Pitchers and catchers report to Arizona and Florida this week for the beginning of spring training. The players will run laps and throw long-toss; they will — especially after last year’s World Series — work do lots of PFP; and they will get themselves physically ready for the six-month (and for many, hopefully seven-month) grind of a major league season.
But equally important will be the player’s mental health. For the rookies, there is being in a new place, with new people, outside their comfort zone, and for some, competing for a job for the first time in their lives. For certain veterans, they are fighting for that last roster position, trying to hold on to a career that once came so easily. And for the old guard, it is not getting complacent, learning how to find new ways to push themselves while being good role models and leaders.
Over the past few years, baseball clubs have become more cognizant of the fact that the mental part of the game is as important as the physical. (It should not have taken that long, as Yogi Berra famously said: “90% of baseball is mental. The other half is physical.”) In May of last year, MLB announced the launch of the Mental Health and Wellness Program designed to “support the holistic well-being of major league and minor league players and their families.” But teams are doing more. They are making sure they have people on site, and on the field, to help players cope with the everyday stresses of being a big league ballplayer. Teams are turning to people like Alyssa Nakken.
Alyssa Nakken’s route to a career in Major League Baseball started in Woodland, California, where she played basketball, volleyball, and softball as a high school student. Her softball skills led her to Sacramento State University, where she played first base for the Hornets.
After being named all-conference three times and an Academic All-American four times, she graduated with a degree in psychology. From there Nakken gained an internship with the San Francisco Giants in their baseball operations department, where she worked on team health and wellness.
Nakken then went on to the University of San Francisco, where worked as the baseball team’s chief information officer while earning her master’s degree in sports management. From there, the Giants hired Nakken full time as an events coordinator. And in 2020, manager Gabe Kapler plucked Nakken for a position on his coaching staff, making her the first woman to ever hold such a role.
In July, 2020, Nakken coached an exhibition game (prior to the start of the Covid-truncated season) against the Oakland Athletics. Her game-worn jersey was then sent to the Hall of Fame. And in April of 2022, after first base coach Antoan Richardson was ejected, Nakken became the first woman to coach on the field in a major league game. Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer, recognizing the significance of the moment, walked over to shake her hand.
Nakken remained on the Giants coaching staff through 2023, and after Kapler was fired, it was reported that Nakken was the first woman to interview for a major league managerial position. She did not get the job – it went to veteran skipper Bob Melvin – but she remained on the staff as an assistant coach for the 2024 season.
In 2025, Nakken will move to the American League Central, where she will be an assistant director in the Cleveland Guardians’ player development department. Either coincidentally, or directly related, Nakken will be working with former Giants coaches Craig Albernaz and Kai Correa. As of this writing, Nakken’s exact duties have not yet been defined, but her experience in various levels of the Giants organization, plus her undergraduate degree in psychology and her graduate degree in sports management, will make her an asset in any number of capacities.
And while Nakken has used her degrees to help with the mental part of the game, she is not alone in her distaff groundbreaking ways. In 2023, the Guardians hired Amanda Kamekona as the hitting development coach for their training academy in Goodyear, Arizona, and last season they promoted her to assistant hitting coach for the Double-A Akron RubberDucks. And this sorority also includes Rachel Balkovec, Rachel Folden, and Christina Whitlock.
Rachel Balkovec
Balkovec began her on-field career as a hitting coach in the Yankees’ minor league system, before becoming the manager of their Single-A affiliate in Tampa. Balkovec is now the Director of Player Development for the Miami Marlins, who previously made Kim Ng the first female general manager in MLB history.
Rachel Folden
Folden was the first female coach in the Cubs long and storied history, and is a minor league hitting coordinator in their system. She also owns Folden Fastpitch where she leads a team of batting instructors who provide baseball and softball training both online and in-person.
Christina Whitlock
Whitlock is the first base coach for the St. Louis Cardinals High-A Peoria Chiefs, responsible for setting up the practice field and assisting with hitting, base running, and outfield defense. Like Folden, Whitlock is the first uniformed female coach in the history of the Cardinals organization.
As Alyssa Nakken continues to build her major league résumé and work her way up baseball’s historically male ladder, she is standing on the shoulders of those who came before her. And her success at various levels and in various positions is paving the way for the next generation of woman who are making baseball more diverse, more inclusive, and more accessible to people of any gender who have something to offer their respective organizations.
And if she can improve the mental health of the players along the way, all the better.