PBA Elite League Draft Preview
The PBA Elite League Draft draws near — and Jason Belmonte is on the clock.
The new manager of Bowlero L.A. X holds the top overall selection on Wednesday night. The draft will be free to watch and will begin at 8 p.m. ET on BowlTV. (USBC Community login required.)
Belmonte has already begun to construct the team in his image.
Last week, each manager selected two players from their 2023 roster to protect heading into Wednesday’s draft. Managers could only protect players who finished in the top 50 on the 2023 points list or have been on a 2023 PBA League roster and won a PBA Tour title within the past 10 years.
Belmonte, serving as player-manager, could only protect one other player from his team. He chose Kevin McCune, who finished eighth on the 2023 points list during his breakout sophomore season, over Jakob Butturff, Stu Williams and Thomas Larsen.
“L.A. X needs a fresh start, a new culture and stronger leadership by yours truly,” Belmonte wrote on social media. “I want to build a franchise that each year is a legitimate threat to win. That’s where Kevin comes in. His youth and the blunt force trauma the pins suffer when he bowls sends the exact message to the other teams I want. He is clutch. Afraid of nothing. Thrives on the big stage.”
In other notable protected player decisions, Jason Couch didn’t lose any sleep over his first act as new manager of the Motown Muscle. He protected EJ Tackett and Anthony Simonsen, the top two vote-getters for the 2023 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award.
Dallas’ Norm Duke kept his veteran duo together in Tommy Jones and Bill O’Neill, while Portland’s Tim Mack had to let go of one core member (Wes Malott) to keep the others (Kyle Troup and Kris Prather).
The defending champion Waco Wonders retained their southpaws. Parker Bohn III, who was elevated to player-manager this offseason, opted to protect the 2023 Mark Roth PBA League MVP: Ryan Ciminelli.
Bohn and Belmonte will be the first player-managers since Norm Duke in 2022.
The revamped team competition will feature expanded rosters of six players.
L.A. X holds the first overall pick, followed by Tackett and Simonsen’s Motown Muscle, Chris Via and Jesper Svensson’s Akron Atom Splitters, and Marshall Kent and Packy Hanrahan’s New Jersey KingPins.
The draft order will repeat each round, a change from previous PBA League snake drafts.
With Belmonte wielding the top overall selection, Butturff’s departure from L.A. X may turn out to be a short vacation. The left-handed perennial PBA Player of the Year candidate will be a strong candidate for the first overall selection on Wednesday.
Matt Ogle, Dom Barrett, François Lavoie and Sean Rash are among the stars likely to hear their names called early on Wednesday night.
Each team’s first three selections, just like the protected players, must have finished in the top 50 on the 2023 points list or have been on a 2023 PBA League roster and won a PBA Tour title within the past 10 years.
In the final round, players who do not meet the above criteria but were on 2023 PBA League rosters will be eligible to be drafted. A complete list of draft-eligible players is outlined below.
Once rosters are finalized, each team’s focus shifts to the lanes.
The first of 14 PBA Elite League rounds this season will be held on Jan. 9 in Wichita, Kan. All rounds of the PBA Elite League will be aired on FS1 or livestreamed on BowlTV.
Read more about the PBA Elite League here.
Protected Players
Bowlero L.A. X: Jason Belmonte (player/manager) and Kevin McCune
Motown Muscle: EJ Tackett and Anthony Simonsen
Akron Atom Splitters: Jesper Svensson and Chris Via
New Jersey KingPins: Marshall Kent and Packy Hanrahan
Las Vegas High Rollers: Andrew Anderson and AJ Johnson
Go Bowling! Dallas Strikers: Tommy Jones and Bill O’Neill
Portland Lumberjacks: Kyle Troup and Kris Prather
Waco Wonders: Parker Bohn III (player/manager) and Ryan Ciminelli
Draft Order
- Bowlero L.A. X
- Motown Muscle
- Akron Atom Splitters
- New Jersey KingPins
- Las Vegas High Rollers
- Go Bowling! Dallas Strikers
- Portland Lumberjacks
- Waco Wonders
Draft-Eligible Players
Jakob Butturff, Matt Ogle, Dom Barrett, Sam Cooley, Santtu Tahvanainen, Stu Williams, Keven Williams, Tomas Käyhkö, Jake Peters, Tom Daugherty, Sean Lavery-Spahr, Matt Russo, Jason Sterner, Shawn Maldonado, AJ Chapman, Justin Knowles, Sean Rash, Kyle Sherman, Tom Smallwood, DJ Archer, Matt Sanders, Mitch Hupé, François Lavoie, Dick Allen, Richie Teece, Darren Tang, Nick Pate, Michael Martell, Nathan Bohr, BJ Moore, Graham Fach, Tom Hess, Kim Bolleby, Chris Barnes, Zac Tackett, Zach Wilkins, Thomas Larsen, Wes Malott, Frank Snodgrass*, Anthony Lavery-Spahr*, Ildemaro Ruiz Jr.*, Arturo Quintero*
*eligible to be drafted in the final round only