Cats’ bats hit Staten Island

BASEBALL is coming back to Staten Island — thanks in part to John Catsimatidis.

The Staten Island Yankees — a farm team for the Bronx Bombers that’s been the launch pad for greats including Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera — was one of the 40-plus minor league teams that were shuttered last year.

But Page Six has learned that a group of investors — including Gristedes billionaire Catsimatidis and New Jersey politico Eric Shuffler — is set to start a new team that will play out of the Richmond County Bank Ballpark on the shores of New York Harbor.

Sources say that Merrill Lynch alum — and ex-wife of Dwayne Johnson — Dany Garcia is also part of the conglomerate.

After the pandemic canceled the entire 2020 season for minor league teams, Major League Baseball massively reorganized its affiliations with the minors, dissolving, among others, the Class A New York-Penn League, the longestrunning in the US and home to the Staten Island Yanks. We’re told that in a bid to restore America’s pastime to the borough, the MLB acquired a franchise in the independent Atlantic League, which currently boasts eight teams in the East, including the Long Island Ducks.

And now the MLB is set to hand it off to the investment group, which will operate the team. The city will continue to own the stadium and lease it to the team owners, though we’re told that the new group of investors plans to revamp the park.

There will be a contest in the Staten Island community to name the new team, which won’t be affiliated with any MLB team.

There’s still some red-tape to work out, we’re told, and the owners are planning to add more investors to its ranks. But sources say that Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to announce the news as early as next week.

We’re told the new owners hope to have concerts at the stadium by the end of this year, and plan to have players out on the field for the 2022 season.