MLB: Can a Woman Play in the Major Leagues?
Are they right about this? History would suggest that they are. I recently wrote about the female players who formerly played with men in professional baseball. Back in the 1950s, there were three African American women who played in the Negro Leagues. That was so long ago and the record-keeping at the time was shoddy at best, so it’s hard to look back at those three women for guidance on whether a woman could compete in professional baseball today.
There are two more recent examples. Ila Borders was a left-hander who pitched for four teams in two different independent leagues from 1997 to 2000. She pitched 101.3 professional innings and had a 7.90 ERA and 1.86 WHIP. She struck out 3.2 batters per nine innings and walked 3.5 batters per nine. Obviously, those are not the numbers of a prized prospect.
Despite her overall numbers, Borders did have one very good stretch as a three-inning starter for the Madison Black Wolf of the Northern League in 1999. She started 12 of 15 games, throwing 32.3 innings with a 1.67 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Even during this good stretch, though, Borders struck out just 2.2 batters per nine innings.
Without the velocity of a typical pitching prospect, Borders relied on breaking balls and control to get hitters out. Her fastball was generally in the 76-79 mph range, with a peak just over 80. During her best season, she had some success by occasionally dropping down with a sidearm delivery.
Ten years after Borders pitched her final season, another woman pitched in an independent league in the U.S. Before coming to the U.S., Eri Yoshida was the first female drafted by a Japanese men’s professional team. She was 16 at the time and had taught herself to throw a knuckleball when she was 14 years old after watching MLB pitcher Tim Wakefield on television. She pitched for two years in Japan before coming to the U.S. to pitch in the Arizona Winter League after the 2009 season. In February of 2010, she signed a contract to play with the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.
Yoshida pitched for three years in the U.S., splitting her time between two teams in two different independent leagues. She started 20 of the 21 games in which she appeared and had a 7.62 ERA and 1.77 WHIP. In 78 innings, she struck out just 17 hitters and walked 57.
Neither Borders nor Yoshida were legitimate pitching prospects. I think they were good stories and pioneers, but they weren’t good enough to pitch for an affiliate of a Major League team and their statistics in their time in the independent leagues were not impressive.
They did get out there and compete, though, and that’s important. It will likely take small steps for a woman to reach the Major Leagues and Ila Borders and Eri Yoshida were the most recent steps along that path. Perhaps Stacy Piagno and Kelsie Whitmore can move further down that path.
Next: How could they help?