{"id":148666,"date":"2022-09-15T11:23:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=148666"},"modified":"2024-07-01T15:56:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:56:44","slug":"in-a-league-of-her-own-amanda-taylors-summer-on-the-cape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/09\/15\/in-a-league-of-her-own-amanda-taylors-summer-on-the-cape\/","title":{"rendered":"In a league of her own: Amanda Taylor’s summer on the Cape with the country’s best amateur baseball league"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amanda<\/a> Taylor<\/a> \u201923 fielded a lot of questions during her summer job as the Major League Baseball scouting liaison for the Yarmouth\u2013Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is available to pitch out of the bullpen today? Why is someone in a slump? How is a player adjusting to using a wood bat for the first time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The questions from scouts cover a lot of topics, and Taylor\u2019s favorite is one that might need an explanation for the non-baseball fan, but makes sense for those familiar with the lingo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, is this player a \u2018dude\u2019?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation: \u201cDoes this player have the je ne sais quoi<\/em>, the poise, the talent  \u2014 all of it \u2014 to be a star?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Major League Baseball scouting liaison Amanda Taylor ’23 confers with Craig Gianinno, an assistant coach for the Yarmouth\u2013Dennis Red Sox, prior to the team’s Cape Cod League game vs. the Cotuit Kettleers on July 21, 2022. (Aaron Morse\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While there are countless summer collegiate baseball leagues, the Cape Cod League is widely considered the best. It\u2019s where the elite college baseball players from around the country congregate to show MLB front offices what they can do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Major League Baseball scouts descend on the Cape each summer, they want answers that will help their clubs make multi-million dollar decisions in the amateur draft every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a scouting liaison, Taylor makes sure the scouts who attend games get the information they need to correctly evaluate the talent they see on the field. She is able to provide insights to the scouts beyond just the raw numbers because she spends the majority of each game in the Y-D Red Sox dugout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the dugout, you get that feel for who the players are as people, how they are as teammates,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThe more I’m able to be there and talk to the players directly, the more complete answers I can give to the questions scouts ask me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The players competing on the Cape are not the only ones with MLB dreams. Taylor wants to get there as well. And to do that, she has to do a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Amanda Taylor ’23 works on stats on her laptop in a Yarmouth-Dennis office. The amateur Cape Cod League has a storied history as a pre-eminent showcase for future big league baseball players, but the resources are still understandably modest. (Aaron Morse\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A psychology major who is a utility player for the Bates softball team, Taylor hails from Fair Lawn, N.J. She comes from a family of Yankee fans, having grown up less than 20 miles from Yankee Stadium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI peaked in 2009,\u201d she jokes. (2009 was the last time the Yankees won the World Series\u2026 but they\u2019ve won 27 overall, which is 16 more than any other team, so reader sympathy may be limited.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor attended countless Yankee games growing up, often with her grandfather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bI was the kid that would keep score at Yankee games,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cMy grandpa would sit with me, and we’d get a hot dog and keep our scorebooks on our laps.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her grandfather would tell her stories about Yankees from days gone by, advising her to hit like Mickey Mantle and catch like Yogi Berra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having played a lot of catcher growing up and as a student of baseball history, Taylor\u2019s favorite player was not any current Yankee, but the late, great Thurman Munson, who played in the Cape Cod League while attending Kent State University in the late 1960s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Amanda Taylor ’23 plays third base during a game vs. St. Joseph’s College on March 31, 2021. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Loving baseball was one thing, but actually working in professional baseball didn\u2019t really cross Taylor\u2019s mind until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first time ever that I didn\u2019t have sports in my life,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI really missed it. I can only watch marbles on ESPN Ocho for so long,\u201d she joked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor discovered a whole world of opportunities for her to explore in sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTaking into account what I study at Bates, and what I like to do, and how I want to live my life, I started to really look into it and became really invested in it,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI came to realize this is what I want my future to look like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Taylor\u2019s second internship with a summer baseball league. Such gigs are typically unpaid, which is where Bates stepped up, awarding Taylor a Purposeful Work internship<\/a>. Last summer was spent with the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a much more operations-based internship that included running on-field promotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her second internship, Taylor wanted to get between the lines, and she wanted it at the top rung of the collegiate summer league ladder. \u201cI applied to pretty much every Cape League team because I wanted to come to the Cape, come hell or high water,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was with the No. 2 league last summer, and the only place to go is up. I wanted to be in the number one league in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Amanda Taylor’s mentors encourage her to remain assertive. \u201cIf anyone can assert themselves, it’s me,\u201d she says. \u201cThat’s the New Jersey in me.\u201d (Brewster Burns for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now she\u2019s there and her work was noticed by the Y-D front office and coaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the get-go, the conversations that Amanda and I have had have revolved around networking, if she can, with the scouts,\u201d General Manager Chip Russo said. \u201cMake some contacts, and be able to parlay that into a potential career opportunity. She’s also working very closely with the coaching staff and they like her quite a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig Gianinno has been coaching baseball for 23 years. He is the director of player development for the University of San Francisco and one of the assistant coaches for the Y-D Red Sox. Gianinno arrives at the park earlier than anyone else, and thus, he and Taylor have developed a terrific rapport. He sees the work she puts in for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmanda is a leader. She’s proactive. She takes initiative. She’s always looking to serve other people. She is as good as it gets from an organizational point of view,\u201d Gianinno said. \u201cShe really cares about her craft and what her role and responsibility is here. The players have a lot of respect for her, and she is very consistent in everything she does to make us better, every single day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say her responsibilities with the Y-D Red Sox vary widely would be an understatement. Sometimes she\u2019s hunched over a laptop, printing stat sheets. Other times she\u2019s on the field, working with the players in the batting cage or spelling a coach who is throwing batting practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an art to throwing BP, something Taylor is still learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne guy complained, \u2018That was bad,\u2019 and I asked, \u2018Why was it bad?\u2019\u201d Taylor said. \u201c\u2018He goes, \u2018You were throwing too hard.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Well, I’ll be damned.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Like many interns in many fields, Amanda Taylor ’23 had myriad duties as a scouting liaison, sometimes hunched over a laptop printing stats, other times on the field throwing batting practice. (Aaron Morse\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe’s pretty fearless, man,\u201d Gianinno siad. \u201cShe gets out there and you’re talking about the best players in the world in amateur baseball. And she’s out there throwing BP to them. I have a ton of respect for her because she’s got a lot of courage. That’s not an easy thing to do. And when we throw BP, we make it look easy, but it’s really not. She gets out there and she does it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Y-D is on the road, Taylor\u2019s work doesn\u2019t stop. Her \u201cside hustle\u201d is traveling to different games in the Cape and serving as the official scorekeeper, a natural fit for Taylor since she grew up keeping score at Yankee games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to working in baseball, the elephant in the room remains the fact that the industry is mostly composed of men. But Taylor does not have to be a trailblazer because there are a number of women who have already done it. One of those women is Bianca Smith, the first Black woman to serve as a professional baseball coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith works for the Florida Complex League Red Sox, a team owned by the big league club and composed mainly of players just getting started in pro baseball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amanda
Amanda Taylor ’23 looks out from the bench during a game between the Yarmouth\u2013Dennis Red Sox and the Chatham Anglers on Aug. 3, 2022. (Photograph by Sadie Parker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s really cool to have those people to look up to, and Bianca\u2019s path is just so unique,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cShe’s a lawyer who’s an assistant coach for a professional baseball organization. She’s wicked smart and just so good at what she does. It’s nice to have someone that I can lean on and catch up with.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith\u2019s primary advice to Taylor has been to continue to assert herself, which is not a problem for Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anyone can assert themselves, it’s me,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThat’s the New Jersey in me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 90 minutes before first pitch, and the interns are bantering in the press box of Red Wilson Field, a high school field that also happens to host the Y-D Red Sox each summer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat don\u2019t you do, Amanda?\u201d asks the team\u2019s video production manager. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Per usual, the wireless Internet isn\u2019t working. And Taylor, the only person on staff who knows how to operate the printer, has been busy printing rosters and statistics and doing other administrative work, which can, at times, seem like half her day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all part of the strange dichotomy of the Cape, so close to the top level of baseball, yet so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players who will be worth millions in a year or two travel to games on school buses and play on high school fields, some of which don\u2019t have lights. Interns, who attend some of the top colleges in the country, deal with faulty WiFi and whatever else may come up over the course of a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor is chatting with some of the interns about her experience throwing batting practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat don\u2019t you do, Amanda?\u201d asks the team\u2019s video production manager, a local to the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor laughs and jokes that she\u2019s the hyphen in Y-D. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s true. She makes everything connect. Well, except the Internet. Someone else is checking on that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armed with a Purposeful Work internship,Taylor was a liaison between major league baseball scouts and a Cape Cod League team. \u201cAmanda is a leader,” said a coach. “The players have a lot of respect for her.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":148667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":148667,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":"summary_large_image"},"categories":[24],"tags":[12356],"class_list":["post-148666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-center-for-purposeful-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148666"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148725,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148666\/revisions\/148725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}