Seattle employing MLB’s lone female scout
SEATTLE (AP) — Nearly two years ago, Amanda Hopkins’ phone rang. It was a call she dreamt of receiving, one that broke barriers and made her a part of baseball history.
Almost immediately, her competitiveness took over.
“She put a sign up on her bedroom door saying, ‘Stay out, we’re opponents,’” recalled her father, Ron Hopkins, a special assistant to the general manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“In other words, my bedroom is off limits to you, there is info in here. I got a kick out of it.”
The 24-year-old Hopkins is now about to complete her second year as an area scout for the Seattle Mariners. Her responsibility is the Four Corners area of the Southwest, taking her to destinations like Greeley, Colorado, and Hobbs, New Mexico, two of the more challenging places to get to from her base in the Phoenix area.
She is also the first full-time female baseball scout in more than 50 years, breaking through a barrier that required diligence on her end and willingness by the Mariners’ organization.
Yet, Hopkins does not view herself through that prism or want to be viewed as a trailblazer. She’s a scout. That’s it.
“All the players, all the coaches, are incredibly respectful to me,” said Hopkins, who is believed to be the first woman to work as a full-time baseball scout since Edith Houghton in the middle of the 20th century.
Hopkins served as an intern in Seattle’s baseball operations department in the summer of 2014, but worked mostly with amateur scouting. A year later, she was sponsored by the Mariners to attend scout school and about a month after returning she got the offer. Hopkins was hired in December 2015.
“She learned at an early age the difference between a curveball and a slider. As she got older, it just sort of grew on her,” Ron said.
“I have so much to learn still,” she added.