(Cleveland) American Amanda Kamekona, a former UCLA softball star, has been hired as a batting coach with the minor Cleveland Guardians. She thus became the first woman to serve as a field coach in franchise history.
Kamekona will work at the Guardians’ spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz., and will be responsible for keeping the team’s prospects moving forward.
The hiring of the 36-year-old woman is part of Major League Baseball’s desire to increase female representation on its staff. The Guardians have hired mental coaches for the players before, but never opted to have a female coach on the pitch with them.
Kamekona still holds the record for most RBIs (8) in a single game with UCLA. In 2008, she led her school in most offensive categories with 14 long runs, 46 RBIs, 17 doubles and 47 runs scored.