MLB, USA Baseball announce 2023 Prospect Development Pipeline League rosters

By MLB/USA Baseball | June 25, 2023

CARY, N.C. – Major League Baseball and USA Baseball jointly announced the 100 players participating in the 2023 Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) League that will take place June 26–July 3 at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Part of the broader MLB and USA Baseball PDP, the event features the country’s best 18-and-under players and serves as the primary identification event for the 18U National Team. Thirty-one players in the PDP League will also compete in the MLB-USA Baseball High School All-American Game on July 7 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle during MLB All-Star Week.

The PDP League is an invitation-based development and assessment opportunity for high school players eligible for the following year’s MLB Draft. Since its inception in 2019, it provides athletes with an extraordinary amateur experience, including competitive gameplay, player development sessions, educational seminars and other programming to prepare players for a professional baseball career.

Two of this year’s PDP League games will be televised live on MLB Network, with every other matchup streaming live on MLB.com. MLB Network will broadcast the opening two contests of the event on June 27, with Team Light Blue taking on Team Gray at 1 p.m. ET and Team Navy battling Team Red at 4 p.m. ET.

‘We are excited to welcome some of the most talented players in the country to the National Training Complex this summer to kickstart the 18U National Team identification process,” said Brett Curll, USA Baseball’s 18U National Team Program Director. “We are looking forward to a great week of competitive play and identifying the forty young men who will be named to our 18U National Team Training Camp roster and compete for the chance to represent our country at the U-18 Baseball World Cup in Taiwan in September.”

The 100 participants will be split into four teams of 25 and go head-to-head in a series of intrasquad games. The rosters include 20 USA Baseball national team alumni and 33 past National Team Development Program (NTDP) participants, and feature athletes from 30 different states, as well as Puerto Rico. California leads the way with 20 players, while Florida boasts 15 to have the second-most players on the roster and Georgia has 10 for the third-most.

Twelve players will reunite at the PDP League after playing together on the 2022 18U National Team that won gold at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier, including all-tournament team selection Daniel Arambula (Yucaipa, Calif.), batting champion PJ Morlando (Summerville, S.C.), and three-time Team USA alum and gold medalist Michael Torres (Miami, Fla.). Along with Torres, seven other PDP League participants will be reunited at the event after playing together on the 2021 15U National Team.

Additionally, Arambula and Bryce Rainer (Simi Valley, Calif.) were teammates on the 2017 12U National Team that earned a gold medal at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup while Brock Thompson (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Torres were both members of the 2018 12U National Team that won it all at the COPABE U-12 Pan American Championships.

PDP League participants also include 31 alumni of premier, diversity-focused development programs led by MLB and USA Baseball, including the Breakthrough Series (BTS), DREAM Series (DS), and States Play (SP). The list, which also includes alumni of the Hank Aaron Invitational (HAI: co-hosted by MLB, the MLBPA and USA Baseball), is as follows:

After the PDP League, 40 players will be invited to the 18U National Team Training Camp from Aug. 21-25 at a location to be determined before the 20-man roster is named. The 18U National Team will compete at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup from Sept. 1-10 in Tainan, Taiwan.

For more information on the PDP League, follow @BaseballPDP on Twitter and Instagram or visit the PDP League website.

The 2023 PDP League participants are below. To view the four team rosters, click here.

(Name; Position; High School; Hometown)

^Denotes USA Baseball alum

*Denotes past USA Baseball NTDP participant

About USA Baseball

USA Baseball is the national governing body for baseball in the United States and is committed to serving, protecting, and supporting the game of baseball and its 15.6 million participants. Founded in 1978, USA Baseball fields six national teams annually and is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). On the diamond, USA Baseball is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and its national teams have won 67 gold medals in international competition. Off the field, the organization is dedicated to the proliferation and health of the sport through the creation and management of numerous development initiatives including BASE (Baseball Athlete Safety Education), Fun At Bat, Pitch Smart, PLAY BALL and the Prospect Development Pipeline. For more information on the organization, its national teams, and development-driven initiatives, visit the official website USABaseball.com or USABDevelops.com.

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