‘What a dream’: Inside female catcher’s pro baseball experience in Lexington

Alexis “Scrappy” Hopkins and the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes ⁠— Lexington’s newest minor league baseball team playing in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball ⁠— made history in March.

The Genomes selected Hopkins with the eighth overall pick during the Atlantic League’s annual player draft in Florida.

Hopkins, who serves as the Genomes’ bullpen catcher, is believed to be the first female position player drafted by an American pro baseball team for an on-field role (another woman, Kelsie Whitmore, has already played this season for the Staten Island FerryHawks, another Atlantic League franchise).

That began a whirlwind couple of months for Hopkins, who was working full-time at a car wash in Florida as recently as Jan. 28.

By late April, Hopkins was living her dream as both a professional baseball player with the Genomes and a software engineer with Booz Allen Hamilton.

“It’s definitely awesome to learn the balance and be able to be a software engineer and a baseball player at the same time,” Hopkins said. “Either one of them is cool enough as it is, but to do both of them is just quite an opportunity.”

In the nearly three months since the Atlantic League season began, Hopkins has had plenty of moments where her new reality has struck her.

One came during a recent Genomes home game at Wild Health Field in Lexington.

Hopkins was assigned a work project with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that required some extra time. So she asked Genomes Manager Mark Minicozzi if she could take the first two innings of that night’s game to work on the project.

The end result?

Hopkins sitting inside the Genomes’ clubhouse working on the project while in full uniform and with a broadcast of the game pulled up, before sprinting back out to the bullpen and dugout during the third inning.

“’What a dream,’” Hopkins said to herself.

A day in the life of Scrappy Hopkins

So what does a typical (6:35 p.m. start time) game day look like for Hopkins?

After waking up in the morning and making sure her cat is fed and settled, Hopkins will begin her work with Booz Allen Hamilton.

After between three and six hours of work, Hopkins will eat lunch and go to Wild Health Field around 1:30 p.m. Hopkins also tries to go to her CrossFit gym three times a week to help with mental and strength conditioning.

Pitcher stretching and pregame throwing is at 2:45 p.m., then comes batting practice and a variable time period, which Hopkins uses either for extra hitting work, to talk with teammates and absorb their baseball knowledge or just to rest.

Hopkins then takes a pregame shower (she also has her own locker space separate from the main clubhouse) before coming out about an hour before first pitch to help out however she can.

She also uses this time before games to meet new Genomes staff members and fans in the crowd who recognize her.

“I really enjoy that because a couple months ago I was in the stands, too,” Hopkins said.

As for the game itself, Hopkins is usually either in the dugout and catching in between innings or in the left-field bullpen performing bullpen catcher duties.

Sometimes after a game, Hopkins will work a couple extra hours at home.

Currently, Hopkins does not travel with the Genomes for road games.

Hopkins grows, learns in Lexington

What are the biggest takeaways for Hopkins from living and working in a pro baseball environment?

“The biggest thing I’ve learned here is patience and process. Just learning how to be here and be ready every day for whatever the day may bring you,” Hopkins said. “I feel like I’ve grown literally leagues since I’ve been here … there’s so much to learn, so much to do, picking the brains of other catchers, other pitchers, asking people questions all the time.”

Hopkins can feel the growth in her baseball skills, from glove positioning to catching technique, even compared to the two-day Atlantic League Professional Showcase that preceded the player draft.

Some of this has come as the result of learning from other players on the Genomes, including former major leaguers.

“They just treat me just like another ballplayer,” Hopkins said. “Being a rookie in this league is such a huge privilege, just to be walking on the field with these guys, and then getting to play with them, catch with them, hit off of them. That’s a big deal.”

The networking that has come with Hopkins’ pro baseball experience so far — from Genomes players, opposing coaches and players and even people she has met in the community — has been valued by Hopkins.

She was recognized during a UK softball home game during the spring, and T-shirts with Hopkins’ name on it are sold at the Genomes team store.

“It’s definitely really cool to see my name around the stadium on people’s backs, that’s super cool. But I think the cooler part is the community that we’re building to be part of this awesome experience,” Hopkins said. “There are a lot of people here that are on Team Scrappy, and I am likewise on their team and their side.”

Hopkins said preseason plans for her to appear in an Atlantic League game this season are still on track.

“The story’s not over yet, and the story hasn’t started, either,” Hopkins said of her baseball journey. “This is not the beginning, it’s not the end. It’s just a step in the right direction … as long as I am granted to be able to play this game, I want to keep playing.”

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