The Caitlyn Callahan story has been brought up many times among the Pirates’ front office and coaching staffs.
In November, she was invited to take part of the Pirates’ “Get Better at Baseball” minor-league camp in Bradenton, Fla. She was told the Pirates needed someone to help with video and Rapsodo, duties she had done with the Reds the last two years as a minor-league video and technology intern.
When she got to LECOM Park, she saw minor-league operations assistants doing those jobs.
“It kind of clicked to me,” Callahan said during a Zoom call with local reporters Tuesday. “Oh wait, this is a working interview.”
While on the main field, one group of players had finished batting practice and another group was getting ready to step in. Nobody was on the mound, though, so Callahan got behind the L-Screen and started throwing.
“I was like, at that time, I’ve got to prove that I can hold my own,” Callahan said. “I didn’t even think twice about it.”
Third base coach Mike Rabelo was going to throw the batting practice, but he was still working with players in the outfield, so she took over the duties of one of the highest-ranking members of the Pirates’ major-league coaching staff.
“I have to show that I can contribute, I can help,” she said. “At the end of the day, that’s why I’m here: I want to help the team get better every single day, just like Rabs.”
About two months later, the Pirates officially announced they hired Callahan as a development coach who will be based out of Bradenton. She is the first female coach in the organization's history, and one of the first in the sport.
Ben Cherington joked during the team’s announcement that the team didn’t hire her just because she can throw BP. The club is looking for the right people to help players get better, and the 26-year-old can be someone who helps achieve that goal.
“[She has] a passionate curiosity for learning about the best and most modern coaching practices,” Cherington said during a Zoom call last month. “She’s certainly literate in all of the forms of technology we would use in player development. Most of all, she wants to help players get better and is passionate about putting the player first and doing whatever she can to help the player get better.”
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Callahan’s baseball journey almost ended in middle school.
Other girls in her hometown of Pasadena, Calif. weren’t interested in playing softball, so there wouldn’t be a team. Knowing her situation, the little league coach of Callahan’s younger brother suggested that she try out for baseball.
“That's when I really started getting excited about the game,” Callahan said. “I started to think about plate approach. As a middle schooler, that was really cool to me. It was the first time I was like, 'hold up, this is something I want to do.' ”
Callahan returned to softball once she got into high school and then went on to play at the Division I level at Boston University and St. Mary’s College of California. She didn’t get to play that much, though, spending most of her career injured.
While on the injured list, she started to think about what she could do in the weight room to get better. Then how can she improve her physical therapy routine. She wanted to help the team as much as possible, so she started catching more bullpens, doing more positive self-talk with pitchers and preparing advanced reports on upcoming opponents.
“I tried to expand my horizons as much as possible,” Callahan said. “Tried to learn as much as I could. Even though I couldn’t help my team on the field because I was injured, I was trying to find a way to get back out there as soon as possible, but also help my team.”
It was in that journey that she discovered she loved coaching and started a journey for a job in baseball. That included plenty of different looks, including being a scouting liaison and assistant general manager in the Cape Cod League, working in minor-league baseball operations and her two year stint as a Reds intern, where she was traveling with the franchise’s Class AA affiliate.
In many cases, someone with those qualifications – plus a degree in kinesiology, the study of body movement – would get consideration for a coaching job.
“She absolutely crushed it with the #reds,” Kyle Boddy, the founder of DriveLine and the former Reds minor-league pitching coordinator, tweeted after the news of Callahan’s hiring was reported. “Was one of the few who would work the ridiculous hours alongside the most dedicated people there. Could always count on her for great ideas on tech and PD [player development] integration.”
Callahan applied for those coaching jobs, but didn’t hear back.
"To be completely transparent with you, I didn't think it would be possible for me to be a coach. Not because I didn't think I was capable.”
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In November 2019, Rachel Balkovec was announced as the first female coach in baseball history, being brought on as a minor-league hitting coach with the Yankees. This offseason, the Yankees named her their Class Low-A affiliate’s manager, again making her the first in the sport.
The story of Balkovec’s hiring including her changing the first name on her resume and e-mail address to “Rae” and emphasizing she had Division I catching experience, omitting that it was softball and not baseball. It was a first step for women in the sport, and inspired potential coaches like Callahan.
“It honestly knocked my socks off,” Callahan said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is possible.’ ”
Since Balkovec’s hiring, Alyssa Nakken of the Giants became the first woman on-field coach in a major-league game in 2020, and Sewickley, Pa. native Bianca Smith became the first black woman to coach minor-league baseball last season when she joined the Red Sox. As of opening day 2021, there were 23 women coaches and instructors across baseball, according to Good Morning America.
Callahan is now part of that small, but growing, group.
“To hopefully be that person, that strong female for girls and women in Pittsburgh, it’s an honor,” Callahan said. “I’m really excited to be around some bright minds in the baseball world. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m excited to learn every single day.”
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After the minor-league season ended, Callahan had an interview with Pirates minor-league technology and video coordinator Marc Roche for a position similar to what she had done with the Reds. As they continued talking, it moved away from a job interview and into an hour-long conversation about minor-league life and their jobs.
The next day, Roche called to invite Callahan to the “Get Better at Baseball” camp. She obviously accepted, and in December agreed to join the Pirates staff.
“I’m still pinching myself on a daily basis,” she said.
She has worn many hats in baseball, but coaching is what she has strived to do. During the Zoom call, she told a story of working with a rehabbing player who was coming back from a lower back injury.
“All of a sudden, I’m using what I used as a player helping him gain confidence back in his swing,” Callahan said.
“Seeing that success, seeing him come back was huge for me,” she continued shortly after. “That’s what I’m about. I want to make sure players are optimizing success, playing at our utmost potential.”
Talking to Callahan, it’s easy to see why the Pirates wanted to bring her aboard because the themes of collaboration, individualized player development plans and continuing to learn came up multiple times.
There will be challenges to come that go beyond working in a male-dominated field, including the ongoing lockout. Callahan will spend the year in Bradenton, where minor-league camp will get underway soon.
“If you show you’re trying your best, you’re working hard, you’re actively learning every day, players respect that,” Callahan said. “Something I strive to do every day is learn something new and try my best. As long as I’m doing that, I’m set."
