Robinson Canó, Bartolo Colon and Didi Gregorius are among several former major-leaguers selected in the inaugural draft of a Dubai-based baseball league.
The league, which was established by Baseball United and has former players Mariano Rivera, Barry Larkin, Adrián Beltré and Félix Hernández on its executive team and Elvis Andrus and Ryan Howard among its owners, will begin play next fall.
Former MLB players Pablo Sandoval, Andrelton Simmons, Jair Jurrjens and Rusney Castillo were also drafted out of a pool of 200 players from more than 30 countries.
In total, 64 players were selected to help fill the league’s four teams: the Mumbai Cobras, Karachi Monarchs, Dubai Wolves and Abu Dhabi Falcons. Gregorius and Canó were the third and sixth overall picks by the Wolves, while Colon went 16th overall to the Monarchs.