Addition by distraction: Savannah Bananas find balance of baseball, antics, and it adds up

Conventional wisdom would have a baseball team doing all it could to keep its players focused on the game.

No pregame parade for the fans. No running through the grandstand after scoring the first run. No dancing on top of the dugouts.

The Savannah Bananas, whose antics have gained national attention through tens of millions of views on social media, are not a conventional ballclub. Given the opportunity, they will do the opposite of what's normal in baseball.

"I've been running through the crowd, hanging out with fans, then (the coaches) had to come yell at me to come warm-up to go pitch," said reliever Nolan Daniel of Dublin, in his third summer with the Bananas of the Coastal Plain League.

What has become customary for Savannah's collegiate summer league squad wouldn't fly with Daniel's college team at Purdue.

"They wouldn't let me back in the dugout," Daniel said with a laugh.

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The team calls it "flipping the switch," players toggling between baseball and entertainment responsibilities without losing focus, energy and enthusiasm.

And — flying in the face of accepted beliefs — without their baseball productivity suffering in the least. These guys can really play the game, and believe their performance improves with the additional showtime-related workload.

"I feel there's a lot of pressure in baseball and a lot of downtime," said third baseman Beau Brewer, a Bananas rookie and, like Daniel, among the team's eight CPL All-Star selections. "It's a mental game. There's a lot of you versus yourself in baseball. Being a Banana, there's a lot of stuff that takes your mind off the seriousness of the sport. You get all those nerves out. You laugh and smile. Everybody plays better when they're nice and loose."

Call it addition by distraction. You can't bemoan a hitting mistake when your mind is occupied with hitting your marks on a dance routine.

"When their focus is more, 'Man, I've got to figure out this dance' versus being stressed about playing the game, the game becomes easier and they're able to relax a little bit more because there's something else that's stressing them out a little bit more," said Tyler Gillum, in his fifth season as Bananas head coach.

"They can slow their heart rate. Those pressure situations in a game turn into just a normal situation."

What's normal for the Bananas is winning, including CPL titles in their inaugural season of 2016 and in 2021. Savannah will be defending its crown this postseason, having already has clinched a playoff berth by winning the West Division's first-half title.

The Bananas have the second-best overall mark in the league (29-10, 0.744 through Wednesday), including 17-2 at home where they deliver the full Bananas experience compared to the mundane road games which follow more traditional lines.

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What happens before 4,000-plus spectators packing Grayson Stadium may be a circus where a baseball game breaks out, but it isn't a gimmick. The foundation is baseball, and the credibility of the Bananas — silly, rhyming name and all — is built on their ability to hit, run, throw, catch, pitch and win.

"If it's bad baseball, then nobody cares," Gillum said. "In the past, when I first got the job in 2018, all the other coaches were like, 'How do you like to coach a team that doesn't care about baseball?' I always used to laugh at that because we were winning then, too. 'Oh, we're 17-4, so we care a lot about the baseball side of it, too.' "

Gillum said opposing coaches don't talk much about the Bananas brand because they're focused on their own teams. These baseball competitors may not want their players to perform as entertainers, but they're envious of the home attendance figures.

"I think more than anything, when you're in it, you want to be a part of it; when you're against it, you're glad you don't have to do it," Gillum said.

Entertaining at home games

The CPL is a bus league, with games nearly every day. Gillum's squad will arrive at a competitor's ballpark in time to get in batting practice and take infield, then he will wonder during the 50 minutes or so before the 7 p.m. start what to do with the downtime.

That's because the Bananas' pregame routine at Grayson Stadium is wall to wall with crowd favorites such as the "Banana Baby" and "Home Run Hitter" fan-participation promotions as well as introducing new skits.

The team is just getting started — with singing, dancing and more goofiness throughout a nine-inning game.

"If I was someone playing against the Bananas here," Daniel theorized, "I'd feel like, 'Man, we've got to beat those guys. They're out there dancing the whole time and they're still kicking our tails.' "

Home-field advantage has been taken to a more intense level, with the electric crowds double the size of the next-closest attendance averages in the CPL. That marked contrast could make the volume sound that much louder for opponents.

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"Nobody likes playing here," Bananas All-Star catcher Indiana Stanley of Cumming said of opposing teams. "The reason nobody likes playing here is because of the unbelievable energy that the fans bring. It's hard to counter."

Starting pitcher Jared Donalson of Albany, a Bananas rookie and a CPL All-Star, believes Bananas players have it easier than their counterparts despite additional duties. He credits the fans on what could otherwise be a long, hot slog through the summer.

"The fans, having 4,500 a night, bring the energy for you," said the right-hander, who graduated in the spring from Georgia Southwestern. "You want to do it for them, put on a show for them and entertain them. They come out each night. It goes hand in hand. They cheer for you on the mound, then you go to the entertainment side."

No shortage of stars

The Bananas tied for the most selections to the CPL All-Star Game earlier this month with eight players, and Gillum said more were deserving but it became a numbers game with available slots.

Of the eight players, four have competed in Savannah's in-house reality show, "Dancing with the Bananas." This version of the network show started with six Bananas and professional dancers as their partners, with one couple voted off each week.

These players have been putting in an additional two to three hours a week (sometimes more) at a dance studio and the ballpark to learn and practice their choreographed routines. The 20-minute episodes on YouTube can only capture snippets of the extra work and sacrifice.

Players attest to the benefits of being a Bananas player and learning how to break out of their shells and flourish in perhaps some uncomfortable situations in front of crowds and cameras — sometimes uploaded to social media platforms.

"It's not that hard when you're around a bunch of guys like this, a great group of guys," Donalson said. "We gel really well and have a lot of fun doing it."

Brewer, who has committed to play for the Kansas Jayhawks, said the players' schedule teaches them a lot about time management. The organization makes sure they get in their baseball workouts and dance rehearsals.

"It might not seem like it, but it's very professional here," said Brewer, selected by the New York Yankees out of Paris (Texas) Junior College in the 19th round, 580th overall pick, of the 2022 MLB draft on Tuesday. "There's no one here to hold your hand. They ask you to do the entertainment, you have to do it, and then you have to learn how to manage your time to give yourself enough time to be able to perform at a high level."

They perform, year after year, as the roster changes. Gillum noted a study which supported the premise that playing for the Bananas improves player performance. Curtis Sproul, an assistant professor of management at Georgia Southern University, researched the early years of the Bananas' player statistics versus their prior college numbers in select individual batting and pitching categories.

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He did the same for opposing teams' players' college and CPL performances. The Bananas were the only team with significant player improvement in the summer games.

Gillum credits the Bananas' culture, of recruiting players which he called "OKG" for Our Kinda Guy, who can handle the demands of the baseball and the entertainment sides to wearing the uniform. They have to have baseball talent, a strong work ethic, toughness and be selfless and outgoing, he said.

"Every team is different, but the 'flip the switch' stays the same," Gillum said. "You always say in good cultures, good organizations, the people change but the culture of the organization, the foundation of it, doesn't change. It just keeps going."

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Bananas baseball players excel in Coastal Plain League