Alexis 'Scrappy' Hopkins becomes first woman to be drafted by a professional baseball team

By Jack Bantock, CNN

Updated 1446 GMT (2246 HKT) March 25, 2022

Alexis 'Scrappy' Hopkins became the first woman to be drafted by a professional baseball team. She signed with the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes.

(CNN)History was made on Wednesday when the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes drafted Alexis Hopkins, the first woman ever drafted by an American professional baseball team for an on-field role, according to the Atlantic League and MLB.com.

A catcher nicknamed «Scrappy» for her on field work-rate, as per a Northwest Florida Daily News interview in 2015, Hopkins was drafted as the eighth pick in the annual Atlantic League draft. Founded in 1998, the Atlantic League is on the highest level of professional baseball excluding Major League Baseball (MLB) and is an official MLB partner league based in the US' South East region.Over 40% of the league's players have MLB experience, and each year, the league averages over 50 player contract sales to MLB organizations, according to the league's website. The Genomes — for whom Lindsay Gardner serves as a hitting consultant — said in an Instagram post that multiple women in the clubhouse would help the team to «continue changing the face of professional baseball.»Read MoreA dream come true«We are extremely excited to give Scrappy an opportunity to play in Lexington and to be the first female in the Atlantic League,» said Genomes manager Mark Minicozzi, according to Kentucky-based NBC affiliate LEX 18.«We're excited to see her start her journey into professional baseball,» Minicozzi added.MLB reaches labor agreement with players union and Opening Day is set for April 7Asked during college to write down a dream, Hopkins had shirked listing professional baseball as a realistic target.