An inside look at MLB's Creator Class
Major League Baseball introduced the MLB Creator Class in 2021, partnering with some of the most talented content creators on TikTok and Instagram for them to become MLB brand ambassadors.
The league created the #MLBCreatorClass hashtag and assembled a roster of social media personalities to work with MLB on creative content that highlights Major League Baseball, its star players and the game as a whole. The Creator Class is a big part of MLB's efforts to reach younger, more diverse fans, and it brings baseball to them, on the media they're already consuming.
"The Creator Class was developed to leverage the content being produced and amplifying it to audiences beyond our core fans," said Megan Reilly, MLB's manager of creator marketing, who spearheads the MLB Creator Class initiative. "It makes baseball more accessible and generates season-long buzz across social media, hopefully to inspire a deeper relationship between the casual fan and the game."
MLB’s inaugural Creator Class launched in 2021, the first program of its kind to offer creators unique access and opportunities to showcase MLB's premier events, stars and experiences on their platforms and followings as well as the league’s. Since its inception, the Creator Class program has only grown. It's now entering its third season, with the new "Starting 9" lineup of content creators recently announced for 2023.
"These creators, we've chosen them because they have content across various topics and themes connected to baseball that new and casual fans can connect with, like food, music, fashion and a lot of baseball storylines that can take place on and off the field."
The MLB Creator Class' content includes posting about MLB during the season and promoting the game at MLB jewel events like the All-Star Game, the World Series and the World Baseball Classic.
By the end of 2022, posts under the #MLBCreatorClass hashtag had reached 217 million views on TikTok.
"The hashtag across social platforms has overperformed over each season since the beginning of the program," Reilly said. "The engagement from followers that are part of the Gen Z and millennial audience has been great … We see within comments, and just overall engagement of likes and shares on videos, that this is causing education and also excitement of things that previously weren't highlighted in such a consumable and relatable way.
"We've noticed that our creators have allowed baseball content to reach that new fan that maybe wasn't experiencing our jewel events, or behind-the-scenes looks at what happens in a ballpark. It's been a really unique way to tell those stories and has performed really well across a large portion of our target audiences."
The popularity of the MLB Creator Class has generated ideas of expanding to individual Major League clubs, who've expressed interest in developing a content creation program in their markets, and to MLB International, with interest from countries like Japan and Mexico toward bringing a similar program there.
"We now look to globalize and evolve our Creator Class to ensure that MLB continues to set that standard," Reilly said. "Which is really exciting. We want to get ahead of the curve."
Here's a look at each of the MLB Creator Classes -- a preview of the Class of 2023, the highlights of the Class of 2022 and an update on the Class of 2021.
MLB CREATOR CLASS OF 2023
The newest Creator Class comes from all categories of content creation and has the largest built-in following of any Creator Class to date.
Entering the 2023 MLB season, the Starting 9 creators had over 16.7 million followers on TikTok between them, and their videos have over 426 million views.
Here are the creators of the 2023 Creator Class. (Follower counts are entering the MLB season.)
Jenna Bandy -- @jennabandy21
Creator type: Sports and lifestyle
TikTok followers: 1.3 million
Instagram followers: 667,000
A multisport athlete from a baseball family -- her brother Jett played for the Angels and Brewers -- Bandy also just so happens to hold the Guiness World Record as the woman to throw a football the farthest into a target. Her positive and energetic content does a great job reaching an audience of female (92%) sports fans spread across all age demographics.
Lauren Burke -- @laurenburke00 (TikTok) / @laurenburke5 (Instagram)
Creator type: Sports and lifestyle
TikTok followers: 845,500
Instagram followers: 198,000
Burke played NCAA Division 1 softball for Texas, where she batted .311 with 10 home runs in her collegiate career. Now her posts help her young audience get in the game -- Burke's audience is 15% under 18 and 50% 18-to-24, and she gets lots of TikTok engagement (12%).
Imani Carrier -- @juneelite_ (TikTok) / @juneelite (Instagram)
Creator type: Fashion and dance
TikTok followers: 797,300
Instagram followers: 677,000
Carrier, who goes by Junebug, is a California native whose posts often feature him dancing in public. His audience skews toward males (62%) in the 18-to-34 age range (85%).
Kevin Cooney -- @kevincooneyy
Creator type: Comedy and lifestyle
TikTok followers: 984,400
Instagram followers: 81,900
Cooney is a Boston-based TikTokker who also hosts the No Limits podcast, where he interviews influencers, athletes, entrepreneurs and entertainers. He's ready for Red Sox Opening Day.
Emmanuel Duverneau -- @emmanuelduverneau (TikTok) / @emmanuel.duverneau (Instagram)
Creator type: Food
TikTok followers: 3.7 million
Instagram followers: 270,000
Duverneau has the largest pre-existing following on TikTok of anyone in the 2023 Creator Class. He's a home cook creator who loves to experiment in the kitchen and posts recipes for aspiring chefs. His audience is balanced both between male (57%) and female (43%) and 18-to-24s (37%) and 25-to-34s (44%).
Jesus Garcia (Mr. Chuy) -- @mrchuy
Creator type: Comedy
TikTok followers: 3.1 million
Instagram followers: 860,000
"Mr. Chuy" is a comedian and Latin social media personality from the Bay Area whose skits on TikTok and Instagram and vlogs on YouTube have built him a large audience, especially on TikTok. He frequently attends big events like movie premieres and major sports games.
Daniela Legarda -- @danielalegardaoficial (TikTok) / @DANIELALEGARDA (Instagram)
Creator type: Lifestyle and fashion
TikTok followers: 2.4 million
Instagram followers: 3.4 million
Legarda has the most total followers of the 2023 MLB Creator Class. Her audience is largely female (83%) and in the 18-to-34 age range (85%). The Colombian fashion, makeup and lifestyle creator often brings her style to red carpet events.
Jack Mancuso -- @chefcuso
Creator type: Food
TikTok followers: 2.9 million
Instagram followers: 574,000
On his TikTok, New York's "CEO of Steak" showcases gameday grub, tailgate food and more. His food content draws solid engagement rates (12%) from a mainly male audience (77%) that reaches middle-aged viewers (24% age 35-to-44) more than most of the Creator Class.
Tyler Williams -- @averagetyler (TikTok) / @averagetyler615 (Instagram)
Creator type: Lifestyle and comedy
TikTok followers: 694,900
Instagram followers: 201,000
Based in Nashville, Williams finds ways to add humor to everyday situations. His TikToks currently generate some of the highest engagement of the 2023 Creator Class (16.8% engagement rate) and reach a strongly female audience (85%) in the 18-to-34 age group (83%).
MLB CREATOR CLASS OF 2022
The second MLB Creator Class was the first to feature a "Starting 9," with the creators selected including gamers, foodies, baseball and softball players and more.
The content they created helped shape MLB's goals for the 2023 and future Creator Classes.
Reilly said: "What we're really trying to replicate this year from previous years are things like stadium tours, where fans get to see behind-the-scenes of various ballpark operations or areas of the ballpark they previously didn't know existed. Introductions to players in a more relatable fashion. Food content performs really well and allows for engagement and comments from their followers that now want to try menu items they did not previously know existed."
Here are the highlights of the 2022 Creator Class. (TikTok data is entering 2023 MLB season.)
José Xavier López Ayala -- @jxgamiing
TikTok followers: 59,000
TikTok likes: 1.5 million
JX Gaming specializes in MLB The Show content for a Hispanic audience, including large segments in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. He surveys baseball stars about gaming at MLB events and posts about Latin American baseball, including the highlights of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Top MLB Creator Class post: Asking MLB players "Xbox or PlayStation?" at the World Series (338,400 views / 25,500 likes)
Riley Chavez -- @RileyKimoraa
TikTok followers: 99,600
TikTok likes: 2.2 million
Chavez is a one-handed softball player and artist who brings fashion to sports while reaching a young female audience with high TikTok engagement. Her popular MLB Creator Class videos included her taking her non-baseball-fan best friend to a game and MLB All-Stars autographing her jacket at All-Star Week.
Top MLB Creator Class post: Playing softball with one hand and painting MLB logos (1.4 million views, 261,900 likes)
Sal DiBenedetto -- @TheGrubfather
TikTok followers: 27,500
TikTok likes: 509,500
"The Grubfather" is a New York-Italian food and travel influencer whose gameday grub recipes, like smashburger egg rolls for the World Series, were the highlight of his MLB Creator Class content.
Top MLB Creator Class post: Chicken parm egg roll gameday grub recipe for watching the MLB playoffs (497,400 views, 35,800 likes)
Jack Dolan -- @Nameless.James
TikTok followers: 952,600
TikTok likes: 35.5 million
With the MLB Creator Class, Dolan combined baseball with his popular millennial nostalgia and throwback music content, posting Tiktoks about what his walk-up song would be for different MLB teams based on their city, and what it would be depending on the position he played.
Top MLB Creator Class post: Why his walk-up song would be "Temperature" by Sean Paul (994,400 views, 167,300 likes)
Bryan Francisco -- @BryanPrimeTime
TikTok followers: 12,900
TikTok likes: 145,400
Francisco used his filmmaking and visual effects skills to make an awesome MLB Creator Class submission. His goal: "grab my backpack and create something amazing wherever I go," whether it's on his phone or a high-end camera. Often, that means going to an MLB game.
Top MLB Creator Class post: "How I shot this epic home run scene" (480,900 views, 28,900 likes)
Caleb Green -- @Chayyy_Luppp
TikTok followers: 219,300
TikTok likes: 9.2 million
Green's viral baseball content can come from a player perspective (this video of different types of outfielders catching a fly ball has over 2 1/2 million views) or a professional perspective, like when he emulates MLB Network analysts (here he is breaking down Giancarlo Stanton, with about 300,000 views).
Top MLB Creator Class post: "MLB Network analysis be like" for different swings (627,200 views, 111,200 likes)
Marika Lyszczyk -- @MarikaLyszczyk
TikTok followers: 86,800
TikTok likes: 4.6 million
Lyszczyk is a college baseball player at Sonoma State, one of the ever-growing number of women in college baseball. She posts about her experience being the only woman on the baseball team and her hopes for women playing baseball, and she went viral when she reacted to a video combining her pitching with José Bautista's iconic bat flip.
Top MLB Creator Class post: "POV: You're the only woman on your college baseball team" (1.5 million views, 208,100 likes)
Jay Mendoza -- @JayMendoza
TikTok followers: 1.2 million
TikTok likes: 28.1 million
Mendoza is a California comedian with a love of sports who makes family-friendly content about being a Hispanic dad and life in Los Angeles. He combines baseball with Hispanic culture, like when he ran through the "elotes" at the MLB Field Of Dreams game.
Top MLB Creator Class post: Seeing Bad Bunny at the Celebrity Softball Game at the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium (151,800 views, 27,100 likes)
Natalie Rose -- @NNApples
TikTok followers: 2.7 million
TikTok likes: 116.2 million
Rose dances her way through different jobs across the country in her highly popular "What's my job?" videos. With the MLB Creator Class, those jobs naturally extended to baseball. She's up to try anything, whether it's throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game at Wrigley Field after Harold Reynolds taught her how to throw a baseball, dancing with Braves mascot Blooper, rating Yankee Stadium ballpark food, asking MLB All-Stars all the hard questions or documenting the media scene at the World Series.
Top MLB Creator Class post: "What's my job?" dance, MLB umpire edition (2.5 million views, 239,700 likes)
MLB CREATOR CLASS OF 2021
The first Creator Class featured 11 content creators picked by MLB out of thousands of applicants.
They haven't stopped posting about baseball since their Creator Class season, either.
Like Savannah Bananas player and ballpark food critic Jackson Olson, one of the most prominent MLB ambassadors to come through the creator class. Or MLB The Show streamer AJ Rodriguez. Or Ira Doring, who put the Creator Class on his resume and ended up doing social media for USA Baseball at the World Baseball Classic.
"I think there's really great opportunities outside of the time that they work with us to continue to represent baseball and be a spokesperson for MLB and baseball in general," Reilly said. "And also, we are looking to continue to work with our alumni of the program as faces and voices of the game."
Here's where you can find members of the 2021 Creator Class. (TikTok data is entering 2023 MLB season.)
Ira Dorin -- @rbira
TikTok followers: 95,100
TikTok likes: 5 million
Trevor Fahnstrom -- @trevorfahnstrom
TikTok followers: 417,000
TikTok likes: 22.6 million
Felipe Mendez González -- @yosoyphillip
TikTok followers: 537,800
TikTok likes: 8.4 million
Caitlin Hendricks -- @caitlin_hendricks
TikTok followers: 78,100
TikTok likes: 4.2 million
Laurence Marsach -- @larryjamel (Instagram)
Instagram followers: 275,000
Justin Matias -- @ferriswheeljay
TikTok followers: 101,200
TikTok likes: 2.7 million
Justice Mojica -- @lgndfrvr
TikTok followers: 18.5 million
TikTok likes: 471.9 million
Jackson Olson -- @jacksonolson_
TikTok followers: 1 million
TikTok likes: 50.9 million
Jose Peña -- @baseballdad1323
TikTok followers: 261,500
TikTok likes: 8 million
AJ Rodriguez -- @littlemann17
TikTok followers: 722,600
TikTok likes: 24.6 million