Sara Goodrum has been promoted to the Milwaukee Brewers' minor-league hitting coordinator, the team announced Thursday. The move makes Goodrum the first woman to lead a minor-league hitting department for a Major League Baseball club.
Goodrum played Division I softball as an outfielder at the University of Oregon from 2012 until 2015, where she majored in human physiology. She earned a master's degree in exercise and sports science at the University of Utah before joining the Brewers organization in 2017 as a sports science intern. Over the last three years, Goodrum has served as the organization's coordinator for integrative sports performance.
"We've seen it work for almost four years with Sara in our organization, working very closely with our players and our coaches," Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said of Goodrum, via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. "I think we've seen that because of her talent and her skill set, she is trusted and respected."
Goodrum's official title is coordinator for hitting development initiatives. In her new role, Goodrum will oversee all hitting instructors in the Brewers' farm system.
"I think [gender] is really a non-issue, where we're at today in the game, Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan told McCalvy. "Specifically, with [Goodrum], there is a familiarity with our hitters. She has been around the batting cage for the last couple of years, so there are relationships there, there's knowledge of what we're trying to do and what she's trying to do. I think it's kind of a natural progression for her."
Goodrum's hiring points to a positive trend in MLB, where slowly but surely, more women are being hired to coach and work in baseball. Earlier this offseason, the Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as the first female general manager in MLB history. Goodrum follows in the footsteps of fellow trailblazers and recently hired woman baseball coaches, including San Francisco Giants assistant coach Alyssa Nakken; Chicago Cubs hitting coach Rachel Folden; New York Yankees hitting coach Rachel Balkovec; and Boston Red Sox hitting coach Bianca Smith, who became the first Black woman to hold the position.
