MLB Draft League
Collegiate summer baseball league / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The MLB Draft League is a baseball league that began play in 2021.[2] Created by Major League Baseball (MLB) and Prep Baseball Report, the league operates a split-season format of 80 games. For the first 30 games of the season, running from June 1 to July 4, the league operates as a collegiate summer baseball league to serve as a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects leading up to each summer's MLB draft.[2] After a break for the draft, play resumes for the remaining 50 games with paid players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility.[3]
Classification | Collegiate summer |
---|---|
Sport | Baseball |
Founded | 2021 |
Director | Sean Campbell[1] |
No. of teams | 6 |
Country | United States |
Most recent champion(s) | West Virginia Black Bears (2023) |
Most titles | West Virginia Black Bears (2) |
Official website | www.mlb.com/mlb-draft-league |
The league's six teams were formerly members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League, Eastern League, and Carolina League before MLB's reorganization of the minors for 2021.[4][5] In 2021, each team in the league played a 68-game regular season, with an All-Star Break taking place around the MLB draft.[6] The season was expanded to 80 games per team beginning in 2022.[7]