While watching college softball one day in 2010, Ronnie Gajownik saw an interview with a USA Women's National Baseball Team member and thought:
"Wait, that's a thing? I want to do that." Gajownik submitted a tryout video and joined the 40-woman roster in 2011.
Four years later, Gajownik and Team USA made it to the Pan American Games in Toronto, where they won gold.
She called the experience absolutely amazing-not just playing the game she loves on a global stage but because of what it meant to her family.
"My parents raised me (saying) that your last name and who you are as a person, it's huge, it's everything," Gajownik said. "It's a brand that my dad and mom have made with our name. It was really cool to have that moment of having 'Team USA' on the front and then 'Gajownik' on the back."
Now, Gajownik is the first female manager in the affiliated minor leagues above Low-A. This season she will manage the High-A Hillsboro Hops, the Northwest League affiliate of the D-backs. Last season, Low-A Tampa's Rachel Balkovec became the first female manager in affiliated minor league history.
Gajownik still remembers the importance of the name on the back of the jersey.
When Gajownik was interviewing for jobs in baseball, she had a good feeling about her talks with the D-backs. She felt the organization was talking to her, not to make a token hire, but because of who she was and her skill something her parents had always emphasized.
"It felt right," Gajownik said. "No matter what job it was going to be that they were going to offer me, I was gonna say yes!" From Arizona's initial job offer as an affiliate video coordinator in early 2021 to now has been nothing short of a whirlwind.
In 2022, she was slated to coach in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. But then a Double-A Amarillo coach injured his foot and would miss the remainder of the season.
The D-backs promoted Gajownik to serve as the Sod Poodles' first base coach. When the organization needed a manager at Hillsboro this year, it tapped Gajownik for the job.
Wh...
"Wait, that's a thing? I want to do that." Gajownik submitted a tryout video and joined the 40-woman roster in 2011.
Four years later, Gajownik and Team USA made it to the Pan American Games in Toronto, where they won gold.
She called the experience absolutely amazing-not just playing the game she loves on a global stage but because of what it meant to her family.
"My parents raised me (saying) that your last name and who you are as a person, it's huge, it's everything," Gajownik said. "It's a brand that my dad and mom have made with our name. It was really cool to have that moment of having 'Team USA' on the front and then 'Gajownik' on the back."
Now, Gajownik is the first female manager in the affiliated minor leagues above Low-A. This season she will manage the High-A Hillsboro Hops, the Northwest League affiliate of the D-backs. Last season, Low-A Tampa's Rachel Balkovec became the first female manager in affiliated minor league history.
Gajownik still remembers the importance of the name on the back of the jersey.
When Gajownik was interviewing for jobs in baseball, she had a good feeling about her talks with the D-backs. She felt the organization was talking to her, not to make a token hire, but because of who she was and her skill something her parents had always emphasized.
"It felt right," Gajownik said. "No matter what job it was going to be that they were going to offer me, I was gonna say yes!" From Arizona's initial job offer as an affiliate video coordinator in early 2021 to now has been nothing short of a whirlwind.
In 2022, she was slated to coach in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. But then a Double-A Amarillo coach injured his foot and would miss the remainder of the season.
The D-backs promoted Gajownik to serve as the Sod Poodles' first base coach. When the organization needed a manager at Hillsboro this year, it tapped Gajownik for the job.
Wh...
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Baseball America (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2023