The Chatham-Kent Barnstormers are looking for some baseball players.
The expansion Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) franchise is holding its first local, open tryouts on Friday, September 8 and Saturday, September 9 at Fergie Jenkins Field in Chatham.
VP Executive and Baseball General Manager Harry Muir said they'll do some drills on Friday night and make the first cuts.
"Saturday, basically we're going to have a cut-down group," said Muir. "We're going to have pitchers and catchers and everybody, we're going to be running through a lot of infield drills, outfield drills, and then we're going to do a bit of a game in the afternoon, so we can see what these guys look like during a game."
Friday's tryout will run from 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. and Saturday's tryout will run from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and is open to the public. Muir said the response to the tryout so far has been very positive.
"We'll have at least 22 people on the team at the end, upwards of 25 at times," said Muir. "I think our numbers are at 40 right now for the walk-on, and every day we're getting four or five more. So I expect that we're going to be close to 50, maybe even 60 on Friday night at registration."
Muir thinks they have assembled one of the best coaching staffs in the IBL, and said they're goal is to give players a chance to play and move on to other leagues.
"We want to build these players, we want to send our guys off to the next level," said Muir. "It's hard to manage that way because we keep losing guys, but we really want these guys to move on from our team."
Muir added that they can't wait to start playing in the spring in Chatham-Kent.
"Your area has embraced us with open arms, from the mayor all the way down to the local person, it's just been a fantastic response," Muir. "We're super excited to get this team on the field and show you guys all a good time."
For the tryout, players are expected to wear proper baseball attire and position players will need to provide their own equipment including their own wooden bat, glove, and catcher's gear if trying out for the catcher position.
The deadline to register for tryouts is Thursday, September 7. Click Here to register online.