Baseball

Assistant Coach Alyssa Nakken Interviews for Giants Manager Position

AP Photo/Josie Lepe, File
San Francisco Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken speaks to a reporter in San Francisco, July 7, 2023. President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi confirmed on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, that Nakken, has interviewed for the Giants managerial vacancy and had gone through a first-round interview last week.

10:51 JST, October 17, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alyssa Nakken, who became the first woman to coach on the field in a major league game when she worked first base for San Francisco in April 2022, has interviewed for the Giants managerial vacancy.

President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi confirmed Sunday night that Nakken had gone through a first-round interview last week. The Athletic first reported Nakken had interviewed for the job.

Her husband, Robert, announced in August on social media the coach is expecting the couple’s first child — a girl — on Feb. 9.

Zaidi has said he hopes to find a new manager by the start of free agency to replace Gabe Kapler, fired with three days remaining in the season. He was 295-248 over three-plus seasons, with the Giants winning a franchise-record 107 games and edging the 106-win Dodgers for the NL West title in 2021 before missing the playoffs the last two seasons.

The Giants finished 79-83 this season after going 81-81 in 2022. They were held to two or fewer runs in each of their final eight games.

The 33-year-old Nakken, a softball star at Sacramento State from 2009-2012, has been a coach on the Giants staff since Kapler hired her in January 2020.

At Sacramento State, Nakken was a three-time all-conference player at first base and four-time Academic All American. She went on to earn a master’s degree in sport management from the University of San Francisco in 2015 after interning with the Giants’ baseball operations department a year earlier.