Kelsie Whitmore is top pick, Mo'ne
Davis selected 10th in 1st Women's Pro Baseball League draft
[November 21, 2025]
Pitcher and outfielder Kelsie Whitmore is returning to
familiar surroundings after being selected by San Francisco with the
first pick in the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League draft on
Thursday night.
Mo'ne Davis, meantime, had to wait until the 10th pick before being
selected by Los Angeles. The 24-year-old Davis, who's from
Philadelphia, competed at the 2014 Little League World Series at age
13 and became the first girl to win a game and pitch a shutout.
Whitmore is from San Diego and made her professional debut in the
Bay Area with a coed team, the Sonoma Stompers, in 2016. The
27-year-old has won two silver medals representing the United States
at the Women’s Baseball World Cup and won gold at the 2015 Pan-Am
Games in Toronto.
“You ask a 6-year-old version of me about this opportunity happening
right now, she would, one, probably not believe you, but, two, just
be so, so, so, so excited for it,” said Whitmore, who in 2022 signed
with the Staten Island FerryHawks, becoming the first woman to
compete in pro baseball’s Atlantic League. She played for the
Savannah Bananas this season.
Whitmore was among 120 players selected in the six-round draft that
also included teams representing New York and Boston.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred opened the draft by
congratulating the WPBL for its launch. The league is scheduled to
begin play on Aug. 1.
Each team made five picks per round, with the order of selection
determined by a random draw. Teams will cut their 30-player rosters
to 15 for the start of the season.
Japan’s Ayami Sato went No. 2 to Los Angeles. The 35-year-old
right-hander is a five-time World Cup winner and the only player to
earn three tournament MVP honors.
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Mo'ne Davis warms up during the fourth day of tryouts for the
Women's Professional Baseball League, Aug. 25, 2025, at Nationals
Park in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
New York selected U.S. infielder Kylee Lahners with
the third pick. Boston chose South Korean catcher Hyeonah Kim at No.
4.
The startup league had a four-day tryout camp in Washington this
summer with more than 600 hopefuls on hand.
The league is scheduled to play all of its games at Robin Roberts
Stadium in Springville, Illinois. Teams will be based there over a
seven-week season, split up into a four-week regular season, a week
for all-star activities and a two-week playoff.
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 pro baseball league for women since the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — immortalized in
the film “A League of Their Own” — dissolved in 1954.
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