They are all chasing the same dream.

The football player from Notre Dame with the rebuilt left elbow, trying to switch sports and become an outfielder. The catcher from Southfield Lathrup, who bounced around to four colleges before he ended up in an operating room, and now he is feeling strong and hopeful with a rebuilt shoulder. The tall, lanky pitcher from Albion College who plans to go law school, one day, but that can wait.

It is Wednesday morning, and there are 72 players with 72 stories spread over two baseball fields at Lake Orion High School. Most are in their early 20s, just out of college. They stretch and run and field and pitch and hit their hearts out, trying to impress one of the coaches from the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL), a fascinating baseball experiment about to debut in Utica.

An MLB scout grimaces when a player starts jogging down the first-base line. “You are trying to make a team, right?” the scout asks.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, why can’t you run 90 feet?”

The kid looks stunned.

“Someone is watching all the time,” the scout says. “Remember that.”

This is independent baseball. A giant step above your average high school ball, a slight step below Class A. It is the land of in-between. A place for the guys who have slipped between the cracks. Maybe they weren’t tall enough to get drafted, or fast enough, or they just didn’t impress the right person at the right time. Maybe they had an injury. Or maybe they were late bloomers or played out of position in college.

“Our niche is going to be the Passover Kids, is what we call them,” says Brian Berryman, who once played at Michigan and was drafted by the San Diego Padres but now is in charge of league baseball operations. “The kids who didn’t get picked up for one reason or another.”

This idea certainly is unusual: one league, three teams, with all games played at the same stadium. The Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers, the Eastside Diamond Hoppers and the Utica Unicorns will play all of their games at 2,000-seat Jimmy John’s Field in Utica. The players will be housed by host families or at an apartment complex, four to a room. Spring training will start next week at the Brother Rice baseball field in Troy. The season will start May 30, and the players will be paid $600 to $1,000 per month. The goal is to get the Passover Kids another look, another chance to make the minor leagues.

“It’s just a chance to continue to play,” said Matt Temrowski, a tall, lanky pitcher from Grosse Pointe South, who recently graduated from Albion. He played in his final college game May 6. Law school is in his future, but it will have to wait until he puts away his cleats for good. “This is a great opportunity,” Temrowski says. “There are a lot of great guys out there, a lot of great coaches.”

Independent challenges

Down the leftfield line, behind the fence, Darla Johnson sits and watches her son, Marshall Howard IV, who is trying out as a catcher. “We know we make him nervous, but if he makes it on the team, it will be more people than the three of us, yelling and screaming,” she says, looking at her daughter and her son’s girlfriend. “I already told the people at work that I’m buying tickets for everybody to come out.”

Howard, 22, played at Novi High and at Kentucky State. “He’s been pursuing this aggressively since college,” Johnson says of her son. “We have paid for him to go everywhere, fly here and try out, fly there and try out.”

Independent baseball leagues and teams have a long history of coming and going, starting and flopping. There even is a website that tracks it all, which is called “The Indy Graveyard.”

Last year, Howard played in the Ozarks Professional Baseball League in Missouri, which quickly flopped.

“We didn’t get paid,” Howard said. “They didn’t have enough money to keep the league going. You just kind of roll with the punches, just make sure you are ready when your number is called.”

Failed independent leagues and teams usually are doomed because of financial problems, bad organizations or the lack of marketing. But this league has one thing going for it. The stadium is beautiful and can be seen from busy M-59 — thousands drive by it every day. And this league is filled with highly respected baseball people.

“I’m seeing a lot of kids who are chasing the dream,” says Paul Noce, who used to coach at Hillsdale College and will manage the Eastside Diamond Hoppers. “I see a lot of talent, really. The caliber of play is going to be way up there.”

Staying on the field

One of the most interesting players on the field is Michael Deeb, who played middle linebacker at Notre Dame, although way more on the scout team than in a game. After suffering an injured elbow, Deeb gave up his football career and accepted a medical hardship, so he has decided to give baseball a try.

“I just love the game,” says Deeb, who is 6 feet 2 and 240 pounds but hasn’t played in an official game since high school, four years ago in south Florida. “I love to compete. I think I have a high ceiling, and I believe in myself.”

So does Calvin Franklin, 24, a catcher from Southfield. His baseball journey has taken him from Southfield Lathrup to Alcorn State to Henry Ford to Madonna to Lourdes in Sylvania, Ohio — sometimes, not even staying at a place long enough to play a game. He vows to keep trying, “until I can’t anymore.” It has been two years since he had a torn labrum repaired. “Even being out here, making the first cut is a blessing,” he said. “If I get cut, I’ll keep trying.”

He lets out a long smile. His shoulder feels great. This feels great.

Just getting another shot.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.