Indiana High Schooler Addisyn Baird Plays First Pro Baseball Game for LA Queens

The 18-year-old senior, the only high school player in the Women's Pro Baseball League, debuted Sept. 3 alongside Mo'ne Davis in the Queens outfield.

Addisyn Baird, an 18-year-old from Granger, Indiana, has become the only high school player in the Women's Pro Baseball League. Selected 19th overall in Round 6 of the league's inaugural draft at age 17, she signed with the Los Angeles Queens in late August and appeared in her first professional game earlier this month, carried on ESPN+.

In that Sept. 3 opener against the New York Heights, Baird started in left field and hit eighth. She finished 1-for-3 with a single to left, worked a walk and came around to score. Her outfield teammate that day was Mo'ne Davis, who in 2014 became the first girl to win a game and throw a shutout at the Little League World Series. Baird described meeting Davis as intimidating at first, but found her to be approachable, helpful and funny.

Baird's path to the pros ran entirely through boys' teams. She began T-ball at four, later adding football, hockey and soccer, and estimates she has not faced another girl on a boys' roster since she was eight or nine. Her father, Travis, said questions about why she was not playing softball were constant, and that some coaches and parents tried to have her removed from leagues. He also noted she was frequently among the best hitters on her teams.

She spent three years at Penn High School in Mishawaka, where she played softball and helped the program claim its 23rd IHSAA sectional championship and 15th regional title. She then transferred to The Hill School in Pennsylvania, competing on JV baseball, softball and hockey teams there. The night she was drafted, she was playing a high school hockey game and scored two third-period goals; her selection came roughly 15 minutes later.

Off the field, Baird carries a 4.5 GPA in AP coursework and hopes to attend medical school to become an obstetrician or neonatologist, while continuing to play professional baseball for as long as she can. She has also competed with Baseball For All USA teams in Japan in 2023 and the Philippines in 2024.