Pioneer League team coming to Modesto after City Council’s unanimous vote
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Modesto council approved a Pioneer League team to play at John Thurman Field.
- Lease starts October 2025 with $120K annual rent and city-funded facility upgrades.
- Pioneer League expands in California with Modesto as fourth team by 2026.
The Modesto City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to bring professional baseball back to Modesto, approving the addition of a Pioneer Baseball League team that will play at city-owned ballpark John Thurman Field.
The approval of a new baseball team in Modesto comes after a process that included negotiations with the Pioneer League and a new ownership group, Main Street Modesto LLC, spearheaded by Main Street Baseball President and CEO Dave Heller.
Heller and his group own three professional baseball teams: two High-A affiliated teams and one team already in the Pioneer League, the Billings Mustangs. No information about a specific Modesto-bound team was revealed at the meeting.
Heller’s ownership group was named Ballpark Digest’s Minor League Baseball Organization of the Year in 2016, and one of his teams was named Ballpark Digest’s 2021 Team of the Year and one of Baseball America’s Most Accomplished Franchises of the 2010s.
“Modesto is getting a guy as a team owner who has proven that he can create memorable and extraordinary experiences for fans and has proven that his teams are operated professionally and become a huge asset to the community,” Pioneer League President Mike Shapiro told The Modesto Bee on Wednesday morning.
The unanimous City Council vote gives Modesto City Manager Joe Lopez the authority to finalize details of the lease agreement with Main Street Modesto, LLC.
The lease between the city and Main Street Modesto LLC is five years, slated to begin Oct. 1 and continuing through Sept. 30, 2030, with a three-year extension. Per the lease agreement, the tenant (Main Street Modesto LLC) will pay $120,000 per year in rent with a 4% annual rent increase.
The lease with Thurman Field’s most recent tenant, the Modesto Nuts, ends Sept. 30 because when it was agreed to last summer, it was not known if the Nuts would make the 2025 postseason, which ends in mid-September.
The Pioneer League team’s rent is more than what the Seattle Mariners paid for the Nuts in 2024 ($75,000) but less than the Mariners paid in 2025 after the city increased the rent to $600,000.
In the lease with the Pioneer League team, the city will pay the utilities, including gas, electricity, water (for both irrigation and potable use), sewer, solid waste collection and trash removal, and telephone service. The city will repair all structural components, irrigation system and landscaping outside of the stadium.
The new owners will be on the hook for maintenance of the field and cleaning the ballpark, clubhouses and parking lots.
The city will reimburse the ownership group up to $950,000 over the term of the lease for specified improvements undertaken by the tenant, including “the installation of new outfield wall padding, safety nets, and drink rails for fans and players, as well as new flooring, tile, paint, fixtures, and other aesthetic improvements in the offices, clubhouses, bathrooms, seating bowl and any other facilities on the Property.”
It was also agreed that Modesto can use the property for up to five city events without having to pay a rental fee. Thurman Field will also remain an option for high school baseball games and tournaments similar to those hosted in 2023 and 2024.
The Pioneer League moves west
Just over a week after the Modesto Nuts’ final home game brought an end to a decades-long tradition of affiliated baseball at Thurman Field, the city and the PBL struck a deal.
Pioneer League teams are not in Major League Baseball’s minor league system and individual teams have no connection to the MLB, but the Pioneer League is an MLB partner league.
According to mlb.com, partner leagues provide development opportunities for young and veteran players who seek a second chance to reach the big leagues. Partner leagues also provide formal, MLB-sponsored programs to give people with diverse backgrounds additional playing and coaching opportunities.
The Pioneer League was founded in 1939 and started out as an MLB affiliated league until 2020. After Minor League Baseball restructuring in 2020, the PBL became one of four partner leagues, along with the American Association, the Atlantic League and the Frontier League.
“The Pioneer League, I think, represents a very unique niche in the world of baseball,” PBL President Mike Shapiro said in a 2024 interview with The Bee. “We are a player development league, so none of our players have more than three years of professional experience. … We focus on developing players on one hand, and secondly, we focus strongly on providing affordable family entertainment options in small cities throughout the Mountain West states and, now, California.”
The Pioneer League continues its expansion into California with the addition of the team in Modesto. The League has teams in Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Montana and began its expansion into California in 2024 with the Oakland Ballers and the then-Yolo High Wheelers (now called the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers).
In July of 2024, Shapiro could not speak with The Bee about adding a team to Modesto specifically because the Seattle Mariners and Modesto Nuts still had an active contract with the city. He spoke about the league’s expansion to California on a broad scale and mentioned that in their original 2024 California expansion, bringing two teams worked logistically, giving out-of-state teams a two-game road trip and keeping an even number of teams, going from 10 to 12.
A Pioneer League team is also coming to Long Beach, according to the562.org and Baseball Digest, expanding the Pioneer League’s California market to four teams by 2026.
In the 2024 interview, Shapiro said the goal was to bring “somewhere between six to eight clubs to California over the next several years.” Wednesday morning, he echoed his prior sentiment and added the idea of in the future having California and Mountain States divisions with the winners of each playing for a championship.
What council members said
Modesto City Council members expressed excitement with moving the process forward and implored people living in Modesto to attend games.
Councilmember Rosa Escutia-Braaton called the addition “monumental” for the city, and Councilmember David Wright noted that keeping baseball while adding soccer shows an investment in city entertainment.
“I know the Pioneer League is going to be more of an exciting league,” Wright said. “A lot of great entertainment is going to happen here because it’s a league that really wants to get the city involved and make sure that it’s a great experience at the ballpark.”
Councilmember Jeremiah Williams agreed, adding a message to the people of Modesto. “I do want to make a plea to the community,” he said. “This is what we wanted. We really have to get behind it and fill the stadium. … This is an opportunity for your sons, daughters, (for) individuals who want to work there or play baseball.”
Bee staff writer Trevor Morgan contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 11:14 AM.
