Kayla Baptista

Kayla Baptista

• School University of North Carolina
• High School La Salle Academy

Biographical Information

Kayla Baptista aspires to be a MLB manager.

Baptista played softball at the University of North Carolina for two years before a series of concussions ended her playing career. In her junior year at UNC (2023) she transitioned to working as a student assistant coach.

Baptista's coaching career actually started two years earlier. In the summer of 2021 she became the first female on-field coaching intern ever in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham Gatemen. During this internship, Baptista coached first base, threw batting practice, hit fungos, helped with field work pre-game and post-game, and helped break down scouting reports with the players. Jerry Weinstein, a long-time professional manager and coach, stated that "She did everything,” ... “She has a good feel for the analytics, the on-field coaching stuff, a good personality and connects well with the players. … Her passion for the game is unmatched.”[1]

Major league scouts also noticed Baptista that summer. In 2022 the Texas Rangers hired her as a player development coaching apprentice. She was the first female hired for a coaching role in the organization’s history. “That is a big deal,” said [[Josh Bonifay], the Rangers’ farm director. “She is very qualified, very passionate, very driven and we as an organization value those things. She fits in the Rangers culture very well.”[2] Baptista joined the Rangers after the 2022 UNC softball season ended. She began her apprenticeship in the Dominican Republic and then travelled throughout the minor leagues, spending two or three weeks at each level. Baptista served another apprenticeship with the Rangers in 2023 and was with the organization when they won their first World Series championship. In an interview regarding her apprenticeship, Baptista noted that being a trailblazer was an honor, but also challenging. "My first year it wasn't easy, it's a pretty lonely place especially when you are having to write the daily schedules everyday and you can't even go into the coaches' room with everybody else because they are all showering and changing."[3]

In 2024, Baptista joined the Rangers in a full-time capacity and served as the development coach for the ACL Rangers.

Related Sites

• University of North Carolina Bio
• UNC Softball Player Making Her Mark in the Baseball World
• UNC’s Kayla Baptista Gets Her Call to MLB