The Savannah Bananas are a nationwide barnstorming baseball team that evolved from a collegiate amateur squad in 2016 to a wildly popular — and profitable — touring club that literally plays by its own rules.
On Nov. 13, the “Banana Ball Draft” will be conducted virtually on YouTube. Six teams, including the Bananas, will select players who qualify via a tryout process.
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As the Bananas’ fame and media footprint has spread, so too do their players gain more visibility. But who are the players that comprise the traveling band of Bananas?
One former Dodgers prospect is vying to be among them.
Niko Hulsizer, the Dodgers’ 18th-round draft pick out of Morehead State University in 2018, announced this week on Instagram that he’s throwing his name in the Banana Ball draft pool. He might not become a Banana; the other five teams drafting players next month all play against the Bananas. Their 2026 opening weekend is slated for Feb. 26-28.
But it’s an opportunity for Hulsizer, 28, to continue his career after washing out of the Tampa Bay Rays organization in March 2024, and more recently playing professionally in Australia.
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“You know, when I made the decision to retire from baseball I was down and out on the sport,” Hulsizer said in the video, “but as I started to find my new route in this world I found out that Banana Ball was hosting tryouts. So I reached out to them, heard them out, and was immediately ready to get back into the sport.
“Once I got talking to the organization and heard out their mission, I knew it was exactly for me. Baseball is what I really love.”
After being promoted to advanced Class-A Rancho Cucamonga by the Dodgers in June 2019, Hulsizer was traded the next month to the Tampa Bay Rays for pitcher Adam Kolarek.
Kolarek would play an important role in the Dodgers’ bullpen before they ultimately fell short of their quest to return to the World Series.
Hulsizer would spend the next four seasons with the Rays, reaching Triple-A in 2022 and repeating the level in 2023. He slashed .210/.336/.398 for the Durham Bulls.
As a non-roster invitee to spring training in 2024, Hulsizer went 1 for 19 with 11 strikeouts for Tampa Bay. What appeared to be the end of the line in his career in North America now appears to be a way station to bigger things.
ESPN began regularly airing Savannah Bananas games (including 10 games in the 2025 season) and simultaneously streaming them on Disney+ and ESPN+. Hulsizer might have the attention of more fans in 2026 than he ever did in spring training with the Rays, or in Rancho Cucamonga.
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