Goodrum in line for executive role
HOUSTON — The Astros are poised to hire Brewers minor league hitting coordinator Sara Goodrum as their director of player development, making her one of the most visible and highest-ranking female executives in baseball, a person with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday.
Goodrum worked in Milwaukee’s sports science department before receiving her most recent promotion in January at age 27.
Goodrum played softball at the University of Oregon and received her master’s degree in exercise and sports science from the University of Utah. She joined the Brewers as an intern in 2017 and worked for five years at their sports science lab in Phoenix.
In her role as Milwaukee’s hitting coordinator this past season, Goodrum oversaw the organization’s entire hitting program and all of the minor league hitting coaches and traveled to all of the team’s minor league affiliates. Goodrum spent some time with Milwaukee’s major league team toward the end of the season, continuing the trailblazing trend enveloping the sport.
Goodrum is believed to be the first woman to hold the title of minor league hitting coordinator. The San Francisco Giants promoted Alyssa Nakken to their major league staff last season as a full-time coach, making her the first woman to coach on-field in a major league game. The Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as their general manager last winter. Ng is the first female general manager of a North American sports team.
It is unclear exactly what Goodrum’s role with the Astros will entail, but directors of player development often oversee an organization’s entire minor league system, coaching staffs and affiliates. Most of the Astros’ player development duties in recent years belonged to Pete Putila, the team’s lone assistant general manager who also held the director of player development title since 2016.
General manager James Click hinted earlier this month that his baseball operations staff would be expanding. The baseball operations department Click inherited is one of the sport’s smallest. It lost senior director of strategic decision making Ehsan Bokhari to the Chicago Cubs earlier this fall.