Alyssa Nakken makes history for the San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants’ first-base coach Alyssa Nakken made history Monday in an exhibition game against the Oakland Athletics.

Another barrier was smashed when Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach in an on-field capacity in Major League Baseball. She was on the field as the first-base coach for the San Francisco Giants on Monday. Nakken made the jump in six years with the Giants after joining the team as a baseball operations intern in 2014. She had a very successful career as a Sacramento State first baseman that included three-time All-Conference and four-time Academic All-American honors according to ESPN.

Could Alyssa Nakken be on the field for the Giants during the regular season?

This is huge for professional baseball because men’s professional sports are recognized across the world as the highest level of competition. If women have expert knowledge of any sport and they can add value to the coaching staff or front office, they deserve to be given that opportunity. Nakken will serve as a source of inspiration to young girls and women who want to be where she is one day.

Women have made strides in prominent coaching and front office roles with other teams as well. Last week, Kara Lawson became the new women’s head coach for the Duke Blue Devils. Her NBA coaching experience with the Boston Celtics and the broadcast work she did over the years with the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings helped her get there. Becky Hammon joined the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant a few years back and WNBA All-Star Kristi Tolliver joined the Washington Wizards as an assistant coach for player development in 2018.

Nakken has now joined that impressive list. She and other women like her will hopefully be given more opportunities to show their talents in the professional ranks. If you know the game, you know the game and that should be the end of that discussion. The skillset is what matters.