Several FCBL alums have made it to the Major Leagues over the years, as depicted in this illustration put out by the league. (Illustration courtesy of the FCBL)

Joe Paolucci has gone on record that he likes quiet off seasons when the Futures Collegiate League is concerned.

The way it looked through December, everything was pointing to the FCBL Commissioner getting his wish for at least the second straight year.

Guess again.

January arrived, and word came that Nashua Silver Knights owner John Creedon, Jr. and family were going to sell their other FCBL franchise, the Worcester Bravehearts.

OK, no problem. The schedule was worked out and basically approved at a league meeting during a weekend baseball function at Mohegan Sun.

Guess again.

Word came soon after that the Pittsfield Suns would be taking the year off due to the growing limitations of historic but partially condemned Wahconah Park. The scheduled needed to be revamped, a solution had to be found, and the time to relax would be at least a month away.

“Everything was going pretty smooth, we were ready to release an eight-team schedule,” Paolucci said this week. “Then we got the news Pittsfield decided to go dark for at least this year while they away their new stadium. So at that point we had to make a decision…

“It’s been a very, very hectic off-season, that’s for sure.”

And thus Paolucci and the FCBL owners had to roll up their sleeves and get to work again. The schedule wasn’t announced until Feb. 15 and when the 14th FCBL season opens on Friday, May 24, it will include eight teams, with the eighth being a travel team that will only play what was to be the road portion of the Pittsfield schedule – about 34 games.

The catch: that team, if it has a high enough winning percentage, will be eligible to qualify for the playoffs (top four make it).

“I’m excited for it, I think it’s certainly something unusual,” Paolucci said. “I think we’ve got the right guy to manage that team, and it’s going to be interesting whether it works or not, that’s for sure.”

Nashua Pride fans, some of whom are now die-hard Silver Knight fans, are familiar with that concept, as the independent Atlantic League had a “Road Warriors” team its first couple of years.

Paolucci admitted he initially resisted the idea, content to go with seven teams. But the owners wanted this, likely to keep all their original home dates, and were willing to absorb the travel costs, etc. out of the overall league budget. Paolucci said the league is hoping to “secure some sponsors to alleviate some of the cost.”

Paolucci hired Brendan Morrisey, a former highly successful coach at Milton (Mass.) High School (state titles last year and in 2022) and now the head coach at Milton Academy, which will serve as home base for the team. He also owns his own baseball school. “He has lots of connections with college coaches, college players, and he’s starting to build a pretty good roster,” Paolucci said, who has known Morrissey for awhile. “He was the No. 1 guy on my list.”

The team will likely not bus to nearby Brockton, but bus everywhere else and likely stay overnight on two trips to Vermont. Since there won’t be host families, finding housing for them has been challenging, which is why most of the players are local to that south of Boston area.

The other factor is how the league feels about having a club possibly qualify for the schedule playing in only half the games, but Paolucci said there really was no choice. “You’ve got to give these kids, incentive, right?” he said. “They have to think they’re playing for something at the end of the day. It might be a little bit of an easier path – for example, they might need just three starters (on the mound) while other teams need six. But I think the tough thing is managing these guys through just three games … It’s hard to find guys who will be willing to sit on the bench and wait their turn. That’s going to be the difficult part for Brendan to manage.”

But Paolucci says there are players who might rather have the reduced schedule so they can work,etc. “There are still good players out there that this schedule makes a little more sense for them,” he said, adding that an open tryout on May 17 will provide a few more players.

This obviously is all in the short term, that being this season. But the other part is the situation in Pittsfield, as the Koldklang family, which owns the team, has to wait out the municipal process with regard to Wahconah to become an active franchise again. The park’s grandstand was condemned two years ago so for the last couple of seasons the Suns had bleachers on the edges of the playing field, but now, without the ability to do concessions, etc., it’s just not financially viable until the city pushes forward.

“They’ve been part of the Futures League since (near) the beginning, and expressed their interest in remaining in good standing and part of the Futures League for the long haul,”the commissioner said. “And I do understand why they’re going dark. It’s just not feasible with the condition that Wahconah is in, it’s very difficult to make any money there. … We’re hoping next year Pittsfield will be back with a great stadium.”

But that would be a surprise, as the work is extensive and city wheels turn slowly. So Paolucci revealed he is working very hard to get a franchise in Rockland, Mass., near Weymouth and on the Mass. South Shore.

“We’ve tried a few times,”said Paolucci, who has met several times with town officials. “We just need to find the right owner. We have a pretty good outline on what a license (lease) agreement would look like for a team, so we have something we could shop around and sell to an owner.”

Paolucci says the FCBL would have to get the Brockton Rox to agree to it, as the proximity is close. “But I think it would be great for Brockton to have a team that close,” he said. “They’d save a lot of money on travel and build a little of a cross-town rivalry kind of thing. I have no reason to believe they wouldn’t be all-in if we could get an owner there for Rockland.”

The facility is a 1,000 seat structure known as Veterans Memorial Stadium that has an open area in left field for concessions/pavilion. Time will tell.

Brockton, meanwhile, was something else the FCBL had to deal with as the owner of the Rox, Brian Kahn, has also brought an independent pro baseball team to Campanelli Stadium, the Brockton Knockouts of the Frontiere League. They were scheduled to begin their season this current weeknd; Kahn also owns another team in the league, the Windy City Thunderbolts in Crestwood, Ill.

The question is, will he be able to sustain two Brockton teams, one (the pro team) in which the overhead could run high if attendance lags?

“(Kahn) is working really hard to build both brands,” Paolucci said. “He’s brought in a lot of new front office staff, etc. I think his long term plan is to have the Knockouts to be able to subsidize the Rox. Believe me it’s going to be a super hectic summer at Campanelli. … You’re going to get crossover fans would be my guess.”

The next change for the league is the one Nashua fans care about the most – the change in ownership of the Bravehearts, with the Creedons now all in on the Knights.

In Worcester, Paolucci has no worries. “They’re not missing a beat over there,” he said, citing the fact GM Dave Peterson has stayed and that new owners, the Vaccaro Family, are “locked in to what we’re doing, active on our calls, and have become a huge part of our league. It’s going to be business as usual over in Worcester.”

And Nashua gets a boost.

“You know John, he wants to win,” Paolucci said. “On the field, and financially. You’re going to see some great things in Nashua this year. And sometimes I forget how young Cam (GM Cook) really is. He’s so mature and does such a fabulous job running that organization, and every year he gets more and more experience. …

“Even though it was a big change in ownership, I expect both franchises to be as strong as ever.”

A LOSS FOR THE LEAGUE

One change the league had to undergo was tragic when Vermont manager Pete Wilk passed away after a year-plus battle with cancer. Wilk battled his way through to coach some home games last season, but franchise, owned by former Nashua Pride owner and founder Chris English,suffered a huge loss.

“It was great to have him around for what we did have him for,” Paolucci said. “His impact on the league is going to go on forever. His whole demeanor, his leadership, not only with his own team but within the whole league. His leadership among his fellow managers.

“He was great for me. He gave great advice, he had great ideas. One thing it was his idea to move the All-Star Game back a couple of weeks to the end of July. What he was saying was a lot of kids, their goal was to make the All-Star Game. Once they made it, it was time to pack it up and go home. Pushing the All-Star game back to the end of July made it easier to convince kids to stick around a couple of more weeks (till second week in August) to try to win a championship. That was Pete’s idea.”

This year’s game will be on July 23 at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. The league will have an award in his name, the Pete Wilk Award to go to a player that “has gone through is own adversity, whether it be an injury, or an illness, or something like that.”

QUALITY OF PLAY

Paolucci hasn’t closely examined the rosters, tied up with trying to help put the travel team logistics together, etc., but feels the play will be fine.

“I fully expect us to have a lot of Division I talent, with a lot of Division II and III talent, too,” he said. “There’s tons of great Division III players in our league.”

The league has had alumni into the Major Leagues, the latest being Red Sox infielder Zack Short, who was an FCBL All-Star with the Rox in 2014. In 2023, 13 FCBL alums played in the Majors.

“I think a lot of that has to do with us playing in 2020 (during the pandemic),” Paolucci said, “when a lot of leagues, like the Cape, didn’t. Lot of these kids that were making their debuts were playing in our league during the COVID season. But a lot has to do with Chris Hall and his group getting this league started. That was their goal from Day 1. Every time we add somebody to a Major League roster those guys should be proud of what they built.”

FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci had his work cut out for him this past off-season, thanks in part to the stadium issues in Pittsfield, Mass., as the league gets ready to enter its 14th season in two weeks. (File photo)

FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci had his work cut out for him this past off-season, thanks in part to the stadium issues in Pittsfield, Mass., as the league gets ready to enter its 14th season in two weeks. (File photo)

RULE CHANGES

While the playoffs remain at four teams, and the Home Run Derby remains if games are tied after 10 innings, that 10th inning during the regular season will have a change. It will begin with the so-called “Ghost runner” that MLB uses, or as Paolucci refers to it as the international tiebreaker rules. A man will be on second base.

“That was the feedback from the managers,” he said. “A lot of them wanted to end the game on the field in the more traditional sense before the Derby.”

NESN GAMES?

The last few years the FCBL has had a handful of games televised live on NESN, one every year from Holman. Paolucci says he’s waiting to hear from the network on this season. The Saturday games were basically replaced by about four Thursday night telecasts – when the Red Sox were off, of course.

“I’m waiting to hear back from them, it’s just a waiting game as to whether their schedule is going to work out for us,” Paolucci said.

Some FCBL teams aren’t interested because there’s a cost involved, then the teams try to recoup that through advertising sales.

“I know Nashua is, Worcester is, Norwich, etc.,” Paolucci said.

FUTURE OF THE FUTURES

Paolucci says that in the next two or three years, he’d like to see the Futures League have nine or 10 teams. “And I think we’re on a good pace,” he said. “We always talk about trying to leapfrog the NECBL (New England Collegiate Baseball League) in terms of getting better prospects.

“But I think I’ve kind of come off that a little bit. I think with what we’re doing with our prospects, getting those rising freshmen other leagues don’t get (the recent high school grads), I think we’re providing a great service for some of these colleges. … giving them an introduction to college baseball.

“Business is going really good for our teams. I think we’re on the right track. … Again, our business model is to make money.”

Paolucci says ownership is as unified as ever, where in the last few years the league has lost North Shore, Bristol (Conn.) and Martha’s Vineyard to the NECBL.

Paolucci breaks it down this way: The NECBL is a non-profit league with likely better prospects. The FCBL is a money maker with more game dates.

“For teams looking to turn a profit,” Paolucci said, “we’re the better league. …

“Again, I like the path that we’re on. I really see a reason to have that desire to overcome (the NECBL) in the prospect game.”