(Photo courtesy of Bruce Preston, UMass Lowell)
“The community celebrated the return of the Lowell Spinners as the latest franchise of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at a press conference held at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Wearing the team’s new uniforms, front row, from left, are franchise team leaders Matt Scibilio, Dawy LeBron and Ben Croteau. Back row, from left are, Lowell Spinners Chairman and CEO John Croteau, Lowell City Manager Tom Golden, UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen, UMass President Marty Meehan and Spinners Principal Owner and Chief Baseball Officer Marc Deschenes.”
Jake Messer
Connector Editor
The Lowell Spinners are returning to the Mill City in 2026 after a five-year hiatus from Merrimack Valley. This time around, the team will be a part of the Futures League, a collegiate summer baseball league showcasing New England’s best up-and-coming ballplayers since 2011. This change is crucial, as they are no longer affiliated with the Boston Red Sox in any capacity.
The sudden death of the Lowell Spinners came back in 2020, when Major League Baseball decided to restructure the minor leagues due to a myriad of reasons, including the Covid-19 pandemic, financial concerns, and a decrepit stadium. The pileup of these issues led to the removal of the Spinners.
During the team’s five-year hiatus from Lowell, LeLacheur Park remained, being jointly owned by UMass Lowell and the city. The university eventually bought out the city for full ownership of the park back in 2022 for one million dollars with the intent to make some necessary renovations.
Now, thanks to financial backings from new owners Marc Deschenes and John Croteau, the Spinners are right back where they belong.
Deschenes, a former UMass Lowell shortstop in the 90’s, was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 MLB Draft and by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of the 1999 MLB Rule V Draft. He went on to enjoy a 13-year professional baseball career, concluding with the Pawtucket Red Sox. Croteau is a businessman going on 42 years in the technology industry, most recently as CEO of Pison Technology, a neurotech startup based in Boston. Earlier in his career, he served as President and CEO of MACOM, a public company that reached $4.5 billion enterprise value and became Lowell’s largest private employer.
“To the fans, I want to say how proud we are to bring summer baseball back to Lowell and LeLacheur Park,” said Croteau, the team’s new chairman and CEO. “Restoring the Spinners name was the clear and natural choice — it connects us to something far bigger than the game itself. It pays tribute to Lowell’s textile mills that helped ignite the American Industrial Revolution, and it reflects the grit, hard work, and community spirit that built this city and continues to inspire our players, partners, and fans alike.”
The team, which was shown off in a press conference at Tsongas, concluded with the team’s new logo and jerseys being unveiled, which is now a spool of red yarn holding a baseball bat, and the colors of the old Spinners remain with the jerseys consisting of the classic red, white and… blue? Yes, light blue, as that will be the color of choice for the alternate jersey for the Spinners throughout their comeback year. Blue is new, but it does align with some of Lowell’s other teams’ colors; UMass Lowell’s River Hawk sports, for instance, dawn a dark blue along with red and white.
Slated to begin next year, in mid-to-late May, the Spinners will be the seventh team to join the Futures league and will be managed in the dugout by Head Coach Kevin Graber, one of the most accomplished coaches in all of prep baseball, as he was won the CNEPSBL Championship five times with a different teams along the way, making him a great choice to reboot the ballclub.
With the Spinners back, showcasing the next generation, the fans, once more, have a chance to see players dawn the Mill City threads before making it to the show. Players who suited up for the Spinners before becoming household names were Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Kevin Youkilis, Clay Buchholz, Hanley Ramirez and Jonathan Papelbon, among many others who stopped by going through injury rehabilitation.
The city of Lowell finally has their Spinners back, and this time for good. Come May, a team that brought so much joy and pride to the city will return. Fans of all ages will fill LeLacheur Park, just like times of old, and watch as America’s pastime plays out under a starry summer night sky.
