Gone are the Braves, the league champion and District 12 Tournament of Champions winner in 2003. The Indians also are history. The Astros, Diamondbacks, Orioles and Royals are all new.

But the most interesting change of all out at John Baggerly Field this spring has nothing to do with team names—it's that the 144 major division players are not all boys. Patrolling right field for the Diamondbacks will be 11-year-old Natalie Gibbens, a hard-throwing left-hander up from the AAA division.

A girl in the majors? Now that's a real change!

"It's probably been about 15 years since a girl has been in the majors," says Diamondbacks manager Mark Raynaud, who coached Natalie in AA in 2002 and in AAA last season before drafting her to his major division roster this year.

Although there are 35 to 40 girls signed up in the league this year, according to league president Rob Dunne, most of them are younger than Natalie and play in the league's three developmental divisions—T-ball, A and AA. Only three girls are in the AAA division and, of course, Natalie.

Here are some details that might be found on the back of Natalie's baseball card: "Fifth grader, Louise Van Meter School, likes math ... brunette, wears long hair in ponytail under cap, brown eyes ... bats left, throws left ... also plays goalie for the Wildfire, an under-12 competition soccer team."

Raynaud adds this scouting report: "Natalie is a sparkplug. She is an awesome outfielder, a great contributor with a great attitude. She always plays hard, always gives her best effort. She doesn't get too high or too low, and she always has a smile on her face."

You throw like a ...

Another change this season will occur in the minds of major leaguers, as Natalie makes the saying "throw like a girl" take on an entirely new meaning.

"She's not a girl that can't throw," explains 10-year-old Jake Raynaud, the coach's son.

"She has a great arm," attests Dunne, whose son is one of 11 boys who are Natalie's teammates.

It didn't take long for the Astros to learn about Natalie's arm strength.

In a practice game a few weeks back, one of the Astros player ripped a ball into right field for an apparent base hit, but Natalie had a different idea.

"Natalie fielded the ball in right field," her manager recalls, "and threw the kid out at first base. Chase [Svendsen] was playing first. He looked up and her throw was right on top of him."

Svendsen, a sixth grader at C.T. English School, is a 12-year-old and the tallest player on the team. Like Natalie, Svendsen is in his first year at the major division level. He remembers pitching against Natalie in AAA last year.

Pitching to Natalie "was weird because she's left-handed, and I'm not used to pitching against lefties ... and she's a girl!" But he doesn't remember the outcome of the at-bat.

Not to worry. Raynaud is quick to remind him of what happened. "Natalie got a hit off him and helped win the game."

Raynaud also remembers Natalie breaking up a one-run game with a game-winning hit last year, but Natalie says she is a better fielder than hitter.

"Every once in a while I get a hit," she admits, "but I like playing right field.

"The best thing about playing outfield is catching a pop fly for the third out. Then everybody says 'way to go' because we're getting up [to bat] again, or they will say 'finally,' if we've been in the field a long time."

"She's a good rightfielder," says Jake, a fourth grader at Lexington School. "She catches most of the balls hit out there unless it's hit over her head."

This is the third time Jake has been on Natalie's team, but all of her other teammates are new and none of them go to her school.

"Everything has gone fine so far," she says. "The boys are not mean. If I catch a pop fly, someone will say 'good catch.' If I get a hit, somebody will say 'nice hit.' "

"They all have been very polite and receptive so far," explains Roxanne Gibbens about her daughter's new teammates. "I think they appreciate that she can keep up with them."

No crying in baseball

Her good-natured attitude and friendly smile are big reasons that Jake and the other Diamondbacks like Natalie on their team.

"She never cries if she gets out," Jake compliments. "She just comes back in the dugout smiling. We don't want a girl who cries."

Natalie gives an example of what Jake is talking about during a practice a few weeks ago. During a skills drill Mark Raynaud batted a ball that hit her in the mouth. "She just jumped right back up, ready to play again," the coach recalls.

What about players on other teams? Do they make any comments when they see a girl on the Diamondbacks?

"Not really," Jake explains. "At first they might think something, but then they see that she plays really good."

Anybody that watches Mark Raynaud put the Diamondbacks through their paces at a practice can see that Natalie belongs.

Jack Nakamura, grandfather of 11-year-old Brandon, watched such a practice last week. The players took turns tracking and catching fly balls hit by a coach, then they fired back throws to a catcher. Natalie displayed a strong arm with no loop in her throws.

"She fits right in," Nakamura points out. "You can't tell she's a girl, except for the long hair."

Natalie was a 7-year-old when she made a decision to play baseball. While playing with some second-grade classmates on a girls softball team, Natalie's older brother, Wesley, was playing on an AAA team coached by Raynaud. Sometimes she would attend her brother's practices.

"There were two girls on my brother's team," Natalie remembers. "I told my mom, 'If they can do it, why can't I?' "

"She saw how much faster baseball was," Roxanne explains. "It looked more fun [than softball] to her."

So she began her baseball career. Two seasons ago, she played for Raynaud on a AA team, and even pitched some.

Last year in AAA Natalie and her younger brother played for a winning Giants team that represented Los Gatos in the District 12 minor division Tournament of Champions. She played right field, left field and first base.

"When boys get to age 9 and 10, they start playing harder. So girls start dropping out of Little League," Raynaud says. "They try softball or something else.

"With Natalie, it's neat because she had a chance to play softball, and she chose baseball."

Now Natalie, as an 11-year-old and the only girl in the majors, is playing right field and works with a pitching coach at some practices. She plans on using her unique quality to her advantage.

"There's a lot of people rooting for me," Natalie says. "Moms of boys on the other teams root for me because I'm a girl."

But if not for her ponytail, no one would know.