History was made on Thursday night, as the Women’s Professional Baseball League held its inaugural draft ahead of the 2026 season on YouTube. Fourteen players who have represented the red, white, and blue as a part of the Women’s National Team heard their name called.
Nine-time alum Kelsie Whitmore added to her long list of firsts in women’s baseball, as she was selected No. 1 overall to San Francisco. She was followed by five-time alum Kylee Lahners (No. 3, New York), four-time alum Denae Benites (No. 6, New York), and five-time alums Ashton Lansdell (No. 7, Los Angeles) and Amanda Gianelloni (No. 8, San Francisco) to give the program five players taken in the first 10 picks of the Draft.
Eight-time alum Meggie Meidlinger (No. 15, Los Angeles), three-time alum Jillian Albayati (No. 16, San Francisco), and 2023 Women’s National Team member London Studer (No. 19, New York) rounded out the Women’s National Team alumni who were selected in the first round.
Additionally, Kate Blunt (No. 21, Boston), Jamie Mackay (No. 23, Los Angeles), Nicki Eckert (No. 25 San Francisco), and Alexia Jorge (No. 40, San Francisco) heard their names called in the second round, Beth Greenwood (No. 53, Boston) was taken in the third round, and Brittany Womack (No. 106, Los Angeles) was selected in the sixth round. Blunt and Eckert are three-time alums, Greenwood and Jorge have played for the Women’s National Team two times each, while Mackay and Womack played together on the 2019 squad.
The inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League Draft featured six rounds, with each team selecting four players apiece in each round. The season is set to begin August 1, 2026, and will run through the second half of September. The League’s debut season will feature four teams - Los Angeles, New York, Boston and San Francisco - and will be held at the historic Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.
