A first for Guardians with hiring of Kamekona

CLEVELAND — It’s at the moment yearly that the Guardians launch their participant improvement employees assignments for the upcoming season. Many return to the positions that they had the earlier season, some obtain promotions and a few are new to the group.

But this yr the Guardians have a primary.

As introduced on Tuesday, the Guardians have employed Amanda Kamekona to function the hitting improvement coach for his or her academy in Arizona. Kamekona is the primary lady to be employed by the group in an on-field position.

Kamekona was a standout softball participant at UCLA and Cal State Fullerton earlier than she went on to play professionally from 2010-19. She based and coached a junior Olympic-level softball crew in Chino Hills, Calif., in 2020 and was the top coach at Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, Calif., from 2019-22.

Kamekona is one in every of eight participant improvement staffers to hitch the group for 2023. Most might be understanding of Arizona; a whole lot of acquainted faces (some in new positions) might be returning to Cleveland’s Minor League associates. 

Here’s a breakdown of how the 4 Minor League teaching staffs might be put collectively: 

Hitting coach: Junior Betances

Bench coach: Greg DiCenzo

Pitching strategist: Cody Buckel 

Pitching coach: Brad Goldberg

Hitting coach: Mike Mergenthaler

Assistant hitting coach: Ian Forster

Bench coach: Daniel Robertson

Pitching coach: Kevin Erminio

Hitting coach: Jordan Becker 

Bench coach: Kyle Lindquist 

Pitching coach: Tony Arnold 

Hitting coach: Ordomar Valdez