Major league coach Alyssa Nakken has departed the Giants and taken a new role with the Guardians in player development, as noted by Maria Guardado of MLB.com.
Nakken, perhaps best known for being the first woman to serve as a full-time coach in MLB history, was hired as an assistant coach by then-Giants manager Gabe Kapler prior to the 2020 season. She remained with the club for five years in that role, even interviewing to replace Kapler during the 2023-24 offseason after he was fired just before the end of the 2023 regular season. The Giants ultimately decided to go with Bob Melvin in that role, but she remained on staff for the 2024 season in the same position she held under Kapler.
Now that the sides have parted ways, she’ll be joining former Giants coaches Craig Albernaz and Kai Correa in Cleveland under sophomore manager Stephen Vogt for the 2025 season. As noted by the Associated Press, Nakken will be an assistant director of player development with the Guardians, though her exact duties have yet to be determined. That could include determining whether or not she’ll travel with the team; after traveling with the Giants on road trips under Kapler, Nakken stayed in San Francisco during most road trips under Melvin after giving birth to her first child, Austyn, back in January.
Nakken’s departure is the latest among a number of coaching departures in San Francisco this winter. Pitching coach Bryan Price stepped down earlier this winter, while hitting coaches Pedro Guerrero and Justin Viele both departed the club to take jobs with other organizations. Price’s role has been filled by the promotion of assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez, but the Giants remain in the market for a hitting coach to partner with Pat Burrell and may now be in the market for a replacement for Nakken as well.
More personnel notes from around the majors…
- Sticking with the Guardians, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the club has hired Bobby Kinne to serve as director of baseball operations in the club’s front office. Cleveland hired Kinne away from the Rays, for whom he served as the club’s major league pitching strategist. Kinne got his start in baseball with Tampa as an intern back in 2018 and worked his way up the organizational ladder over six years with the club, serving as a scout and a coordinator of major league operations before landing in the pitching strategist role he held for the 2024 season. Now, Kinne will get the opportunity to work with one of the better pitching staffs in the big leagues as Guardians pitchers ranked third in the majors with a 3.61 ERA this year, behind only the Braves and Mariners.
- The Pirates are promoting bullpen catcher Jordan Comadena to the role of major league catching coach, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Comadena joined the Pirates back in 2016 and Stumpf notes that he’s worked closely with former first overall pick Henry Davis on his defense behind the plate over the past year and a half. Davis, 25, has struggled in the majors at the plate and has moved back behind the plate after coming up as a catcher but getting his first MLB experience as an outfielder in 2023. He’ll likely be a potential option for the Pirates at catcher next year alongside Joey Bart, Endy Rodriguez, and Jason Delay.
joey bart has revitalized his career in pittsburgh. he should be their primary C . maybe try and trade endy/davis while they still have some kind of value
Love the job Bart has done. Nice to have a good backup in Endy as he heals from injury.
Maybe try Davis at first base and third catcher to use in emergency situation if he can figure out MLB pitching.
Doubt if Davis has much trade value at present.
Endy has also played first base, he’s a valuable player at multiple times and his bat can be in the lineup more often than it could as being a catcher only
Would be nice to see Endy and Davis hit at all.
Pirates need to shake hole system up!!
They have an owner who is content. No massive changes coming any time soon.
they did few years back. Middling success so far.
Development and/or scouting seems to still be the teams problem. IIRC there have been some changes in that area
She could have looked on a map so as to spell Austin correctly. Poor kid.
Awe Stein ?
Wow, that is so funny.
That was worth a comment?
And worthy of your reply.
Happy that Nakken moved on. Then we can turn the page on that.
Relax, Inside Out. She won’t read this regardless.
She won’t be the last.
And perhaps you didn’t get the point of the story that she is getting a promotion.
….But who’s gonna make the sandwiches now?
That’s a completely original and hilarious joke!!! You must be a real hoot at parties. Definitely the funniest guy in the room. I applaud your innovative take on comedy.
All those Rays employees leaving for better jobs tis offseason.
Ridiculous.
Think maybe they know something?…..double meaning.
Same goes with the Giants as well.
Teams like Cleveland and Tampa always lose employees because they are well- ran organizations. This would be too much work for me but if you go and look at the last five years,m and who is new to organizations, you will see a majority of them come from other teams, like the Rays and Guards.
Every analytically minded or interesting person on the Giants has jumped ship, all getting great jobs elsewhere. Incredibly sad.
The Giants along with every team in MLB all use analytics for everything. Just because a regime that talked about it extensively left doesn’t mean the new regime isn’t using it. I’m not sure how interesting helps win ball games or who exactly they lost that was truly interesting but I don’t see any major losses that worry me about the Giants moving forward
A major shake up was needed.
Whether it works or not remains to be seen. As always I keep the faith and am glad to see a change in direction. Was getting hard to watch at times.
@spooky I heard that if anyone in the new Giants front office uses a spreadsheet for anything (even accounting) then Buster Posey will spank you in front of the whole office while the shame lady from Game of Thrones rings a bell and yells “Shame!”
Beautiful Cainer
They need to get Davis’s bat going in which case he is good enough to be a catcher. Other options our OF, 1b. I’d hate to waste his arm at first but might be a decent fit. Of course none of that matters if he doesn’t hit at the MLB level.
Pirates had no catching hope a few years ago now they got a few that have a shot at being every day guys.
by February 1, Cherington will be completing the roster when he goes dumpster diving during his annual visit to the landfill of players no one else wants
1b
OF
one Starter
relief.
Between 1b/OF they need one bat that is at least average over all.
a 4/5 starter who is a work horse and can give 5 a game and not be embarrassing.
A couple setup type relief arms that can compete for the closer spot.
There are quite a few on the free agent lists that fit and an handful of realistic trade candidates Not quite dumpster diving but not current stars. like Goldschmit assuming he keeps going or maybe even a Bellinger trade depending on how much the Cubs eat. Not sure how i feel about the later.
The Pirates need to find a 1B option between Davis and Rodriguez. Options available in FA are bleak for their price range. Davis has the bat to stick on the major league roster but needs to find it at the major league level. He smashes AAA and can offer the 30 HR power they haven’t had at 1B since Josh Bell had his 1 good season there.
Having depth at catcher is exceptionally rare right now and to be able to have Bart and Rodriguez available with your 3rd option being a former 1/1 is a blessing.