First-ever female baseball player added to MLB’s international registration list – NBCSports.com

In order to be signed on the international market, you first have to be added to Major League Baseball’s international registration list. You land on this list after having your identity and birthdate verified. It doesn’t mean anyone will sign you, of course, but it makes you eligible. And customarily, people are not placed on the list unless they are arguable signees of a certain baseball-paying quality.

Against that backdrop, here’s some news:

At noon on Sunday afternoon, a 16-year-old French girl made Major League Baseball history.

Melissa Mayeux, a shortstop on the French U-18 junior national team, became the first known female baseball player to be added to MLB’s international registration list, which means she will be eligible to be signed by a Major League club on July 2.

According to Lindsay Berra, the author of the linked story, it is unlikely that Mayeux will be signed.  But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have chops. MLB’s Director of International Game Development says she’s fluid in the field and she recently ripped a single off a Dominican pitcher who had 91 m.p.h heat, which is fast for their age group.

Who knows if Mayeux gets a second look. But I have to think at some point we’ll see a woman signed or drafted.