Mo’ne Davis will make her return to baseball in a tryout for a women’s pro league launching in 2026: ‘I’m just not done playing at all’

Just before 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, Mo’ne Davis entered the Marian Anderson Recreation Center in South Philadelphia. She walked past a couple photos of herself; her 2014 Sports Illustrated cover, a group shot of her team at the Little League World Series, and one of the pitcher in an Anderson Monarchs jersey, coming off the mound.

This facility, at the corner of 17th and Fitzwater Streets, is where she first learned to play baseball. It’s a story Steve Bandura has told countless times. In 2008, Bandura, the founder and coach of the Monarchs, was driving his tractor in circles on the infield after a fall league baseball game.

He saw the 7-year-old Davis a few feet away, throwing perfect spirals to a group of 10-year-old boys, and abruptly stopped his task. Bandura introduced himself, and told her that the Monarchs would be starting a travel ball team for players her age. It would be a year-round commitment: basketball, baseball, and soccer.

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Davis had never played any of those sports, but that didn’t matter. Her body and mind intuitively knew what to do. Drills and concepts that were challenging for high schoolers were not challenging for her.

This was especially true in baseball. Bandura still remembers the first time she pitched, not long after they met. He fired the ball back, only to realize that Davis probably didn’t know how to properly catch yet. “Oh no,” he thought, “It’s a hard baseball, and it’s going right at her.”

But the 7-year-old didn’t flinch. She lifted her arm and snatched it backhand, like she’d been playing for years.

“Everyone thinks she’s a tremendous athlete,” Bandura said. “And, I mean, she is a good athlete. But it’s all between her ears.”

Davis is now 24. She’s accomplished a lot since 2014, when she made history as the first girl to pitch a winning game (and throw a shutout) in the Little League World Series. After graduating from Hampton University in 2023, she got her graduate degree in sports management from Columbia University in 2024.

She’s been a broadcaster for Little League games on ESPN, interned for a collegiate summer baseball team, and interned in the Dodgers’ video production department. But in 2025, she’s pursuing a different kind of challenge, one that’s both new and familiar, all at once.

Next month, Davis will be one of over 600 players to try out for the Women’s Professional Baseball League, which will launch six franchises in 2026. The tryouts will be held in Washington, D.C., from Aug. 22-25, out of which 150 players will be selected for the league’s inaugural draft in October.

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Davis hasn’t played baseball since she left the Monarchs in 2020, but has fittingly returned to their facility in South Philadelphia to train for the next step in her career.

“I like to try things,” Davis said. “And this was something that I was like, ‘You know what, why not give it a try? Why not help the league grow?’ I’m just not done playing at all.”

At first, Davis wasn’t sure if she would participate. She’d seen something about the WPBL on Instagram, but didn’t think much of it until Bandura encouraged her to try out.

It wasn’t a question of if she could do it; it was a question of whether she wanted to. Getting back into baseball shape would take some work. Davis was still throwing occasionally, still taking dry swings, but only casually.

She’d need to ramp up her arm, adjust her eyes to higher velocity, and get back in the weight room. But after talking to a few players, and the founder of the league, Justine Siegal, Davis was convinced.

Siegal gave Davis options. She didn’t have to play if she didn’t want to; they’d also be open to her working for the WPBL as a broadcaster. But the more Davis thought about it, the more she liked the idea of playing.

“I was like, ‘I’m just gonna try it out,’” Davis said. “I’m just going to play. I don’t have anything to lose. It’s not like I’m older, and it’s my last [season to play]. I have plenty of years that I can keep going, so I’m just going to give it a try.”

Davis plans to try out as an outfielder, infielder, and pitcher, but the league could put her anywhere — even behind the plate.

She played middle infield on Hampton’s softball team, but her preference is to play center field. It’s a position that has intrigued her for a while.

“I’ve just always liked the outfield for some reason,” Davis said. “Even in college, I would always be begging my coach. I’m like, ‘Hey, I’d love to play outfield one game.’ Just because it just seems so fun.

“Playing center field, running gap to gap, and making plays that people don’t think you’re going to make …. I love stuff like that. And you kind of get to show off your arm, too.”

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For now, she’s preparing for anything and everything. In a training session on Thursday afternoon, Davis started with long toss, and stepped onto a platform in a training center at the Monarchs’ facility, with her braids up in a bun, and her shoelaces untied.

She threw a few pitches. Bandura, who was crouched 60 feet away, asked her how she was feeling.

“Good,” Davis said. “I wasn’t expecting to throw strikes at first.”

“I was,” Bandura replied.

She threw a few more, and then moved on to batting practice. As Davis stood in the box, taking swing after swing, Bandura began to suggest small mechanical tweaks. Dozens of baseballs littered the turf in front of her.

They finished with ground balls; short hops, line drives, anything with an awkward bounce to challenge his pupil.

“That was good,” Davis said of the session. “It’s like muscle memory.”

“Yeah,” Bandura said with a grin. “It’s only been like six years.”

After Davis and the Taney Dragons finished their whirlwind run to the Little League World Series, the 13-year-old went on a media tour. She was on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. She won an ESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete, and received praise from everyone from Mike Trout to Kevin Durant.

Jimmy Fallon asked her to come on his show. Rachel Maddow said Davis was “the best new thing in the world.”

It was a lot for a young person to process, so while they were driving to an event one day in 2014, Bandura decided to level with her. He asked the young ballplayer what she wanted to do in life. She said maybe she’d open a business, or perhaps go into journalism.

What he told her next, she’s never forgotten.

“He was like, ‘I don’t want 13 to be the peak of your life,’” Davis said. “Ever since he said that, that’s been in my mind. Do not let 13 be the peak. You have one goal, and it’s like, ‘Alright, what’s the next goal? What’s the next goal after that?’”

Added Bandura: “I said, ‘I don’t want to see you at 35 years old, stuffed in your Little League jersey signing at card shows. You know what I mean? I don’t want this to be the highlight of your life.”

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Davis’ recent mantra has been to do things for herself. Last year’s challenge was the graduate degree. This year’s was a women’s flag football league in Camden that she joined in March, despite the fact that she’d never played the sport competitively.

If all goes according to plan, next year’s will be the Women’s Pro Baseball League.

“[Women’s pro baseball] wasn’t a thing before,” Davis said. “It was strictly softball. It’s cool because I know there’s so many girls out there that play baseball, and they had the national team to look up to, but the national team is a smaller group of women.

“And now there’s a league. If I can’t make the team, I can at least make the league, get in good, and if I do well, I might get an invite there. It’s just having the option to do something you love.”