The Alton River Dragons are a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team located in

Alton, Illinois Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the River Bend area in the Metro-East region of the ...

. They were founded in 2020 and began play in 2021 as members of the Prospect League.

History

On January 29, 2020, the Prospect League of

announced that Alton, Illinois had been granted a franchise for the upcoming season. Alton previously hosted a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

team when the 1917 Alton Blues played as members of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League. The franchise owner was announced as Steve Marso, who had owned previous franchises in summer collegiate baseball. Dallas Martz was hired as the Alton General Manager. The "River Dragons" moniker was announced for the Alton franchise on August 14, 2020. The name was chosen after a public vote. On November 12, 2020, the Alton River Dragons announced the hiring of Darrell Handelsman to manage the 2021 Alton team. The Alton franchise had previously hired Brock Moss to manage the first team, but Moss had since accepted a position at

Texas A&M International University Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) is a public university in Laredo, Texas. It is part of the Texas A&M University System and home to over 8,500 students each academic semester. TAMIU offers over 70 undergraduate and graduate degrees in f ...

, making him unavailable to coach Alton in the summer. During the River Dragons second season in 2022, the team set a Prospect League record with 210 stolen bases. The River Dragon's Eddie King, Jr. from the University of Louisville was named the Mike Schmidt Prospect League Player of the Year. King, Jr. led the league with 15 home runs and stole 31 bases in 2022. Blake Burris set a new Prospect League record with 47 stolen bases and was the league batting champion, batting .361 for the season. On September 21, 2022, it was announced that Darrell Handelsman was stepping down as Head Coach. On October 5, 2022, the River Dragons announced the hiring of Richard "Scotty" Scott as the team's next Head Coach.

Stadium

The Alton River Dragons play at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Gordon Moore Park. Renovations were discussed for the ballpark in anticipation of the 2021 season. The ballpark had previously hosted the Bluff City Bombers of the

Central Illinois Collegiate League The Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL) was a collegiate wooden bat summer baseball league. It was composed of five teams from Illinois and Indiana. The CICL was founded in 1963 as a charter member of National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

. The ballpark is located at 98 Arnold Palmer Road,

Cottage Hills, Illinois Cottage Hills is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Illinois, United States. In 2018, the Cottage Hills ZIP Code area served a population of 3,604. Cottage Hills is west of Bethalto, north of Rosewood Heights, east of East Alton, ...

, 62018.

Seasons

Roster

References

External links

Alton River Dragons
official site
Prospect League
official site {{Illinois Sports 2020 establishments in Illinois Amateur baseball teams in Illinois Prospect League teams Baseball teams established in 2020 Alton, Illinois