams: The Grand Island Fightin’ Canes, The Hastings Sodbusters, The Jefferson City Renegades, The Sedalia Steamers, and Salina’s home team, the Sliders.

Besides Salina, there are two teams in Nebraska and two in Missouri, hoping to expand. The league allows current college baseball players to play summer ball and gives them a minor league/semi pro experience. Let’s meet an individual team to see just how the Diamond Baseball league will run this may.

Meet the Salina Sliders!

The Salina Sliders are one of the five starter teams in the DBL and will start with 30 players. The levels and demographics will be sporadic, as the team will be a mix of D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO, Lower-Level D1, and even High school seniors getting ready to enter

The Salina Sliders

collegiate athletics.

The Salina Sliders do not have a specific recruiting area; they typically recruit local talent, with some guys coming out of Emporia State, Washburn, Salina Central High, Butler Community College, and of course, Kansas Wesleyan.

The Sliders will play 26 home games at Dean Evans Stadium, that was recently renovated. The team will play a total of 48 games selling box seat tickets at $10, and general admission tickets for $8. There will also be plenty of promotional events going on in the stands with a VIP area right behind home plate, all you can eat picnic next to the dugout, and a beer garden next to the third-place dugout for fans 21 and over.

As far as the players being taken care of, each of them will have host families providing them with a place to stay and sleep. In addition to that, all hotels and travel is paid for by the team as well as meals. 

Community involvement

Jacob Simpson is a Kansas Wesleyan University alumni and currently an assistant coach for KWU baseball. Simpson also coached a 16u travel team in salina and is going to be working for the Sliders’ staff this summer.

“This is another opportunity or another side of the baseball to work in; I get to be in the front office and behind the scenes…” 

He also noted the community aspect of Salina and how it will benefit the baseball team, “Salina is a good baseball town and is a tight knit community. We have a state-of-the-art facility at Dean Evans and are hoping to bring in all kinds of baseball players. This will definitely be cool for the community during the summer and give them a chance to watch both local and external talent.” Salina’s home arena football team, the Salina Liberty play games through may, which is right when the DBL season kicks off.

Simpson also mentioned that this was intentional as it will always give the people in town something to do and a team to support. The Salina Sliders will also be honoring a nonprofit for each home game that will get to share their story and what they’re about. The team will also have partnerships with Salina elementary schools where each school can come down to the field and be honored during pregame ceremonies.

As mentioned above, the Salina Sliders will aim to have a huge community involvement that isn’t limited by entertainment but opportunity as well. If you want game day experience as a part of a semi pro sports team, the Salina Sliders are also Looking for interns for the summer that will count towards college credit. This Diamond Baseball League is a growing one, but one that will be promising toward young athletes looking to get a pro experience. Not only will it create opportunity but bring these Midwest communities closer together than they ever have been!