Mariners hire female scout, believed to be 1st since 1950s

SEATTLE (AP) The Seattle Mariners have hired Amanda Hopkins as an area scout, and the team says she is believed to be the first woman hired as a fulltime scout by a major league club since the 1950s.

The Mariners announced the move Monday amid a flurry of changes in their scouting department. Hopkins, who will cover Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, spent the past three seasons working as an intern in Seattle's amateur scouting department and is a recent graduate of the Major League Baseball developmental program.

Hopkins graduated in June from Central Washington University, where she played softball for the Wildcats. She is the daughter of Ron Hopkins, a baseball scout for more than 30 years who served as scouting director in Texas and Oakland. He worked for the Mariners in 1988.

Seattle also announced promotions for Ben Collman, Chris Pelekoudas and Mike Moriarty to supervisory positions overseeing scouting in specific regions of the country.