Pro baseball, and a tryout, coming to Monterey.

Professional baseball is coming to the city of Monterey, opening day slated for June 2 at Sollecito Ballpark.

With tickets priced at $10—about the cost of a beer at a Major League Baseball game—and views overlooking Lake El Estero and the Monterey Bay, Andrew Dunn, director of the Pecos League, is hoping for success.

“I feel Monterey has more upside than other places we’re moving to,” Dunn says, as the league is also slated to take the field for the first time in Bakersfield, California City and High Desert to round out its new four team Pacific League.

The league now has a total of 12 teams in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas.

The team name, the Monterey Amberjacks, is a play on Monterey’s history as a maritime city and the nationally recognizable name “Monterey Jack,” Dunn says. (Amberjack is an Atlantic and Pacific fish with types that include greater amberjacks, Almaco jacks and yellowtail.)

The Pecos League, looking to expand from the Southwest to the California, contacted the city of Monterey in November 2016.

On Jan. 17, the Monterey City Council approved the the special event permit, 5-0, to seal the deal.

The independent Pecos League, which started league play with six teams in 2011, drew national attention with a six-part TV series on Fox Sports 1 in 2014. The series documented the day-to-day life of players trying to make it in entry-level professional ball.

There are two types of players in the 25-and-under league, says Dunn. There are “first chance” players out of high school and college who were passed over the Major League farm system and want a shot to continue playing baseball.

There are also what Dunn calls “second chance” players who might have been cut from an MLB-affiliated farm team but want to keep competing.

In the coming months the Amberjacks will announce an open tryout for area players looking to break into professional ball.

While the league might be "professional," for players it’s a labor of love. The rookie base salary is $50 a week with raises peaking at $200 a week. Housing is provided through local homestays.

The Amberjacks will split their time between Hollister and Monterey, given scheduling restrictions at Sollecito Ballpark that limits games to weekends.

The next challenges for Dunn is to find homestays for the 22-person roster and secure affordable accommodations for visiting teams, often from sparsely populated desert areas, in this pricey coast tourist destination.