For most ladies who play baseball in the USA, enjoying America’s pastime in an expert league has been little greater than a dream. But for a choose group of ladies, that dream is changing into a actuality.
The Girls’s Professional Baseball League started its inaugural season on Aug. 1, with the four-team league enjoying all of its video games in Springfield, In poor health., the place dozens of the 120 ladies who have been chosen within the league’s draft play professional ball. It’s the most anticipated ladies’s professional baseball league for the reason that All-American Ladies Skilled Baseball League disbanded in 1954.
However for a lot of gamers who have been chosen within the draft, which happened in November, the dream of getting paid to play baseball in the USA stays deferred.
Half of the draft class—principally gamers chosen within the first three rounds of the six-round occasion—have been signed to contracts shortly afterward. However a lot of the opposite half spent the subsequent six months listening to little or no from the league about what to anticipate subsequent.
After they did get communication from the WPBL, there have been obscure allusions to the potential for short-term contracts being signed through the season, putting them in a holding sample as to whether or not they must uproot their lives and transfer to Springfield. Even because the season has gone ahead, for some that holding sample has continued.
Defector spoke with greater than a dozen gamers—all of whom have been drafted however stay unsigned—they usually described a course of that was affected by extra than simply the same old hiccups and errors that may be anticipated from a startup league. The athletes detailed a near-total lack of communication from the WPBL after the draft about what they might anticipate. They stated modifications to the league construction have been introduced with little clarification, and a lot of the data they do have about what’s going on has been gleaned from social media. And since it is a new league, there isn’t a union to signify the gamers, a few of whom additionally don’t have brokers.
Defector tried to contact gamers who remained unsigned after the draft. We have been in a position to attain 14, most of whom agreed to talk however requested anonymity for worry of retaliation within the small world of high-level ladies’s baseball.
“It is onerous to speak negatively about this as a result of it is actually my dream,” a fourth-round draft choose informed Defector, “nevertheless it’s additionally true that there are such a lot of eyes on this league and there might be a lot extra care towards this.”
Defector reached out to the WPBL for remark. Via a spokesperson, the league gave solutions to a listing of questions we supplied. The solutions stated that the league had supplied “common” updates to gamers on prime of what was put out on social media, and that “so far as the league is aware of, the participant relations division responds to all participant inquiries.” When requested to supply a extra particular reply past “common,” the league declined to remark additional.
Defector reached out once more to a number of drafted however nonetheless unsigned gamers after listening to again from the WPBL. They disagreed with how the league portrayed its communications. “From my perspective, I do not suppose that’s correct,” one participant stated. “I’ve acquired data, nevertheless it has been the identical data that any fan would have acquired, not data given to me as a drafted participant.”
Defector additionally spoke to 6 signed gamers. They typically stated there have been quite a lot of bumps within the communication with the league, which they attributed to the traditional rising pains of a brand new league looking for its footing.
Regardless of an enormous increase in funding and a spotlight for girls’s sports activities lately, ladies’s baseball has lagged behind.
Most ladies get pushed out of baseball and into softball by the point they attain or end highschool, and for individuals who do keep within the sport, growth choices are restricted. A handful of nations have ladies’s nationwide baseball groups, together with the U.S., which hosts a coaching camp yearly. Nationwide groups do compete within the Girls’s Baseball World Cup, held roughly each two or three years, wherein the perfect ladies’s baseball gamers on this planet face off.
If there was something that made it appear to be the WPBL would work, it was the presence of Justine Siegal as co-founder and league commissioner. Siegal was the primary lady to teach skilled baseball and the primary lady to teach with a Main League Baseball crew, and based the group Baseball For All, which supplied alternatives and growth for ladies in baseball.
Shortly after the league was introduced, the WPBL additionally shared that former AAGPBL participant Maybelle Blair can be on the advisory board, giving the league much more goodwill. Blair, who’s 99 years outdated, has been an envoy for girls and ladies in baseball and is well-known within the ladies’s baseball world. She attends the whole lot from Baseball For All occasions to the Boston Purple Sox’ ladies’s fantasy camp within the spring, and she or he consulted on the Amazon Prime tv reboot of A League of Their Personal.
U.S. ladies’s nationwide baseball crew participant Alex Hugo was additionally introduced on to assist with expertise recruitment and growth.
When the league was initially introduced in 2024, there have been plans for six groups. The season was supposed to incorporate every crew enjoying in eight video games unfold over 4 regular-season weeks (two video games per week), together with an all-star competitors and two weeks for playoffs. These particulars ultimately modified. The league was reduce right down to 4 groups for the inaugural season. In the meantime, the schedule was expanded to suit 15 video games per crew right into a six-week common season, adopted by a two-week playoff.
When requested why the league modified from six to 4 groups, the WPBL informed Defector that having 4 groups was deemed to be the “most strategic and acceptable for gamers and the league.” As for the opposite modifications, they have been made to “greatest maximize fan engagement whereas prioritizing participant well being and security.”
Gamers informed Defector that they discovered about these modifications in actual time on social media, with the remainder of the world.
“Communication is the large factor,” a sixth-round draftee informed Defector. “That is the most important enchancment that I need to see personally as a participant, particularly from a league that you will be a part of—that is one thing you need to see.”
“Most of my updates have come by the WPBL’s social media channels, notably Instagram,” one fifth-round choose stated. “Naturally, I nonetheless have many questions, and at occasions it may be tough to know who to direct these inquiries to.”
Some gamers, comparable to Los Angeles Queens sixth-round choose Trinity Curtis, thought the extent of communication met expectations and was dealt with properly. Defector spoke with Curtis at a WPBL occasion in Stockton, Calif., the place athletes have been made obtainable to speak.
“There’s so many people ladies, so clearly it is gonna be form of tough to maintain everyone on the identical loop,” Curtis stated. “I believe they have been doing actually good with simply mass emails or telephone calls or textual content messages, no matter it could be, and simply ensuring that we’re all staying concerned, whether or not it is with the league or simply coaching on our personal.”
The timeline one fourth-rounder gave Defector went like this: She was informed in December of 2024 to anticipate some form of particulars quickly. She did get some data in April of 2025, which included details from an Instagram put up by the league. However full particulars of the tryouts, scheduled for Aug. 22–25 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., did not get to her till July. The tryout dates have been ultimately introduced, as soon as once more, on Instagram, by way of a video clip from CBS’s morning present.
“We have been informed [in December 2024] that tryouts can be ‘quickly,'” she stated. She works a full-time job and hadn’t performed a lot baseball since graduating highschool. “I overdid it and had overuse accidents because of attempting to prepare, after which being informed it was getting pushed and never being informed when it was going to be pushed to. All of that would have been averted.”
When Defector requested the WPBL why it gave so little discover for the tryouts, it stated in an announcement: “The league supplied practically two months’ advance discover for tryout dates and a location. As well as, the league accepted video submissions for gamers unable to attend.”
Even earlier than tryouts, the WPBL started saying signings of prime gamers. The primary was Kelsie Whitmore, a USWNT star pitcher who had performed skilled baseball in a number of impartial leagues. Different early signings included USWNT gamers Amanda Gianelloni, Kylee Lahners, and Valerie Perez; Little League World Sequence star Mo’ne Davis; and several other worldwide gamers like Japan’s Ayami Sato and Canada’s Alli Schroder.
When the tryouts ultimately occurred, greater than 600 gamers reportedly attended. Afterward, a sure variety of gamers have been made eligible for the draft later within the 12 months. There have been additionally some gamers who have been unable to attend tryouts however have been scouted at different occasions, like USA Baseball ladies’s crew occasions. These scouted gamers have been additionally eligible to be drafted, in keeping with one signed participant.
On Sept. 3, draft-eligible gamers have been informed by way of electronic mail that the draft can be held in October or November and would “possible require your distant participation.”
Gamers stayed hopeful that, as soon as the league acquired underway and groups have been chosen, issues would go extra easily.
The official draft happened in November 2025. There have been 4 groups, and every had 5 picks per spherical. There have been six rounds, for a complete of 120 gamers drafted. The draft, streamed on YouTube, opened with a video message from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and was hosted by baseball stadium announcer CJ Silas. All gamers had already been chosen, and the primary 11 picks submitted movies sharing their response and pleasure at being drafted.
The day after the draft, all drafted gamers acquired an electronic mail from the WPBL congratulating them and telling them to remain tuned for extra particulars “within the coming weeks.” However in keeping with a number of of the late-round draftees that Defector spoke with, no data got here after that. A number of gamers say they reached out to the league straight for extra particulars about in the event that they is likely to be signed; of the unsigned draftees who spoke to Defector, just one stated they acquired a response.
“I used to be drafted [in the fourth round] so I figured I used to be shut, after which I occurred to see a participant I am pals with put up on her Instagram that she acquired her contract supply and signing bonus earlier than Christmas, which is how I discovered they have been sending contracts,” a participant stated.
In its checklist of solutions, the league stated, “The WPBL has communicated with gamers from the final three rounds a number of occasions with common updates being supplied together with letting them know about how there shall be call-ups through the season.” When requested to supply extra concrete examples past “common,” the league declined to remark additional.
When Defector relayed the league’s response to 1 unsigned draft choose, she replied, “That doesn’t really feel true from my expertise,” and supplied copies of two emails, one from January and one other from June. In between that point interval, the participant stated, she acquired nothing. She additionally stated she had acquired no communication since that point, not even an electronic mail that later went out to some gamers in Might.
Some gamers have been faculty seniors once they have been drafted, in order that they began making use of for jobs till that they had a solution. Others already had full-time jobs and lives they must navigate if known as to go to Springfield.
“They stated they’d supply short-term contracts as issues [like injuries] come up, however you possibly can’t simply depart your life the subsequent day,” one participant stated.
Between January and Might, unsigned gamers who spoke to Defector described receiving little or no communication about what to anticipate. Communication picked up a bit in Might with an electronic mail from the league.
“We wish to present an replace relating to your function as a drafted participant with out a present roster spot,” the e-mail said. “Please remember that roster spots will change into obtainable all through the season because of accidents, nationwide crew commitments, or different absences. When a spot must be crammed in, an unsigned participant shall be supplied a short-term contract during that emptiness.”
Receiving the e-mail, with a couple of months till the season was set to begin, didn’t quell many issues. After the Might electronic mail, communication picked up considerably, however principally to ask athletes to occasions.
“I have been pissed off with the dearth of communication between administration and gamers, notably as a result of it is such a small group of admin and I really feel like they’ve gotten to know all of us,” a fourth-round choose stated. “But it surely looks like precedence gamers they knew previous to draft are taken care of and different gamers are the final thought.”
“It may be a little bit tough to form of simply drop the whole lot,” stated sixth-round choose Curtis, who works in actual property, “nevertheless it’s additionally a blessing having that, as a result of I might take a pause. It must be a little bit prematurely [notice] for me.”
The WPBL informed Defector that gamers signed to short-term contracts would have their transportation and immigration prices coated by the league. When requested if gamers would ever be given a deadline for being known as as much as the league, the WPBL stated callups might occur at any time all through the season.
There is also stress on athletes to remain silent about any issues, a typical angle round upstart ladies’s sports activities leagues, the place athletes really feel something destructive might destroy a brand new alternative. Whitmore, the No. 1 general draft choose, left a remark underneath one Instagram put up from an influencer sharing her issues in regards to the league’s broadcast deal, saying individuals wanted to remain optimistic.
“It is the primary 12 months for the league, there may be at all times going to be setbacks or errors. Nevertheless, as a participant on this league, actually hoping we will rally up the troops of extra assist than speaking about any negatives,” Whitmore wrote. “Talking positively in regards to the league and the way forward for it’s what we’d like greater than ever for girls’s baseball.”
When a commenter pushed again on Whitmore, saying he shared the identical issues in regards to the broadcast deal, she replied: “Nah brother—we’re grateful for a league. Constructive vibes solely.”
In response to Defector, the WPBL stated: “The league has by no means requested gamers to remain optimistic. The league is at all times receptive to suggestions from gamers.”
Even for these gamers who’ve a contract, there have been difficulties.
These ladies is not going to get wealthy enjoying for the WPBL. The wage for gamers is $300 to $500 per sport, in keeping with a league spokesperson. The league informed Defector that dwelling prices are coated and gamers additionally would obtain a reduce of sponsorships, however it could not present particular figures. It did add that it’s “at all times centered on maximizing all elements of the participant expertise and it is the league’s hope that compensation will improve sooner or later.” (The league wouldn’t present any data on coaches’ salaries.)
For comparability, gamers like first-round draftees Whitmore, Davis, Ashton Lansdell, and Denae Benites performed in Banana Ball main as much as the season, the place salaries are reported to achieve into the six figures.
“Each time I speak about it, somebody’s like, ‘Oh, there is a new league?'” stated Alyssa Zettlemoyer, a second-round draft choose signed to the New York Heights. “I inform them about it they usually’re like, ‘So that you play skilled softball?'”
Zettlemoyer additionally spoke with a Defector reporter on the WPBL fan fest occasion in Stockton, the place gamers have been made obtainable to talk with the media. She stated she goes into the dialog explaining that there’s, certainly, an expert baseball league for girls now.
“I do know it is the primary 12 months of the league they usually’re attempting to get the whole lot actually rolling,” unsigned sixth-rounder Arwen McCullough stated on the similar occasion. “I am trying ahead to seeing much more PR and much more occasions like this to actually get the thrill up.”
And the onus was on the gamers to point out up for the season able to play. One iteration of the league’s FAQ web page previous to the draft, since deleted from the web, stated gamers would get a four-day coaching interval earlier than the common season to get into form with their groups. When requested in regards to the 4 days, the WPBL stated it really supplied one week of coaching, and it believed “the on-field product has been glorious, with gamers competing at an exceptionally excessive degree.” The league additionally cited the truth that “many gamers have been enjoying in tournaments collectively proper earlier than league’s coaching camp.”
Gamers who’re in Banana Ball this season started the WPBL season with a bonus, as that they had already been enjoying professional baseball. USWNT gamers attended two four-day coaching camps in June and July, previous to a set of Girls’s Baseball World Cup group-stage video games which happened close to the top of July. Worldwide gamers who play for his or her nation’s nationwide crew got here in recent off the WBWC. Some athletes work in baseball—just like the Boston Hunters’ Beth Greenwood, who coaches at Vassar School—which provides them entry to amenities.
However many others are scraping collectively coaching regimens on their very own, some with out even a assure of a roster spot. A fifth-round participant informed Defector that she has been coaching on daily basis for the reason that draft for the chance that she is going to get to play this season. As of publication, she stays unsigned.
Katie Reynolds, a fourth-round draft choose for San Francisco who’s at the moment unsigned, stated she’s been staying prepared with assist from her father. A reporter with Defector spoke along with her at a WPBL occasion in Brockton, Mass., when athletes have been made obtainable to talk with the media.
“I have never been getting quite a lot of reside hitters with my pitching, however I am working alone time,” Reynolds stated. “My dad has been my catcher since I used to be 9 years outdated, so he and I’ve been like, after we’re residence from work, ‘Hey, it is likely to be form of darkish, however let’s get on the market.’ We throw just about each different day, or not less than, we attempt to.”
At a preseason occasion in July, Siegal informed Defector the league needs to supply extra alternatives to all drafted gamers sooner or later. “We wish to develop our growth choices to gamers, each who’re signed and unsigned, so we will elevate our league altogether,” she stated.
Within the run-up to the season, the WPBL held Countdown Tour occasions to generate pleasure. The Countdown Tour featured each signed and unsigned gamers, and even for gamers chosen to take part in these occasions, they stated the invite did not come till per week or two beforehand.
The Boston occasion was held in Brockton at Campanelli Stadium, residence of the Brockton Rox, a Frontier League crew. One of many unsigned gamers who participated within the occasion was Reynolds, a local of Belmont, Mass. “I like to think about this as nearly like even a second tryout,” Reynolds stated. “I am not signed but, so any alternative to show that I am able to play and show that I am good to go is an efficient alternative to me.”
Reynolds additionally appeared alongside Greenwood the evening earlier than the Brockton occasion because the pair threw out the primary pitch at Fenway Park earlier than a Boston Purple Sox sport. Siegal stated that it was at all times a part of the plan to make sure that unsigned gamers have been in a position to take part in league-related occasions.
“They have been drafted, in order that they’re now a part of our group and a part of our league, and I believe that all of them has an opportunity to be on our closing roster,” Siegal stated. “You may have to name anyone up, if not for the season, possibly for a weekend. You by no means know when your title may get known as, in order that they’re all working onerous, preparing for that second which will or could not come. And if it would not come this 12 months, they’re already on the radar for subsequent.”
The WPBL is a personal firm, so little is public about its funds. In April of 2025, the league introduced that the enterprise capital agency Muse Capital’s sports activities funding and advisory arm had been named to its advisory panel. Preliminary funding for the league was raised by Sequence A funding and was anticipated to be at round $3 million.
The place is all this cash getting used? Not a lot goes to the signed gamers. It is also not going to each single individual working for the groups. Earlier this 12 months, the league marketed unpaid internships for roles which can be usually full-time and salaried in skilled baseball, comparable to clubhouse supervisor and stadium operations. Siegal additionally marketed the job listings on her LinkedIn. When requested in regards to the unpaid internships, the league informed Defector: “All WPBL jobs are paid.” When Defector requested for clarification, the league declined to remark additional.
Getting solutions to this and different questions has been tough for these reporters, as a result of the league offers extraordinarily restricted media entry. Again in Might 2025, the league introduced a partnership with Fremantle, the manufacturing firm behind America’s Obtained Expertise. The deal, per a press launch, was for Fremantle to “present growth, manufacturing, distribution, digital, sponsorship illustration, licensing and advertising partnership assist throughout the league.” Followers have been informed to anticipate “documentaries, behind-the-scenes moments and authentic content material.” Additionally they introduced on Natalie Mikolich of the Ingredient M PR company to run media communications.
However for media members attempting to cowl the WPBL, they hit partitions. One longtime sports activities journalist informed Defector that, after they’d personally secured an interview with Siegal, Mikolich stopped responding to emails to rearrange the protection.
Autostraddle, a queer ladies’s publication, reached out to ask about placing three WPBL gamers on the quilt of the autumn problem of its print journal, which is themed round sports activities. (One of many reporters on this text, Frankie de la Cretaz, was on the e-mail thread because the meant author on the story.) However after two months with out a clear reply from Mikolich about participant entry, the publication was compelled to assign a distinct story to the quilt.
The Countdown Tour occasions are supposed to be fan fests, the place spectators can watch these ladies do infield drills and batting follow earlier than getting to satisfy them in an autograph line. On the occasions in Brockton and Stockton, little to no different media was current, and fan turnout was low regardless of these being the one possibilities to see these gamers in individual for followers in native markets who cannot afford journey to Springfield. Followers complained on the WPBL’s social media that they hadn’t seen any promotion of the occasions, and a person on the Brockton occasion was tagging native Boston media on Twitter within the hopes they might cowl it.
For months previous to the season, the league marketed that its video games can be obtainable to stream on YouTube. However simply two days earlier than the season was set to start, the WPBL introduced a media rights take care of ESPN and Scripps Sports activities Community to air video games. The video games can be streaming on ESPN Choose for followers in the USA. Anybody outdoors the U.S. might nonetheless watch on YouTube.
Followers expressed their frustration on the video games being much less accessible than beforehand thought, however this announcement left bars that hoped to point out the video games in a specific bind. The league had introduced that ladies’s sports activities bars throughout the nation can be airing video games on Opening Weekend. The video games might be watched by followers at residence on their ESPN+ accounts, however that would not be of use to sports activities bars that wished to point out the video games, as ESPN Choose wasn’t but obtainable for business streaming.
Broadcast TV rights for public viewing, like at a bar or restaurant, are separate from at-home viewing. Shifting the video games to broadcasting companies not included in any business streaming packages meant that bar homeowners who relied on it stated they could not legally present WPBL video games.
One bar proprietor stated that once they reached out to the league to ask for steerage, they got written permission to air the sport—although they expressed doubts that the WPBL might legally try this—and have been reassured that there have been “sure video games obtainable for business broadcast.”
One other bar proprietor informed Defector: “It was wildly hectic and added further work for us to attempt to determine it out throughout service … This put bars in a tough place as a result of schedules and watch events are marketed prematurely.”
Lastly, on Aug. 7, bar homeowners stated they have been in a position to entry WPBL video games by their EverPass accounts, a streaming service utilized by bars all around the nation to point out reside sports activities.
“It is irritating, I want that they had saved it extra accessible [on YouTube] so companies might get confidence that they might get crowds for these video games,” Cheyenne Gherardi, the proprietor of Mazzy’s in Mount Vernon, N.Y., informed Defector. “I am completely happy they got here to an settlement with EverPass for streaming as a result of now I will not be confused about the best technique to present it, however not prioritizing accessibility for individuals who need to assist the league is disappointing.”
When requested in regards to the problem of bars not with the ability to legally present the video games, the WPBL informed Defector that it was “working to be sure that as many individuals as attainable can tune in to observe this season and is working to permit sports activities bars to legally stream the video games with ESPN Choose.”
The problems have continued. Three video games into the season, Boston’s coach, Purple Sox postseason hero Keith Foulke, was fired. The announcement happened half-hour earlier than a Boston sport. Foulke informed the Boston Globe that he believed the issue was his commute to Illinois from Arizona, the place he lives. Siegal stated it occurred as a result of Foulke was a foul “match” for the crew, and the league wished a coach who might join higher with youthful gamers.
The standard of the printed has suffered as properly. Followers watched an hour of useless air on Opening Day throughout a rain delay, and different first-weekend points included continuously misidentifying gamers and calling performs incorrectly. Points with the on-screen scorebug endured for over per week; the quantity and site of runners on base have been unsuitable very often, which may make it tough to comply with alongside watching at residence.
Regardless of all of the bumps within the highway and a few gamers feeling disrespected or discarded by the league, it stays tough for a lot of of them to criticize the WPBL. Lots of the gamers who spoke to Defector, even when pissed off, made certain to say they have been grateful for the chance to be drafted. There’s a worry that talking negatively in regards to the league in public will tarnish its popularity or wreck its probability for fulfillment.
Above the whole lot, these gamers need to see the WPBL succeed so that ladies could have a chance to make a dwelling enjoying hardball.
“I’ve stopped seeing [being unsigned] as a failure and have began seeing it as a part of the method to maintain making ready myself and enhancing, in case the chance to play comes sooner or later,” one draftee stated.
Others, even when conflicted, hoped that talking up would finally have a optimistic influence and alter a number of the WPBL’s points for the higher.
“I’m tremendous understanding of a brand new league attempting to determine all of the kinks,” one participant stated. “I am additionally vital as a result of that is the time for girls’s sports activities, they usually should know there are going to be so many eyes on this and so many individuals who can communicate critically of their growth of this league.”
As one fourth-rounder stated, “We could be affected person for progress.”
