The Oakland Ballers sign three players, including the first woman to sign with the MLB affiliate

The Oakland Ballers independent baseball team signed three players following its open tryout last weekend at Laney College in Oakland, including the first woman to ever sign a professional contract with a Major League Baseball affiliate team.

Right-handed pitcher Kelsie Whitmore, infielder Andrew Martinez and right-handed pitcher Connor Caporale will participate in the team's spring training in May.

Whitmore, of Temecula, Southern California, made history in 2022 when she became the first woman to sign a professional contract with an MLB affiliate league team as a member of the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League.

Whitmore's first professional baseball appearances came in Northern California when he played for the Sonoma Stompers in 2016–2017.

Martinez, a San Francisco native who attended St. Francis High School, was drafted twice by UC Santa Barbara – first by Miami in the 33rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft and then by Baltimore in the 24th round in 2019. He spent three years in the Baltimore system, reaching Class High-A Aberdeen before spending the 2022 and 2023 seasons in independent leagues.

A Vacaville native, Caporale spent his college career at Simpson University in Redding. Caporale spent the summer of 2023 in the Coastal Plain League with the Wilson Tobs in North Carolina before gaining his first professional experience with the Westside Woolly Mammoths of the United Shores League in Michigan.

The Ballers now have 31 players under contract heading into spring training. The Pioneer League, which the Ballers have joined, will hold another league tryout camp April 16-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona. All 12 PBL teams will be in attendance and the Ballers have the first overall pick in the camp's draft.

For more information about the camp, visit www.pioneerleague.com. For more information about the Ballers, visit www.oaklandballers.com.