First, make history.
Next, get to work.
Then, keep going because the offseason is anything but time off.
That sums up Allison Krajewski’s first season with the Colorado Rockies organization.
Back in February,
Krajewski was hired as the performance coach for the High-A Spokane Indians. Upon accepting the job, she became the first woman coach not only in Spokane’s history but also in the Rockies organization. She joined the small but growing ranks of women coaches in MiLB and international development programs.
When asked about her proudest moment of her first season with Spokane, Krawjewski’s answer proved she picked the right career path.
“Probably my biggest accomplishment is finishing out my first full year and still loving it,” Krajewski told Purple Row site manager Sam Bradfield during the instructional league, aka instructs, in Arizona in late September.
“In general, I just got to work with a lot of great guys that traditionally work hard. And I had an awesome group there, and I was able to keep the majority of them healthy on my field. So, it was awesome.”
Finding the Rockies
After getting a master’s degree in kinesiology and exercise from the University of Alabama and doing an internship as a performance coach in the athletic department there, Krajewski earned a spot as a Next Gen Strength Intern for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the summer of 2024. She then applied for numerous jobs and got an offer to join the Rockies.
The environment was a great fit for Krajewski, who values establishing relationships with players to better coach them in strength training and improving their physical performance.
“Honestly, it’s the way we drive home our relationships and treating our players like humans,” Krajewski said of her favorite part of working in the organization.
“It’s a great time. Everyone here is amazing. We work as a family, and it’s an awesome time. Definitely interesting times. I know everyone’s worried about what will happen in three years [as the MiLB collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1, 2027], but I think it’ll be a good time.”
All four of Colorado’s Minor League affiliates have a performance coach. Even though the Indians, who won the Northwest League Championship in 2024, struggled after seeing many of their star players promoted and went 58-74 this season, Krajewski loved being in Spokane.
“I got to work with a great group of staff. I know last year they had the championship, and unfortunately, we fell short this year,” Krajewski said. “But it’s definitely going to be a great feel for next year, just getting better and working at that.”
Catching the Bug
When it comes to Krajewski’s origin story, her passion for strength training hit when she started lifting, or as she calls it, “got the bug,” at age 15. She credits an amazing high school coach who started a girls lifting program at her school. Krajewski and her coach helped grow an initial group of 12 girls into a mass of 100. That’s when she discovered she loved coaching.
However, she stuck with her plan and went to college to be a doctor. One day, the coaching bug bite became too powerful to ignore, and Krajewski made the switch to human performance exercise science.
“I sat there and I was like, ‘You know what? I really love coaching. Why not take a chance and try this?’” Krajewski said. “Plus, I would love to see more females in this field, and I had a great mentor at Alabama, Michelle Diltz. She’s the Olympic director there, and she just let me intern there, and it was a home run.”
Even though more women are getting involved in every area of baseball, from operations to scouting to coaching, performance coaching remains especially dominated by men. But it hasn’t presented challenges for Krajewski thus far.
“I haven’t really run into those here. At first, of course, the initial worries are, ‘Am I gonna get the respect here?’ and things like that, but the Rockies organization in general has treated me with the utmost respect, so I can’t argue or complain,” Krajewski said.
“I know that there’s some people that doubt it, but I’ve never had an issue. My guys complied all year, so it was great.”
The Coaching
When it comes to the daily tasks of her job, Krajewski employs the philosophy of the Rockies to build programs to find weaknesses that players can improve. Regardless of position or team in the Rockies farm system, players are given similar programs to help them become stronger, or faster, or correct an issue. This can help as players move up and down in the system and not have to face drastic changes.
“Basically, how we approach it is we scan them once every two weeks or once a week, and go based off that,” she said. “What they’re really good on the field is usually what they’re best on in their jump, and we challenge them in our room to use it as a tool to help keep them on the field by working at their lowest quality. So, it’s an awesome opportunity.”
Krajewski and other coaches then use the trust they have built with players to have conversations and make changes to cater to each player as needed. It’s the value of forming those relationships that makes Krajewski love coaching.
“I get to help these guys keep themselves healthy, work through issues, and other things like that. … I get to push them in places that they don’t traditionally might want to be pushed,” she said. “And, also, it creates this dynamic of trust, which is awesome. It’s probably one of the best things. I always tell people that I can tell people to lift heavy all that I want, but it’s working on that dynamic between players and coach. It’s awesome. and it makes me want to keep coming back.”
After starting her work in Spokane and then traveling to Arizona for instructs to work with players after the Indians season ended, Krajewski will be heading to a completely different location to continue her work and training, rounding out a historic and impressive first year.
“I’m excited I get to go to the [Dominican Republic] and get to witness what our Latin players go through prior to coming up to the States, which is an awesome opportunity,” Krajewski said.
“I know, overall, offseason is just gonna be preparing to become a better coach and work on continuing education and stuff like that, to prep myself for my second year overall.”
Arizona Fall League
Surprise Saguaros 12, Salt River Rafters 11
Despite holding an 11-5 lead after six innings, the Rafters couldn’t hold on when the Saguaros rallied to score seven runs in the seventh inning to record a comeback win. Offensively, the Rockies prospects on the Rafters continued to show up in a big way even though Salt River lost, falling to 3-4 in AFL action. Third baseman Braylen Wimmer (no. 38 PuRP) went 2-for-3, walked and scored a run, left fielder Jared Thomas (no. 8 PuRP) doubled and scored a run and first baseman Charlie Condon (no. 2 PuRP) drew a walk and scored two runs. Wimmer also stole two bases and Thomas swiped one.
On the mound, three Colorado prospects were in action. Jack Mahoney started and had a solid performance for Salt River. He pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts despite walking two and giving up two hits. Welinton Herrera closed out the game with a scoreless frame, striking out two and giving up one hit. However, Cade Denton’s night didn’t go as well. He entered the game with two on and no out in the seventh and then gave up a single, a walk, a wild pitch, hit a batter and walked another. With Surprise having cut the lead the 11-8, Denton then surrendered a grand slam to lose the lead. Denton recovered to strike out the next three batters, but the damage was done as he’d given up five runs on two hits with two walks and one hit by pitch.
Patrick Saunders broke some news on Thursday when he cited anonymous league sources with two updates. First, the Rockies are hoping to have a finalist for the president of baseball operations/general manager by next week. Second, Dick Monfort and Co. are planning to hire a “chief revenue and strategy officer,” who “would be tasked with helping grow the Rockies from the business side and will be involved in investing money in data, analytics and strategy” as part of the front office rebuild.
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