SF Giants lose barrier-breaking coach to Cleveland Guardians

The SF Giants have lost assistant coach Alyssa Nakken to the Cleveland Guardians where she will serve in a front office role. She broke barriers by being the first female coach in an MLB dugout so she will be missed by Giants fans.

A native of Woodland, California, Nakken was a star softball player in college at Sacramento State. She was named to the All-Pacific Coast Softball Conference all four years in college so she could play.

SF Giants lose Alyssa Nakken to Cleveland Guardians

Many may not realize that Nakken was involved in the Giants' organization for a long time before she became a coach in 2020. She joined the baseball operations department as an intern in 2014 and worked her way up, becoming the chief information officer for the organization.

She became the first full-time female coach on an MLB team in 2020 as part of Gabe Kapler's coaching staff. She also became the first woman to coach on the field in a regular season MLB game in 2022 when first base coach Antoan Richardson was ejected and Nakken filled in for him.

Then, Nakken even interviewed for the head coach vacancy left after Gabe Kapler was fired at the end of the 2023 season, becoming the first woman to interview for an MLB managerial position. She has broken barriers during her time with the Giants so it will be sad to see her go.

Nakken appears to be going to a good situation in Cleveland, though. She will be taking on a player development role which is a nice step up and will allow her to utilize all of the skills she learned while with the Giants. Her former colleagues Kai Correa and Craig Albernaz are there so she will have familiar faces there to greet her.

Nakken is important to both Giants history and MLB history as a whole. The fact that she undoubtedly inspired many young women who are fans of baseball because of her and maybe even want to work in baseball because of her is a testament to her impact on the game.

We will miss her in San Francisco, but we certainly wish her nothing but the best in Cleveland.