Kelsie Whitmore is feeling 'awesome' as she tries out in Mexican Baseball League and learns Spanish

MEXICO CITY (AP) — When El Aguila de Veracruz called with an opportunity to tryout for a spot on their roster ahead of the start of the Mexican Baseball League, Kelsie Whitmore accepted but knew she needed to learn Spanish. Pronto.

The 26-year-old Whitmore is a pitcher and an outfielder who was the first female player in an MLB-partnered league while suiting up for the Staten Island FerryHawks in the Atlantic League in 2022.

A week ago, the American arrived at Veracruz, a port located on the Gulf of Mexico coast. She’s trying to become the first woman to play in the Mexican Baseball League.

“I feel awesome. It’s been a great time and at the end of the day, even though the environment is different and the place I’m in is different, it’s still the same game,” Whitmore told The Associated Press. “I’m thankful to be here, develop and compete."

In Mexico, the only woman to have played professionally is Rosi del Castillo, a pitcher who played in men’s professional regional leagues, but not the top tier.

“I’m trying to sign not just to play the game, but also this is my living. It would mean a lot to me, my family," said Whitmore. “I never knew if I would get the opportunity to showcase myself, so, it would be an honor, a privilege, and I’d be grateful for the opportunity.”

The Mexican Baseball season starts next week, and there is not a deadline yet to get a deal done. The team has no more preseason games scheduled, and the decision might come in the net few days.

Whitmore is in Mexico trying to win a spot as a pitcher. She made her debut with the team as a reliever in a preseason game against the Puebla Pericos last weekend pitching one inning and allowing a hit.

“When I’m on the national team, I love hitting. I love being an outfielder. I love running balls down, but career wise I love diving into the details, the biomechanics, the pitch design, and everything when it comes to pitching."

In El Aguila, Whitmore is having a chance to expand on those details with the help of Esteban Loaiza, the team’s pitching coach who threw 14 seasons in the major leagues and was the American League's starting pitcher in the 2003 All-Star game.

“I love picking his brain when it comes to pitching and when it comes to his background, he has such a great experience playing professional baseball,” added Whitmore. “He speaks English as well, so I’m able to really connect with him regarding the game.”

Whitmore said her teammates have been very respectful and professional with her so far, but the language barrier has prevented her from connecting more with them. The same thing with the fans, that is why two days ago she downloaded a language app to try to improve her skills.

“I think I got a couple of Te Amo’s (I love you) from the crowd when I was pitching,” Whitmore said with a smile. “It’s been good, all positive, I did download Duolingo and I’m still on level one. So, we’ll see if we’re, we’re trying to progress into it.”

If she makes the team, she will have plenty of time to learn Spanish.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Player Kelsie Whitmore winds up before throwing a ball during a training session with the Aguila de Veracruz profesional baseball team in Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Victoria Razo)

Player Kelsie Whitmore poses for a photo with a ball during a training session with the Aguila de Veracruz profesional baseball team in Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Victoria Razo)

Player Kelsie Whitmore throws a ball during a training session with the Aguila de Veracruz profesional baseball team in Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Victoria Razo )

Player Kelsie Whitmore stretches during a training session with the Aguila de Veracruz profesional baseball team in Veracruz, Mexico, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Victoria Razo)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has made an American takeover of Greenland a focus of his second term in the White House, calling it a national security priority while repeating false claims about the strategic Arctic island.

In recent comments, he has floated using military force as an option to take control of Greenland. He has said if the U.S. does not acquire the island, which is a self-governing territory of NATO ally Denmark, then it will fall into Chinese or Russian hands.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

TRUMP, discussing the security situation in the Arctic: “We need that because if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and, bigger, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We’re not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re going to do if we don’t."

THE FACTS: Experts have repeatedly rebuffed Trump's claims of Chinese and Russian military forces lurking off Greenland's coastline. Experts say Russia instead operates in the Barents Sea, off the Scandinavian coast, and both China and Russia have a presence in the Bering Sea south of Alaska.

“That statement makes no sense in terms of facts,” said Andreas Østhagen, research director for Arctic and ocean politics at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, Norway. “There are no Russian and Chinese ships all over the place around Greenland. Russia and/or China has no capacity to occupy Greenland or to take control over Greenland.”

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” Lars Vintner, a heating engineer told The Associated Press in Greenland's capital Nuuk. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships. Another Greenlander, Hans Nørgaard, told AP that Trump's claims are “fantasy.”

Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that while there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the vast Arctic region — near Greenland, there are no surface vessels.

China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Asked about Trump’s claim that there are multiple Chinese and Russian ships and submarines around the island, Greenland business minister Naaja Nathanielsen responded Tuesday: "Not that we are aware of."

While Russia and China have an interest in the Arctic, “we don’t detect an actual threat," she said.

“America is still recognized as quite a big superpower,” Nathanielsen added, “and I don’t see any appetite from Russia or China to destabilize this.”

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TRUMP, discussing Denmark's defenses in Greenland: "You know what their defense is? Two dog sleds."

THE FACTS: The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite Danish naval unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness, is stationed in Greenland.

It's a key part of the Danish military infrastructure in the inhospitable Arctic terrain, experts say.

“Remember, transportation of the area is either by sea or by air. There are no highways,” said Steven Lamy, an international relations professor and Arctic security expert at the University of Southern California. “You can't basically get in a car or a Bradley vehicle or tank or anything and go up there. So they have dog sleds.”

In addition to these special elite forces, Denmark has several surface patrol ships and surveillance aircraft and the kingdom is moving to further strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. Last year, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion-kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another self-governing territory of Denmark, to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”

The plan includes three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command is headquartered in Nuuk, the capital, and tasked with the “surveillance, assertion of sovereignty and military defense of Greenland and the Faroe Islands,” according to its website. It has smaller satellite stations across the island. Greenland also guards part of what is known as the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) Gap, where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic.

The U.S. Department of Defense also operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, which was built after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

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TRUMP, discussing why Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom: “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land. I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.”

THE FACTS: The first humans arrived in northern Greenland circa 2,500 B.C., traveling from what is now Canada after the narrow strait separating the island from North America froze over. The Norse explorer Erik the Red arrived circa A.D. 985 with a fleet of Viking ships, according to the medieval Icelandic sagas.

In 1721, Lutheran missionary Hans Egede arrived in Greenland and ultimately began efforts to convert the Indigenous people to Christianity, marking the start of Denmark’s modern colonization of Greenland, which formally became a Danish colony in 1814. The U.S. government recognized Denmark’s right to the whole of Greenland more than a century later.

“It’s the same logic about the U.S. and sovereignty, right? You have a couple of boats arriving from Europe and now you own the United States of America,” said Østhagen, of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. “The Indigenous population was there before you guys."

In 2009, Greenland became a self-governing country within the Danish kingdom. The island has a right to independence when requested by local voters.

International law has developed over the centuries, pivoting from land-grabbing colonial powers to modern-day treaties honoring borders largely developed after World War II.

Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher and Arctic security expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said postwar it has remained important, especially to the U.S., for countries to refrain from exerting power over other territories.

“We shouldn’t just grab and go to war,” he said. “Rather, it should be peoples who have their self-determination.”

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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Dazio reported from Berlin and Zhang reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

FILE - Coloured houses covered by snow are seen from the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vice President JD Vance visits, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Greenland. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)