Pioneer Baseball League Offers Inaugural Post-MLB Draft Tryout Camp with 15 Spots Left

With just over a week until the first-ever Post-MLB Draft Tryout Camp, the independent Pioneer Baseball League (PBL) announced today that there are only limited registration spots remaining.

The tryout, which the league announced in early June, will include players from across the United States and other countries vying for the opportunity to have one of the eight PBL ball clubs ink them to a contract.

Loden Sports, an affordable human performance data provider, will provide performance evaluations to all players during the first day of pro-style workouts, the PBL said.

Loden Sports will offer an objective evaluation of five key focus areas of athleticism: symmetry, brain speed, power, quickness, and speed. Their performance data can inform talent identification in providing a comparative look in the five key focus areas of athleticism.

The second day of the tryout camp will be an inter-squad style game in which registered pitchers will showcase their talents by facing live batters. Following the conclusion of the inter-squad game, there will be a draft during which all PBL teams will select the player(s) they would like to offer a contract.

Veteran scout Marlon Styles will run the camp. The Cincinnati Reds selected Styles in the fifth round of the 1973 draft. After his playing career, he became a part-time scout in the Reds organization, and for the last 15 years, he has been running Reds tryouts camps in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, as well as their pre-draft workouts at Great American Ball Park. Styles retired from the Reds organization last year.

The PBL will host the tryout on July 24th and 25th at Lindquist Field, home of the Ogden Raptors. Each PBL club is guaranteed to sign at least one tryout camp prospect to either a 2021 contract, or a 2022 Spring Training invitation.

“I’m thrilled to be conducting this first post-draft tryout camp for the Pioneer League,” Styles said in a press release. “We’ll be looking for what kind of person is the player, what is their body type, how does he perform, and are any of his deficiencies correctable.”

Pioneer League President Mike Shapiro sees it at a win-win situation for both parties, filing needs both ways as league expansion looms next season.

“This camp offers a great opportunity for players who may have been overlooked in the MLB Draft or those players who may have been drafted and released,” Shapiro said. “Our PBL clubs will be looking to sign players for their stretch run this year and, as well, for roster spots in 2022. With two new clubs joining the league next year we expect plenty of opportunities for quality players to be signed.”

MLB teams have already inked 10 players and one signed with a Mexican League club this campaign.

Lindquist Field is located at 2330 Lincoln Ave. in Ogden, Utah. The nearest airport is Salt Lake City International Airport, about a 45-minute drive to Ogden.

Prospective players can register for the camp at www.PBLTryouts.com

The PBL is also excited to announce that the tryout will be streamed live for scouts, as well as friends and family to watch at https://web.playsight.com/facility/ogden-raptors/home.

The PBL teams are: Grand Junction Rockies, Great Falls Voyagers, Idaho Falls Chukars, Missoula Paddleheads, Ogden Raptors, Rocky Mountain Vibes, Boise Hawks, and Billings Mustangs.

— Jerry Del Priore