Press release World Baseball Softball Confederation
PULLY, Switzerland; 19 August 2020 — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is proud to announce that the 2020 Mexican Prospects League (Liga de Prospectos de México, LPM) will be broadcast live for free on the WBSC’s OTT channel: gametime.sport.
Starting on 20 August, the LPM is organized by the Mexican Presidential Office for Baseball Promotion, ProBéis, as one of the presidential office’s main strategy to boost baseball development in the country. The four-team summer league will showcase 120 Mexican up-and-coming ballplayers at the Estadio Charros de Béisbol in Guadalajara.
The ProBéis initiative consists of a six-week summer league whose objective is to prepare, develop and project future baseball players between 14 and 18 years old, allowing them to work out and perform before professional league scouts and college recruiters.
“The past six months have been a challenging time for baseball and softball around the world due to the coronavirus and our thoughts and condolences go out to those who have been affected it,” WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said. “With the 2020 international baseball and softball calendar significantly affected by COVID-19 we have been diving into our archives to review some of our great games from the past. Now it’s a pleasure to showcase some live baseball for our fans around the world via the Mexican Prospects League.”
“In ProBeis we’re excited to start over our activities with this league, that aims to project Mexico’s great talent,” said ProBéis General Director, Edgar Gonzalez. “The situation in the world is difficult, but we’ve taken all the measures sugested by the Federal Health Secretary and the Jalisco State Government. We also put in practice the WBSC guidelines and we’ve worked hand in hand with them. We want these prospects to fulfill their dream of being professional players and inspire children and youth from all over Mexico to play sports, which strengthens communities and contributes to the economic development of any society.”
In partnership with ProBeis, WBSC’s TV/media arm BASE will be streaming all 60 games, plus the all-star game and playoffs online at https://www.gametime.sport.
The League will follow the WBSC Return to Play guidelines.
The Season
Each team will play 15 games during the regular season, following which the top players will be chosen to participate in an all-star game on 13 September. Two days later, a best of a three-game playoffs series will begin, with the winners advancing to the championship final, which is set for 18-20 September.
With this project, ProBéis seeks to build a successful platform for young baseball players to start a professional career, while maintaining their academic studies and pursuits.
Helping Build Mexican Society’s Future
Leading up to Opening Day, the youngsters have received not only technical-sports instruction, but also educational preparation, including intense physical tests and courses in nutrition, anatomy, biomechanics, English, psychology, body language and socio-emotional skills.
ProBéis’s core values are based upon the sport-education-health model, to contribute to social development and the reconstruction of the community fabric.
Since August 8, players have been gathered in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in an environment provided with all the measures and recommendations of the local, federal and international authorities to prevent the risk of contagion by COVID-19.
Mexican Baseball Rising
Mexico is currently enjoying its highest-ever ranking in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings. at No. 5. The country last year earned its first-ever Olympic Baseball berth, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 WBSC Premier12 to earn a ticket into the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Mexico is also the reigning world champions in the U-23 category, having defeated top-ranked Japan in the final of the 2018 U-23 Baseball World Cup.