Each year Major League Baseball adds international prospects to their registration list to make them eligible to sign with a team during the subsequent international signing period. The first-ever female joined that list on Sunday.
Melissa Mayeux is a 16-year-old French shortstop that plays on the country's U-18 junior national team and she's eligible to sign with an MLB club when the international signing period begins on July 2, according to Lindsay Berra of MLB.com.
"Is it possible that Mayeux will be signed? Sure. Is it likely? Probably not, but the simple fact that Mayeux has been added to the list solidifies her status as a legitimate player," Berra writes. "Mayeux, for her part, just wants to play. She speaks little English and is unaware that her presence on the registry might be seen as newsworthy in the United States."
Berra spoke to MLB Director of National Game Development, Mike McClellan, who serves as an international scout, and he's been watching Mayeux play for two years. He told Berra that Mayeux is a "legitimate shortstop who makes all the plays and is very smooth and fluid in the field and that she swings the bat really well."
McClellan recalled an at-bat Mayeux had back in April during a tournament in Barcelona. She was facing a 19-year-old Dominican pitcher who was throwing 91 mph and battled throughout the at-bat before she hit a single up the middle.
Mayeux played on a club team with her older brother Dylan, who is now 18, when the two were growing up. She also said she has played with some the same boys since she was younger and has "never had a problem with integration or respect."
Teddy Cahill of Baseball America noted Mayeux also became the first female to be chosen to participate in MLB's European Elite Camp last August. She began playing the sport when she was three years old and continues to play softball on the French national team as well.
Cahill also confirmed she's unlikely to sign with an MLB team this year because "most European players wait until they finish high school to sign." The shortstop told Berra she wants to play baseball in France until she is 18 years old, further confirming she's unlikely to be pursued by clubs this summer.
The next step for Mayeux could be playing for France in the World Baseball Classic, which would mark another historic milestone.
