A’s hire MLB’s first female coach Justine Siegal as guest instructor

The Oakland Athletics have invited Justine Siegal to be a guest instructor at the team’s fall instructional league for prospects, making her the first female coach in MLB history.

The Oakland Athletics have invited Justine Siegal to be a guest instructor at the team’s fall instructional league for prospects, making her the first female coach in MLB history, the team announced Tuesday. 

Siegal, who holds a PhD in sports psychology, is the Director of Sports Partnerships at Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. She was an assistant baseball coach for Division-III Springfield College for three years and threw batting practice to the Indians in 2011, a first for a woman. She threw BP to five other MLB teams as well, including the A’s. Siegal was also a first base coach for the independent Brockton Rox for one season, becoming the first woman to coach professional men’s players.

“We feel like Justine has a lot to offer and that instructs is a great place to get her feet wet,” Oakland assistant GM David Forst told the San Francisco Chronicle. “She’ll be doing a little bit of everything.”

Siegal’s hiring is similar to the Arizona Cardinals’ decision to hire Jen Welter as a preseason coaching intern, becoming the NFL’s first female coach. In the NBA, Becky Hammon is an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs and led the team to the NBA summer league championship as the head coach of the summer league team. 

- Dan Gartland