Kelsie Whitmore is the number 1 overall pick in the first Women’s Pro Baseball League draft

31 comments
  1. I hope this takes off, I love baseball and also love women so it’s a natural combination

  2. Crazy, are we seeing the growth of baseball again, with recent World Series views and now this?

  3. Congrats to her! Anyone know if/where any main hotbeds would be where it’s common for women to play baseball in the US? I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of it happening in Chicagoland, but I guess it could be happening here without me knowing it lol

    Edit: was moreso wondering if there were all-women leagues but are these players playing against men growing up?

  4. YESSSSSSSS! She talked about growing up going to Padres games and then got to pitch to a sold out crowd at Petco for the Bananas. I can’t imagine how incredible this must all be for her.

  5. I actually saw her play when she was on the Ferry Ducks! Best of luck to Kelsie going forward.

  6. is going for a pitcher or hitter first the best strategy when drafting from scratch?

  7. I’m so intrigued by this league.

    So the first draft pick is a 27 year old who has played baseball her whole life, starting with little league.

    She also played softball and played softball at Cal Fullerton.

    As a freshman in high school she made the US Women’s National Baseball Team (I had no idea that existed) and she left the team in 2019 (the picture in the OP is like 7 years old lol)

    After college she got a couple chances to play men’s baseball but it didn’t go well (so lets helps out the league’s talent in perspective).

    She batter 1/39 and gave up 14 runs in 10 IP for a league called the Atlantic League, which is affiliated with the MLB but not part of the minor league system. I’ve never heard of it so I don’t know what level it is.

    Last year she played in the Pioneer League, another insurgent league, where she pitched 23 innings over 13 games with a 12.17 ERA

    I can’t find anything of her playing against women in baseball since 2019 so I’m curious how she compares with her peers.

    I really wonder why they used such an old picture of her and not something from when she played professional men’s ball just a year ago

    Edit: She actually has a BREF page! https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=whitmo000kel

  8. Watched her play with Staten Island Ferryhawks. Pumped about this. Anyone know, will this league play all of its game in one location or something?

  9. So cool. It’s awesome that we get both this and the AUSL softball league (which just officially partnered with MLB).

  10. They’re playing most of their games next year about 2 hours from where I live. Might have to pop over for a game or two.

  11. Will be interesting to see how the league fares considering the MLB is investing into the AUSL. Considering her college career and being pulled into softball despite only wanting to really play baseball, it’ll be interesting to see how the two leagues compete for talent if at all.

  12. Im REALLY hoping either the WPBL or AUSL will take off. The AUSL looks more promising tho with softball already being established as the women’s equivalent of baseball AND the backing they have from the MLB

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