Major League Baseball announced Monday the creation of the MLB Draft League, a competition created for players to showcase their abilities ahead of the draft.
The league, which will feature only draft-eligible players looking to gain exposure, will have a 68-game season with an annual All-Star Break. It will begin ahead of the MLB draft, which will be moved from June to July in 2021. The reduction this offseason followed the expiration of the Professional Baseball Agreement, which governed the relationship between the majors and minors. MLB has planned to eliminate the separate governing body of minor league baseball.
The five founding teams are all clubs whose major league affiliations were dropped when MLB cut the number of minor league clubs from 160 to 120. The five teams include the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the State College Spikes, the Trenton Thunder, the West Virginia Black Bears and the Williamsport Crosscutters, while a sixth team is expected to be announced at a later date.
MLB’s executive vice president of baseball economics and operations Morgan Sword discussed the new league in a statement: “We are thrilled to partner with Prep Baseball Report and the founding members of the MLB Draft League to create a one-of-a-kind league that will attract the nation’s top players who are eligible for each year’s MLB Draft and allow local fans to see top prospects and future big-league stars in their hometowns. This announcement continues MLB’s commitment to preserving and growing baseball in communities around the United States.”
This MLB Draft League provides another option for amateur players to display their ability in front of scouts in addition to high school and college games in a wood-bat league.
Major League Baseball is doing something similar with the Appalachian League, which is transitioning from a rookie league into a developmental league for some of the nation’s top college freshmen and sophomores.
The MLB Draft League will be operated by Prep Baseball Report — a scouting, events, and media organization focused on youth baseball. Kerrick Jackson, a former Southern University head coach and ex-Washington Nationals regional scouting supervisor, has been named the league’s first president.
MLB also announced Monday that the eight-team Pioneer League will lose its affiliated status and become an independent “Partner League.” MLB has pledged to provide initial funding for operating expenses and will install scouting technology at Pioneer League parks.
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