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For five weeks last summer, J.D. Urso ’23 did all sorts of things he never before had done on a baseball field.

He wore his hat backward or sometimes just tied a bandana on his head. He fielded ground balls between his legs and threw off the wrong foot. He joked around with opponents and umpires. At times, Urso even danced.

“It was the most fun five weeks of my life,” Urso said.

So what happened to the guy who was groomed to be the picture-perfect ballplayer from almost the day he was born? What happened to the guy who had played for strictly by-the-book coaches, most notably his father — UTampa head baseball Coach Joe Urso?

It’s simple: J.D. Urso became part of the phenomenon that is the Savannah Bananas.

The Bananas and their stable of regular opponents are a barnstorming, entertainment-first baseball show that’s been compared to basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters. Immediately after helping UTampa to a record 10th national Division II baseball championship in June, Urso signed a contract to play with one of the Bananas’ regular opposing teams — the Visitors.

The Bananas were once a collegiate summer league baseball team. Since 2023, though, when the Bananas went fully to a “Banana Ball” format (trick plays, dancing and a heavy dose of fan involvement), they’ve been playing their games against the Visitors, the Party Animals, the Firefighters and the Texas Tailgaters at packed stadiums around the country. But don't read too much into the nicknames of those teams.

Just like the Bananas, the opposing teams are stocked with highly skilled athletes with deep baseball résumés. They also make the game look fun. And, unlike the Washington Generals, who’ve been losing nearly every game to the Globetrotters for generations, the opposing teams are more than competitive with the Bananas. It’s not all that unusual for the Bananas to lose a game.

“People think the whole thing is a show, but that’s so far from the truth,” Urso said. “To do what these guys do — catch balls behind their backs and do backflips — that’s not easy to do. These guys have perfected something that a lot of others can’t do. A lot of guys in Major League Baseball simply can’t do what these guys do.”

Playing this way wasn’t what Urso imagined as he was growing up deeply within the game. But Urso became a realist during his 2025 graduate season at UTampa. On his way to earning All-America honors and joining his father to make the only father-son duo of Division II All-Americans (the elder Urso did it as a Spartan in 1991 and ’92), Urso took a hard look at his baseball future. Major league scouts were showing up at UTampa games, but they weren’t there to watch him.

“I’m 24, and Major League Baseball teams will hold your age against you,” Urso said. “If you get drafted, you’re almost definitely going to have to spend a few years in the minor leagues. They don’t want a player who is going to be 27 or 28 before he gets to the major league level. I knew I wasn’t going to get drafted.”

By coincidence, one of Urso’s friends mentioned the Bananas were looking for players for their roster and spots on the opposing teams. The friend asked Urso if he knew of anyone who might be interested.

“I said, ‘Yeah, dude. How about me?’” Urso said with a laugh.

After that, Urso got serious. He researched the Bananas and their opponents and studied highlight videos. He decided it was time to come up with a signature trick play to get the attention of the Bananas.

After the Spartans finished practice one day last spring, Urso asked his father to film him making an unorthodox play where he fields a ball, juggles it behind his back and between his legs and throws off-balance to first base.

“That’s the kind of play that would have gotten me kicked out of practice by every single coach I ever played for,” Urso said.

It was the kind of play that ordinarily would make Joe Urso cringe. But the elder Urso knew this might be his son’s best shot at playing professionally, so he recorded the play. J.D. sent the video to the Bananas and promptly was offered a six-week contract. He had to skip the first week of that deal because the Spartans were playing for the Division II national championship, and one final season of serious baseball took priority.

During the championship season, Urso hit .358 with nine home runs and drove in 67 runs while excelling at third base and shortstop. In the national championship game against Central Missouri, Urso caught a line drive for the final out to trigger a celebration by the Spartans.

“I remember jumping into the dog pile with my guys,” Urso said. “But I was thinking, ‘I need to find my dad.’”

Soon enough, Urso found Urso.

“To win a national championship with my son was a tremendous experience,” Joe Urso said. “He came running over to me and lifted me up in his arms. That’s something I’ll always remember.”

The father and son always will have the memory of their championship season, but J.D.’s eligibility is used up, and it’s time for him to move on. He’s hoping that means spending more time with the Bananas or one of their opponents.

“People in the baseball world always talk about a five-tool player,” Joe Urso said. “But J.D. has all the tools the Bananas are looking for. Of course he can play the game. But he’ll also sign every autograph and spend time with kids. The smile on his face is genuine. It was fun to watch him go through that experience. He’s spent his whole life playing with a lot of pressure and expectations. Now, he can just go out there and have fun.

“I’m an old-school baseball guy with a lot of respect for the game. You would think I would frown on (Banana Ball). But I don’t. In fact, just the opposite. I went to one of the games, and I had a smile on my face for the whole two hours.”

J.D. says coaching or working in sports administration could be in his future — at some point. But he also said those things can wait. He’s hopeful of playing for the Bananas or one of their opposing teams in 2026 and beyond.

“(The Bananas) have only been around for a few years,” Urso said. “So I feel like I might be on the ground floor of something that’s growing very fast, and it can be really special. I’m 24 now. If I’m lucky enough to keep doing this until I’m 34, I’ll be very happy.”