Giants Alyssa Nakken proved herself ready to coach on field

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alyssa Nakken and Antoan Richardson took a walk to have a candid heart-to-heart chat, making their way around a back field at Scottsdale Stadium for close to 45 minutes one March day just before baseball got shut down by the coronavirus.

“Look, let’s not fool ourselves, you’re not ready,” Richardson told Nakken.

Unfazed, the two Giants coaches vowed to get back to work and go even harder, to focus on all she does well and realize the importance of acknowledging the things she doesn't know — or at least not yet.

So when Nakken took over for Richardson coaching first base Monday night during an exhibition game in Oakland, the moment meant so much to each of them.

“I’m getting goosebumps right now. The road that we’ve traveled and some of the conversations that we’ve had to get to that point were really fulfilling, just kind of watching her grow and learn over the past couple of months has just been really cool,” Richardson said Wednesday by phone from Los Angeles. “The time that she put in to learn the craft over the time that we weren’t on the field I’m seeing that pay off for her, which is really cool to see. We’ve talked about her readiness.”

Nakken is now handling a variety of tasks for the Giants, so busy gearing up for the season she has little time to relish in the history of it all.

She's the first female on a major league coaching staff and even worked at first base for part of Monday's exhibition game in Oakland, then started at the spot a night later in San Francisco.

“You feel a sense of pride to be out there,” the 30-year-old Nakken said of becoming the first woman in major league history to coach on the field. “Me personally it’s the best place to watch a game, that’s for sure.”

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source https://www.chron.com/news/article/Giants-Alyssa-Nakken-proved-herself-ready-to-15427865.php