Whitmore, #1 in Draft WPBL; Mo’ne Davis at #10 in Women’s Baseball League

Kelsie Whitmore Headlines the Women’s Professional Baseball League Draft

Pitcher and outfielder Kelsie Whitmore returns to a familiar environment after being selected by San Francisco with the first pick in the inaugural draft of the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) on Thursday night. Whitmore, originally from San Diego, made her professional debut in the Bay Area with the mixed team Sonoma Stompers in 2016. The 27-year-old player has won two silver medals representing the United States in the Women’s Baseball World Cup and a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

If you asked my 6-year-old self about this opportunity, she probably wouldn’t believe it, but she would be very excited.

Kelsie Whitmore

In 2022, Whitmore signed with the Staten Island FerryHawks, becoming the first woman to compete in the Atlantic League of professional baseball. This season, she played for the Savannah Bananas.

Whitmore was one of the 120 players selected in the six-round draft, which also included teams representing New York and Boston. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred opened the draft by congratulating the WPBL on its launch. The league is scheduled to begin playing on August 1st.

Each team made five selections per round, with the selection order determined by a draw. Teams will reduce their rosters from 30 players to 15 for the start of the season.

Mo’ne Davis, for her part, had to wait until the tenth selection to be chosen by Los Angeles. Davis, 24 years old and originally from Philadelphia, competed in the 2014 Little League World Series at age 13 and became the first girl to win a game and pitch a complete game. The Japanese Ayami Sato was number 2 for Los Angeles. The 35-year-old right-handed pitcher is a five-time World Cup winner and the only player to obtain three MVP awards from the tournament. New York selected American infielder Kylee Lahners with the third pick. Boston chose South Korean catcher Hyeonah Kim at number 4. The newly created league held a four-day tryout camp in Washington this summer with more than 600 hopefuls. The league plans to play all its games at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springville, Illinois. The teams will be based there for a seven-week season, divided into a four-week regular season, a week for all-star activities, and two weeks of playoffs. The WPBL was co-founded by Justine Siegal, who became the first woman to coach for an MLB team with the Oakland Athletics in 2015. It will be the first professional baseball league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League – immortalized in the film “A League of Their Own” – disbanded in 1954.