The Major League Baseball Draft League has released its initial player list for the first half of the upcoming 2022 season. The list features nine players who are slated to return to the league from the 2021 edition of the State College Spikes. Players will be assigned to their respective teams by the league and Prep Baseball Report as the season draws nearer.
Four of the 2021 Spikes are set to play their collegiate seasons at the University of Missouri this spring. Right-handed pitchers Austin Cheeley and Drew Garrett will join left-handed pitchers Trae Robertson and Christian Wall on a Tigers team that looks to make big improvement in the SEC.
In addition, State College native Kevin Karstetter will be coming back to the MLB Draft League. The infielder, who is finishing his time at the State College of Florida, has committed to the University of Houston to continue his college baseball career in the future.
Hurlers returning to the MLB Draft League include right-handed relief pitcher Kiernan Higgins, who is now at Virginia Tech after posting a league-best 0.36 earned run average for the Spikes in 2021, and right-hander Griffin Miller, who is now at the University of Oklahoma after tying for the Spikes' team lead with nine starts last summer.
Infielder/right-handed pitcher Lukas Cook is poised to make a return to Happy Valley before resuming his time in the MLB Draft League. Cook transferred from Dyersburg (Tenn.) State to Purdue in the offseason, and looks to join the Boilermakers for a three-game series against Penn State from April 14-16 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Luke Seidel, a utility player from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, rounds out the ledger of 2021 Spikes planning to come back to the MLB Draft League.
The Spikes’ second MLB Draft League season will feature an expanded 80-game slate that includes 40 home games, the most for a regular season in franchise history, starting on Friday, June 3 and running through Sunday, September 4. The 2022 season will be split into two halves, with the first half set to begin on Thursday, June 2, and concluding on Saturday, July 16. The first half will feature amateur, draft-eligible prospects from around the nation and will follow a similar format to the 2021 season.
Following a midseason break to coincide with the MLB All-Star Break, the second half will run from Friday, July 22, and conclude on Tuesday, September 6, with the MLB Draft League’s first Championship Game. The second half will feature professional players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility or otherwise wish to begin their professional careers.
More information on the 2022 MLB Draft League season can be found at MLBDraftLeague.com.
