Friday BP: Alyssa Nakken named BA’s Trailblazer of the Year

Hello and happy Friday to you all.

On Wednesday, San Francisco Giants coach Alyssa Nakken was given a pretty special honor, as Baseball America named her their Trailblazer of the Year.

Nakken became the first woman to be a uniformed coach at the MLB level. But while that’s what’s historic and attention-grabbing, it was abundantly clear from the words of her fellow coaches and the Giants players that the most notable thing about her was that she was a very good coach. Or, to use her words about making history from her interview with Baseball America, “It’s something I’ll have to continue to balance for the rest of my career, because you can’t blaze trails without doing the job you’re supposed to do and then some.”

The Giants coaching staff opened a lot of eyes in 2020, and it’s a safe bet that Nakken has a long career ahead of her — hopefully much of it with the Giants.

Old, random MCC article for you to read

Sean Hjelle will need a new nickname (June 19, 2018 — Bryan Murphy)

Giants links

• Grant Brisbee looks at some non-tenders that the Giants should sign (The Athletic, subscription required)
• Jesse Sanchez on Marco Luciano’s potential superstardom (MLB)
• Kerry Crowley on why the Giants non-tendered Tyler Anderson despite their rotation concerns (Mercury News)
• Mark W. Sanchez on Zach Green signing with the Milwaukee Brewers (KNBR)
• Maria Guardado on the non-tenders that might interest Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris (MLB)
• Kerry Crowley lists five non-tendered position players who could help the Giants (Mercury News)
• Steve Berman on the Giants non-tendering Tyler Anderson and Daniel Robertson (The Athletic, subscription required)
• Alex Pavlovic lists nine non-tendered players who could help the Giants (NBC Sports Bay Area)
• Mark W. Sanchez offers his take on non-tendered players the Giants should target (KNBR)

How many days until Opening Day?

There are 118 days until Opening Day.

Have a fun and funky Friday (but not too funky).