Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues: All 89 Ranked, Mapped, Free
Updated September 5, 2026. Data from the league sites, checked by hand, loaded into the free summer league directory.
You want to play this summer. You typed “collegiate summer baseball leagues” into Google and got a Wikipedia list, a page of logos, and forty league sites that all look the same.
This page fixes that. Every one of the 89 active collegiate summer baseball leagues is here, with the facts a player actually needs: where it plays, when it runs, who houses you, what it costs, and how you get in.
Here is what you get, in order:
- How collegiate summer baseball leagues work and who is eligible
- How many there are, by governing body, with the ones that matter to scouts
- The best collegiate summer baseball leagues, ranked by tier
- Every league by state, with a link to the live list for yours
- The four ways players get in, and which door each league uses
- Housing, cost and season dates, so you plan around real numbers
- A free matcher that scores all 89 leagues on your six answers
Key takeaways
- There are 89 active collegiate summer baseball leagues and 569 teams, and 24 more have folded since 2005.
- Ten collegiate summer baseball leagues sit in the top tier, and nine of them fill rosters through college coaches.
- 56 collegiate summer baseball leagues confirm wood bats, 21 confirm host families, 14 confirm there is no fee.
- Collegiate summer baseball leagues use four doors: coach placement, league application, team contact, or a tryout.
- The free matcher scores all 89 collegiate summer baseball leagues on six answers, with the reason on every card.
First, the league that started the whole idea of collegiate summer baseball leagues as a scouting ground.
What these leagues are, and who plays
Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur leagues for college players with eligibility left. They run from early June to early August, after the college season ends.
Three rules hold almost everywhere:
- Wood bats. 56 of the 89 active leagues confirm it on their own sites. Scouts want to see you hit with wood, and the leagues know it.
- Nobody gets paid. Players keep their NCAA eligibility, so the leagues pay nothing. Housing, meals and a stipend for expenses are the exceptions, and only a few leagues offer them.
- You need a college season behind you. Most leagues want at least one year of college ball and eligibility remaining. A few developmental leagues take incoming freshmen.
The point of all of it is simple. A summer league is where you play with a wood bat in front of people whose job is to find players. Pro scouts, college coaches looking for transfers, and the coaches of the summer teams themselves, who talk to each other.
Which brings up the question everyone asks next.
How many collegiate summer baseball leagues are there?
As of September 2026 we count 89 active collegiate summer baseball leagues and 569 teams in the United States and Canada. Another 24 leagues have folded in the last twenty years, which tells you how fast this world changes.
They sort into five groups by who governs them:
| Governing body | Leagues | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| MLB Prospect Development Pipeline | 2 | The Appalachian League and the MLB Draft League. Invite only, run with USA Baseball, scouts everywhere. |
| National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB) | 12 | Partly funded by MLB. Cape Cod, NECBL, Valley, Sunbelt and eight more. The most scouted group outside the MLB pair. |
| National Baseball Congress (NBC) | 11 | The champion goes to the NBC World Series in Wichita every August. Strong in Kansas, the Pacific Northwest and Texas. |
| National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) | 7 | Older regional leagues, mostly Midwest and Northeast, feeding the NABF World Series. |
| Independent | 47 | Everything from the Northwoods League, the biggest league in the country, to four-team local circuits. |
Independent does not mean small. The Northwoods League runs 28 teams across eight states and provinces and is the largest organized summer league by attendance. The Coastal Plain League and West Coast League are independent too, and both sit in the top tier.
So how do you tell the top tier from the rest?
The best collegiate summer baseball leagues, ranked by tier
We rank every league on four things: scout traffic, alumni in pro ball, level of the rosters, and how hard it is to get a spot. That gives ten leagues at the top.
Top tier: the ten most scouted leagues
- Cape Cod Baseball League (MA, founded 1923). Ten teams, NACSB, stipend for expenses. More alumni in the majors than any other summer league. The hardest roster to make in summer ball.
- Northwoods League (IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, ND, ON, WI). 28 teams, the largest organized summer league by attendance, real ballparks, real crowds. The closest thing to a minor league season a college player can have.
- Coastal Plain League (NC, SC, VA, GA). 17 teams, May 28 to August 1, southern heat and southern crowds.
- West Coast League (WA, OR, BC, AB). 18 teams, host families, wood bats. The Pacific Northwest’s showcase league.
- Appalachian League (TN, VA, WV, NC, founded 1911). MLB and USA Baseball run it. Rising freshmen and sophomores, invite only.
- MLB Draft League (MD, NJ, OH, PA, WV). Draft-eligible players, a stipend, and MLB’s own scouts.
- New England Collegiate Baseball League (all six New England states, founded 1993). 13 teams, 44 games in eight weeks, host families.
- Prospect League (IL, IN, OH, MO, IA, roots to 1963). 20 teams in two conferences, 56 games each.
- Valley Baseball League (VA, founded 1923). Twelve Shenandoah Valley towns, NCAA sanctioned since 1961, more than 1,000 alumni in pro ball.
- Alaska Baseball League (AK). Midnight sun games, the Goldpanners, and a history that includes Tom Seaver and Barry Bonds.
The catch: nine of these ten fill their rosters through college coaches. If your coach has never placed a player in one, start with the next tier and earn the call.
The West Coast League is the model for how independent collegiate summer baseball leagues reach the top tier: host families, wood bats, and 18 teams that sell tickets.
Regional tier: 13 leagues scouts still drive to
The regional tier is where most Division I and strong Division II players spend their summer. Every one of these has sent players to the draft in the last five years.
- California Collegiate League (CA, 1993): ten teams, North vs South, NBC and NACSB, a televised All-Star Game.
- Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (NY, 2010): 16 teams, 48 games, old affiliated parks in Amsterdam, Batavia and Elmira.
- Futures Collegiate Baseball League (MA, CT, NH, VT, 2011): seven teams in former affiliated stadiums, 60 games, a public tryout every May.
- Florida Collegiate Summer League (FL, 2003): six Orlando-area teams, host families, 360 draft picks in its first 13 seasons.
- Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (OH, MI, 1987): eight teams, MLB supported, both a player form and a coach form.
- Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (MD, VA, 2005): eight teams in the DC and Baltimore metro, coach placement.
- Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League (NJ, PA, NY, 1967): 17 teams, a World Series on Staten Island.
- Sunbelt Baseball League (GA, AL, 2005): metro Atlanta’s nonprofit wood bat league.
- Southern Collegiate Baseball League (NC, 1999): Charlotte’s league, host families, no fee.
- New York Collegiate Baseball League (NY, 1978): 42 games across central and western New York.
- Texas Collegiate League, Jayhawk Collegiate League (KS, 1976, two NBC titles for Hutchinson) and Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League (NY, 1994) round it out.
Local and developmental: 66 leagues that answer the phone
Here is the part the other lists skip. Two thirds of these leagues are local. Four to twelve teams, one state, games within an hour’s drive.
They matter for three kinds of player:
- The Division III, NAIA or JUCO player who needs 40 wood bat games, not a showcase
- The freshman who has to work a summer job and cannot leave home
- The player whose coach has no summer league contacts yet
The Pacific International League in Seattle has run since 1992 and sends its champion to the NBC World Series. The Old North State League fields 26 teams across North Carolina. The Old North State League’s Danville Dairy Daddies and the Cape Fear Ghost Crabs draw better than some regional clubs.
Local does not mean unwatched. It means you can get in.
Collegiate summer baseball leagues by state
Where a league plays decides everything: housing, travel, whether you can keep a job. Here is where the 89 leagues sit. Every link opens the live list filtered to that state, with the map.
| State | Leagues | Names you will see |
|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 8 | Prospect, MINK, Mid-Plains, CarShield, Diamond, Mid America, Ban Johnson |
| Virginia | 7 | Valley, Coastal Plain, Appalachian, Tidewater, Piedmont, Premier Collegiate, RCBL |
| California | 7 | California Collegiate, Pacific Coast, Sunset, Palm Springs, Pacific Empire, Bay Area Collegiate, SCCBA |
| Ohio | 7 | Prospect, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Ohio Valley Summer, Ohio Collegiate, Tri-State, MLB Draft League |
| New York | 6 | PGCBL, NYCBL, Hamptons, Atlantic, Hudson Valley, Blue Chip |
| North Carolina | 5 | Coastal Plain, Appalachian, Southern Collegiate, Old North State, Premier |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | Atlantic, East Coast, MLB Draft League, AAABA, Tri-State |
| New Jersey | 5 | Atlantic, East Coast, Atlantic Baseball Confederation, NJABL, MLB Draft League |
| Texas | 5 | Texas Collegiate, CenTex, Houston Collegiate, Mid America, Bay Area Collegiate |
| Kansas | 5 | Jayhawk, Mid-Plains, Kansas Collegiate, Diamond, Ban Johnson |
| Illinois | 5 | Prospect, Northwoods, Metro Collegiate, Kernels, Chicago Suburban |
| Florida | 4 | Florida Collegiate, South Florida Collegiate, Coastal Collegiate League, Coastal Collegiate Baseball League |
| Washington | 3 | West Coast League, Pacific International, Cascade Collegiate |
The Midwest has the densest cluster of collegiate summer baseball leagues, and the Prospect League sits in the middle of it.
Thirty more states and four Canadian provinces have at least one league. Type your state into the directory and the map redraws.
Now the question that decides whether any of this matters: how do you get in?
How you get into collegiate summer baseball leagues
There are four doors into collegiate summer baseball leagues. Every league uses one or two of them, and picking the wrong door wastes your spring.
1. Your college coach places you
The top tier and most of the regional tier work this way. The summer team’s manager calls college coaches he trusts and asks for arms and bats. Your coach says your name, or does not.
What to do: ask your coach in February, not May. Bring a list of three leagues that fit your level. Coaches place players who make the ask easy.
2. You apply to the league
38 of the 89 leagues have a player form on the league site. The league office routes it to teams with open spots. The Prospect League, Great Lakes, PGCBL, California Collegiate, Futures, MINK and Old North State all take applications this way.
What to do: fill it out in January. Attach your highlight video and your spring schedule. Then email the commissioner, because a form in a queue is not a conversation.
3. You contact the team
24 leagues send you to the team. The Pacific International League says it plainly: contact a club, not the league. The Cascade Collegiate League, Jayhawk, Valley and Cal Ripken work the same way, through team managers.
What to do: find the general manager or head coach on the team page, and write a four-line email. Position, school, spring stats, one link. That is it.
4. Open tryouts
Rarer than players think. The Futures League runs one public tryout each May. A handful of local leagues hold a tryout day. Most top leagues never do.
Every league page in our directory shows which door it uses, under “How you get in”. Where the league has not published it, the page says so instead of guessing.
Housing, cost and dates
Three numbers decide whether a summer in one of the collegiate summer baseball leagues is possible. Here is what the leagues publish.
Housing
- Host families: 21 leagues confirm it. You live with a local family for free, they feed you, and you mow the lawn. Cape Cod, NECBL, West Coast, Cal Ripken, Futures, Florida Collegiate, Mid-Plains, Corn Belt.
- Dorms: 3 leagues use college housing, usually leagues that play on a campus.
- No housing: 9 leagues say so. Cascade, Arizona Collegiate Wood Bat, Ohio Collegiate, Cotton States, Commonwealth. These are commuter leagues, built for players who live in the area.
- Not published: 48 leagues never say. Ask the team before you sign anything.
Cost
- Free to play: 14 leagues confirm no fee. Most top and regional leagues are free, because the team is a business that sells tickets.
- Player fee: 12 leagues charge. CenTex is about $350. Cotton States is around $621. Commonwealth is $900. Honor the Game is $950 for position players and $395 for pitchers only. These are usually the leagues that provide the field, umpires and a schedule for teams that have no gate.
- Stipend: 3 leagues pay expenses. Cape Cod, the MLB Draft League, and the Houston Collegiate Summer League.
Rule of thumb: if a league charges you and also promises exposure, ask who showed up last year. A fee league with 300 fans a night is a fine place to get 40 games. It is not a showcase.
Season dates
Most leagues open the first week of June and finish by the first week of August. The outliers:
- Coastal Plain, Futures and Chicago Suburban start in late May
- Ban Johnson and Beach Collegiate finish before July does
- Pacific International runs Memorial Day to mid-August, with the NBC World Series after
- Cape Cod opens June 13 and plays to August 12
If your college team goes deep in the postseason, you arrive late. Every league expects it. Tell the team in advance and they hold the spot.
Find your league in sixty seconds
Reading the sites of 89 collegiate summer baseball leagues is a weekend. Answering six questions is a minute.
The free summer league matcher asks where you can play, when you are free, what housing you need, what you can spend, whether you want wood bat only, and how you want in. It scores all 89 leagues against your answers and shows the five that fit, with the reason on every card.
Three things make it honest:
- A fact a league has not published never counts against it. The card says “not published” instead.
- Your answers live in the page URL, so you can send the result to your coach or your parents.
- No account, no wall. It is free because a player who finds the right league is a player who comes back.
Try it with just your state. Washington alone returns the West Coast League, the Pacific International League and the Cascade Collegiate League, three leagues at three levels, before you answer anything else.
The league is half the job
Here is what the players who get placed know that the rest do not. Summer league coaches take players their college coaches vouch for, and college coaches vouch for players they already know.
That is why the same players end up in the Cape and the Northwoods every year. Their coach made a call. Somebody made the call easy.
Uncommitted University members do the part nobody else does. They find the college coaches who place players in the exact league they want, send outreach those coaches open, and see every click. The league page gives you the door. The membership gets it answered.
Start with the directory, run the matcher, and pick three leagues. Then open a free profile and see what members do with those three names.
The short version. Collegiate summer baseball leagues are where college players get wood bat games in front of scouts. There are 89 of them, ten at the top, thirteen in the regional tier, and 66 local collegiate summer baseball leagues where a player with no connections can still get a roster spot. The door is your coach, the league form, the team manager, or a tryout, and every league page shows which. Pick three collegiate summer baseball leagues that match your level and your summer, then get a coach to make the call.
Collegiate summer baseball leagues: quick answers
Which of the collegiate summer baseball leagues is the best? The Cape Cod Baseball League by scouts, alumni and difficulty. The Northwoods League by size and crowds. For most players the best league is the highest tier your coach can place you in this year.
How many collegiate summer baseball leagues are there? 89 active leagues with 569 teams as of September 2026, plus 24 that have folded. Twelve belong to the NACSB, eleven to the NBC, seven to the NABF, two to MLB, and 47 are independent.
Do summer leagues pay players? No. Players keep NCAA eligibility, so there is no salary. Cape Cod, the MLB Draft League and Houston pay an expense stipend. Most leagues provide host family housing instead.
Can a high school senior play in a summer league? Usually not. Most require a completed college season. The Appalachian League and a few developmental leagues take rising freshmen through invitation.
Which collegiate summer baseball leagues use wood bats? 56 of the 89 confirm wood bats on their own sites, including every top tier league. The rest have not published a rule, so ask.
Which collegiate summer baseball leagues are in Florida? The Florida Collegiate Summer League around Orlando, the South Florida Collegiate League in Palm Beach and Broward, the Coastal Collegiate League in Jacksonville, and the Coastal Collegiate Baseball League.
Which collegiate summer baseball leagues are in California? The California Collegiate League, the Pacific Coast Collegiate League, the Sunset League, the Palm Springs Collegiate League, the Pacific Empire League, the Bay Area Collegiate League and the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association.
Every answer above links to a live page that updates when a league changes. Wrong about your league? Email outreach@uncommittedu.com and we fix it the same day.
Sources: each league’s own website, the NACSB league list, NBC Baseball, and the league Wikipedia entries where a site has gone dark. Logos belong to the leagues and identify them only.