Standing Tall Savannah Bananas Reach New Heights!

Dakota Albritton field pitches and even bats for the Savannah Bananas while wearing stilts that make him nearly eleven feet tall!

Savannah Bananas Dakota Albritton (14) pitches during the sixth inning against the Party Animals at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Camden Hall / For The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Why do people go to live sporting events? Most of us are there to root on our home or favorite team, some it is because we have one specific player but all in attendance are there hoping to see something amazing and something that may never be seen again. It’s my contention that the most boring but amazing thing would be to see a no hitter or a shutout. Sure, there are tense moments where a ball almost drops but it’s got to be the worst highlight game to be in attendance. I hate the idea of a baseball game ending on a bunt to move a player from third to home. Could you imagine paying for parking, food, drinks and tickets only to have eighteen zeros on the scoreboard or God forbid extra innings sewn up with a bunt down the first base line to move the runner on third to home and end the game in a 1-0 score? That would be like going to a scoreless football game that is won with a walk off field goal. Even if you win you must be thinking, “I spent my money on this?”.

Well as we know with Banana Ball these are not realities you have to deal with from the prohibition on bunting to points scored versus straight up run totals, they avoid those results. Sure, you might see an amazing trick play, a home run over the outfield wall or a fan making a decisive out on a foul ball late in the game but how do we get something that newcomers are sure to have never seen before and do that every game? You put a guy on the mound that is ten foot-nine inches tall? Can you imagine a curve ball funneling down from that elevation? Randy Johnson was a giant on the mound at six foot-ten inches tall and his velocity along with his height made him nearly impossible to hit in his prime. Well at nearly eleven feet it must be a decided advantage!

Dakota Albritton now widely known as “Stilts” is your eleven-foot pitcher, batter and fielder. “Stilts” isn’t a jab at a freakishly tall man but rather an accurate name as this Banana Ball Player is actually on stilts playing in a high-level baseball game! Dakota is no small fry when standing flat footed as he is listed at six feet-five inches tall but once he straps on his altitude prosthetics he adds on an additional three feet and four inches!

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Dakota Albritton played baseball his entire life but after graduating from high school in 2019 he accepted that baseball was over and entered the workforce. He recapped this to an interview with 60 Minutes in April of 2025. Out of the blue in 2020 he received a call from his mother while he was wheeling around a load of concrete on a construction site. She was calling to let him know she had signed him up for a baseball tryout and he was to bring his stilts with him. Dakota clearly doesn’t lack baseball skill, and you can see that when you watch these games but a testament to the quality of athlete and ability of the Banana Ball player is that Dakota realized these guys were better than he was. He then stopped Savannah Bananas owner Jesse Cole to tell him he had stilts with him. Jesse asked if he could hit in them and without knowing for sure he committed to that idea.

Dakota said he surprised himself with how well he was able to perform at that height. Now he is a staple at Savannah Banana games and a real treat to see him in the batters’ box or pitching from atop the mound. I personally would like to see him out in left field to try to play goalie with the outfield wall on a deep shot but maybe that is too much to ask! Dakota is now a fan favorite and normally stands head and shoulders and waist above the other players. He has had to adjust how he hits and throws as he cannot stand still on the stilts, but one thing is true,  Dakota recognized that the other ball players had an advantage as he stood eye to eye with them but no one could do what “Stilts” is doing from way up there!

Savannah Bananas, Dakota Albritton, Stilts

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