‘The right pick at the right time.’ Lexington baseball team drafts league’s first woman.
Despite having not yet played a game, the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes continue to make baseball history.
Lexington’s newest professional baseball team — which was unveiled in February and will begin play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in April — already made history by hiring the first female coach, Lindsay Gardner, in Atlantic League history.
Now, the Genomes have also broken a barrier when it comes to female players.
On Wednesday, during the Atlantic League’s annual player draft in Florida, the Genomes selected catcher Alexis “Scrappy” Hopkins with the eighth overall pick.
According to the Genomes, Hopkins is believed to be the first female position player ever drafted by an American pro baseball team for an on-field role.
Hopkins also becomes the first female drafted in Atlantic League history.
“I’m really excited for this. About two or three years ago in one of my college classes they said write down a dream of yours. I was going to put down professional baseball player, but I actually didn’t because I was like, ‘That’s never going to happen,’” Hopkins said in a video posted to the Atlantic League’s Twitter account. “But I guess here we are today, making the dream come alive.”
Hopkins played softball and volleyball at Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) High School before playing college softball at Florida Tech, an NCAA Division II school, in 2017.
Hopkins appeared in seven games during that 2017 season as a freshman. She is expected to be the bullpen catcher for the Genomes.
Genomes Manager Mark Minicozzi said Hopkins impressed with her ability to block, catch and frame pitches that were traveling nearly 100 miles per hour during the two-day Atlantic League Pro Showcase.
The player draft occurred following the showcase.
“Alexis was the right pick at the right time by Mark in the draft,” said Andy Shea, the CEO of Lexington-based Stands LLC, which oversees both the Genomes and Legends.
Other instances of professional baseball teams drafting female players include the Chicago White Sox selecting pitcher Carey Schueler in the 43rd round of the 1993 MLB Draft and the Washington Nationals choosing 72-year-old Mamie “Peanut” Johnson in 2008 during a special supplemental Negro League MLB Draft.
Schueler never played in the White Sox organization, for which her father, Ron, served as the general manager, but did play college basketball at DePaul and Saint Mary’s (Calif.).
Johnson was the first female pitcher to play in the Negro Leagues and is featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
With Gardner and Hopkins now both part of the new Genomes team — which will play its games at the same venue as Lexington’s other Atlantic League team, the defending champion Lexington Legends — baseball history will be made in Lexington in both on-field and player-development capacities.
The Atlantic League is an official partner league of Major League Baseball.
When Gardner was announced as part of the Genomes team in February, MLB took note of the importance of the move.
”We are thrilled that one of our partner leagues is welcoming an eminently qualified individual as a coach and continuing the momentum of talented women holding on-field and player-facing roles,” said Peter Woodfork, MLB’s senior vice president for minor league operations and player development.
The Genomes’ first game at the recently renamed Wild Health Field will be May 3.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 11:00 AM.
