From California to Massachusetts, from Arkansas to Iowa, management in skilled baseball is evolving.
Coming into the 2025 season, there are 14 ladies generally supervisor positions throughout Minor League Baseball. When most followers consider the GMs in baseball, they probably assume the job is all about constructing a roster. Minor League GMs don’t have anything to do with rosters, however every part to do with a group’s monetary stability and neighborhood affect, and the gameday expertise of all people — from followers to gamers and coaches to workers — who comes out to the ballpark.
As Minor League Baseball celebrates Ladies’s Historical past Month, take a second to get to know the ladies who’re demonstrating integrity, intelligence, creativity and real care for his or her communities whereas managing Minor League entrance places of work throughout the nation.
Katie Beekman, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A NYY)The RailRiders’ GM since 2019, Beekman has spent her complete profession in Minor League sports activities whereas working throughout a number of departments, constructing expertise in neighborhood relations, advertising and marketing, game-night operations and extra.
“I’ve a fantastic ardour for sports activities and for teamwork and doing what I do daily,” Beekman mentioned.
Kristin Name, Myrtle Seashore Pelicans (Single-A CHC)Name began her path to the GM position whereas she was nonetheless in faculty, interning within the South Atlantic League. After eight years, she joined the Pelicans within the advertising and marketing division in 2013 and was named GM in December of 2021.
“A spot opened up on the finish of the [college internship], was in a position to land that job after which, fairly truthfully, I really feel like I wakened 5 or 6 years later and had a profession,” she mentioned.
Brooke Cooper, Worcester Crimson Sox (Triple-A BOS)A local of Rhode Island, Cooper started her profession as an intern with the WooSox after they have been the PawSox — primarily based in Pawtucket. She steadily labored her manner as much as changing into the membership’s director of selling and finally ascended to government vp and GM earlier than the 2024 season.
“For women and girls fascinated with a profession in baseball, I might say be constant,” she mentioned. “Anybody might be nice as soon as. Anybody can have a constructive angle, work arduous and deal with individuals proper after they really feel up for it. It takes actual character to show these traits daily, particularly when challenged by the grueling nature of the baseball season.”
Shelly Haenggi, Midland RockHounds (Double-A ATH)Haenggi already had a powerful resume on the planet of selling and promoting — working companies in California and Texas and in addition having labored for the Hearst Company and Princess Cruises in promoting and advertising and marketing roles. She joined the RockHounds in 2013.
Hollee Haines, Inland Empire 66ers (Single-A LAA)New to the GM position this yr, Haines has labored for the 66ers since 2018 — most not too long ago as assistant GM — and has a background within the authorized area. In asserting her promotion, the group praised her improvements in enhancing the gameday expertise.
“I picked a profession in baseball as a result of it has been an enormous ardour in my life,” Haines mentioned. “I performed softball in faculty, and I simply love baseball and what it may do for a neighborhood.”
Veronica Hernandez, Modesto Nuts (Single-A SEA)Hernandez, who majored in sports activities media in faculty, received her begin as an intern in the summertime wood-bat New England Collegiate Baseball League and thereafter labored for a number of Minor League groups in varied roles. She joined the Nuts as director of selling and promotions in 2018 and labored her manner as much as GM in 2022.
“I all the time appreciated to say baseball discovered me,” she mentioned. “I wasn’t choosy out of faculty. I utilized in all places from Nascar to NFL and fortunately stumbled upon a possibility that opened doorways for me in baseball, and it has been a snowball impact ever since then.”
Christine Kavic, Lake Elsinore Storm (Single-A SD)The CFO and co-general supervisor of the Storm, Kavic got here to the San Diego affiliate with an intensive background in human sources, accounting and finance. She loves working within the close-knit and collaborative surroundings she’s discovered with Lake Elsinore, and he or she’s been lively in mentoring and creating employees members with the group.
“The recommendation I’ve for women and girls who’re fascinated with a profession in baseball is to be proactive and take initiative, embrace challenges as alternatives for development, advocate for your self and be resilient!” Kavic mentioned.
Erin McCormick, Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A ATL)McCormick has labored for six Minor League golf equipment in six completely different Main League organizations, and he or she grew to become GM of the Stripers in October of 2021. Throughout her tenure as assistant GM main as much as that promotion, she soaked up hands-on expertise in nearly each side of the Stripers’ operations.
“I believe the perfect recommendation I might give is communicate up,” she mentioned. “Increase your hand. Do not look ahead to issues to come back to you. Seize it and run with it.”
Julia McNeil, Quad Cities River Bandits (Excessive-A KC)McNeil was promoted from assistant GM in February, having begun her profession as an intern for the collegiate wood-bat Nashua [New Hampshire] Silver Knights of the Futures League in 2014. She moved into the Minor Leagues with a task in ticketing for the Lowell Spinners (then the Brief-Season Single-A affiliate of the Crimson Sox) earlier than becoming a member of the River Bandits, the place she’s labored quite a lot of positions.
“I wished a profession in baseball as a result of I used to be an athlete my complete childhood and into maturity, taking part in faculty softball,” she mentioned. “And whereas I used to be rising up, there was a Minor League Baseball group in my hometown. I all the time loved going there over the summer season, and the leisure side actually drew me into what Minor League Baseball actually is.”
Sophie Ozier, Arkansas Vacationers (Double-A SEA)Ozier grew up an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan and at a younger age had her sights on working for the group. In faculty, she sought out alternatives that might put her on that path, taking internships with Fox Sports activities Midwest, the St. Louis Blues hockey group and impartial baseball groups. She arrived to the Vacationers as a company occasion planner and social media coordinator in 2017 and by 2021 had labored her manner as much as GM.
Chrystal Rowe, Durham Bulls (Triple-A TB)Rowe got here to the Bulls in 2023, having already amassed intensive expertise in ticketing, gross sales and advertising and marketing, together with with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Durham named Rowe interim GM on the finish of January.
“My very first job was working for the Hickory Crawdads throughout the summer season,” she mentioned. “So, twenty-something years in the past, baseball selected me.”
Michelle Skinner, Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Single-A HOU)Skinner started her profession in baseball in 2010 with the Tri-Metropolis ValleyCats in Troy, N.Y. Then a member of the affiliated short-season New York-Penn League and an affiliate of the Astros, the ValleyCats moved over to the MLB Companion League Frontier League in 2021. By that point, Skinner had labored her manner as much as assistant GM, and in 2023 she was to work for a membership beneath the Houston umbrella once more as she stepped into the Woodpeckers’ GM place.
“I truly wasn’t an enormous baseball fan rising up,” Skinner admitted, “however I did my internship with the Vermont Lake Monsters and fell in love with the neighborhood side of the sport. I knew from that time on that I wished to work in baseball.”
Liz Welch, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Excessive-A WSH)Welch labored for her hometown impartial group — the Lancaster Barnstormers in Pennsylvania — for 10 seasons, starting as a gameday worker and tackling varied positions earlier than becoming a member of the Blue Rocks in 2017, when she started gaining extra expertise in all facets of the membership’s operations.
Wilmington named her GM in 2023, with group proprietor Dave Heller saying of Welch “Over the previous six years, she’s performed nearly each job there may be to do in Minor League Baseball, and achieved every with alacrity and aplomb.”
Jen Yorko, Lake County Captains (Excessive-A CLE)Yorko got here to the Captains proper out of faculty in 2007, and through the years she’s labored on overseeing every part from theme nights to the group’s charity initiatives to merchandising and ticketing. That assortment of expertise earned her an assistant GM place in 2016, and he or she took over the GM position in 2019.
“The recommendation that I’ve for women and girls who’re fascinated with a profession in baseball can be to take the chance,” she mentioned. “Discover a group that aligns together with your ardour and know that there is a possibility in baseball for everyone. Benefit from the journey.”
