How I Got Started Working In Major League Baseball

How I Got My Start Working In Major League Baseball

An Inside Look Into Breaking Into The Competitive Baseball Industry By Daniel Kaplan Oct 1, 2025

When Did I Know I Would Work In Baseball?

October 1st means different things to different people; the leaves changing, temperature dropping, the ubiquitous pumpkin spice products, halloween costume shopping, and so much more. For me, however, and I know for many of you, it has only ever meant one thing, and that’s Playoff Baseball. That’s where my dream of one day working for an MLB Team became a true passion, and more importantly a commitment. I grew up in the suburbs of New York City in a die-hard New York Yankees family; and it was my freshman year of high school where I watched that team, with so many heroes of mine, win the 2009 World Series. That’s when it all changed; where Baseball went from something I would love to do for a career one day, to it being what I HAD to do. After watching that team hoist up that trophy, seeing them celebrate after playing 162 games, plus spring training, plus the playoffs, all having worked so hard to pursue the same goal, I knew I needed to get to work to be able to do it one day myself.

Where Do I Start?

Now that I knew I was committed to working in Baseball, I found myself in a position many of you may have found, or currently are finding yourselves in; that of “so where do I start?”. For me, that meant what field do I study in college or grad school? Before I dive into that, know that now that I have worked in Baseball for over 8 years, my answer to what to study is very different now than what it was then; but we’ll get into that in a bit. I studied Sport Management and Psychology in school, as my thinking was that while they don’t give degrees in Baseball, I can learn as much as I can about what goes into the business of Baseball. With Sport Management I was able to learn about sport law, contract law, sport economics, as well as learning and honing skills in operational and information management systems; all of which have helped me in my career today. I attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with one of the top Sport Management programs in the country, and i’m so glad that I did. While my Sport Management classes were extremely helpful, my Psychology coursework was equally as impactful! No matter what MLB Team you work for, every team deals with similar obstacles and systems. Baseball teams are HUGE entities composed of different sub-groups that all must work seamlessly together to achieve on-field results. You have your coaches, players, support staff, medical staff, analysts, scouts, coordinators, interns, and so much more. All of these individuals have different backgrounds and upbringings, different priorities, different motivations, and studying psychology, specifically social and personality psychology, has helped me immensely to collaborate in a Baseball environment and lead teams of my own. I’ll leave you with this as for where to get started; it is less important where you start, than it is THAT you start. There is no magic bullet or particular program that can promise you a job in Baseball, only you can get that for yourself. So choose a skill or area of study that you are most confident will help you do your dream role in Baseball one day, and dive head first into it and make it yours. You control the narrative, and don’t let any job fair or college fair sway you from your decision.

How To Get Your Foot In The Door

I maintain to this day that the single hardest element to having a career in Major League Baseball starts at the beginning, which is just to simply get your foot in the door. The Baseball industry revolves so much around people, aka your network and the connections you make in the game. So if you’re like me and didn’t have any connections to the game, let me be the first to tell you that you can still carve out a successful career in the industry; all hope is not lost, despite what others may have you believe! If you are connected to the game and have someone who can help you get in, then that’s great! Focus on honing your skills that will help you stand out in your first role. So how do you make those connections and get your foot in the door? The answer is….you have to work. You have to find some way to learn and offer value at the same time that will help you impress a MLB team when the time comes. Too often, job seekers believe that if they love Baseball and are willing to work hard, they will get an internship or role with a MLB Team and learn on the job. This is NOT the case. You have to devote time to learning a skillset that will show MLB teams you can help them from day one, and are not just expecting to only learn. For me, I began volunteering my time working for a college Baseball team, helping integrate statistics and implementing analytically-minded decisions into practice plans, lineup creation and more. I also worked as a front office intern for a Minor League team which got me exposure to professional Baseball. Working with a group of similarly minded and ambitious people, working with the coaching staff and players, being around the game every day, these were exactly the types of experiences that helped me land an internship with an MLB Team. The only way to learn how to think differently, and understand how Baseball teams work, is to DO THE WORK. So getting as close to the field, in a team setting, where you’re able to have some freedom to develop ideas, ask questions and work through statistics or whatever your specific field of interest may be, is the single best thing you can do.

Breaking Down The Door

Okay so once you have committed to working in the industry and put in all the work to stand out and build your skillset up; how do you do that most challenging part and get IN? The first strategy I found most helpful was to find a mentor. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means if you don’t have any connections, find someone who does, and connect with them! For me, that meant asking the college coach I worked with if he knew anyone connected to the MLB; which he did, and if he’d be willing to introduce me. Getting introduced to new and higher-level industry connections from people who can vouch for you, your work ethic, and your character is one of the most meaningful ways of landing a job in Baseball and making a name for yourself. Another method I employed of breaking into the industry was to learn how the game works. Getting into any industry, but especially professional baseball, is always a bit of a chess game with many unwritten rules. When is the hiring season? How do you apply for jobs? What do I need on my resume? Who do I reach out to on teams? There are so many questions to ask; and back when I first got started, we did not have BC Career Pro, our new platform designed to help you through this process! So what I had to do was find someone who did a job I wanted, and build up the courage to ask them. For me that was the Video Coordinator for the New York Yankees; and I saw him doing his job every day when I would deliver mail to the clubhouse; and after a few weeks we built a relationship, and I eventually asked him if I could ask him a few questions. To this day, he and I are close friends, and he helped teach me everything about the Baseball Winter Meetings, and what I would need to succeed and get my foot in the door.

Put It All Together

There is now better feeling than that moment when you get your first job offer working for a professional Baseball team. For me, that came in the form of an internship offer with the Los Angeles Angels at the Baseball Winter Meetings. I had done everything we’ve talked about in this article; studied, worked, networked, prepared my resume, and now had an offer in hand. I learned from my new connections that I had to craft my resume a certain way, and begin networking in the fall of my senior year of undergrad so that I would have as many interview chances at the Winter Meetings as possible. After months of emailing, I only showed up to the annual conference with 2 interviews. I arrived excited, only to be dismayed as I networked with other suit-wearing briefcase-carrying job seekers and learned they were arriving with 3-8 interviews or more! This is all to tell you one of the most important components to working in Baseball: Control what you can control. This industry is so competitive, with it growing and changing every year, you need to do everything you can to stand out and get in, and that’s it. No more, no less. Put yourself in the environment and situation to receive an offer, and be as prepared as possible. That first offer I told you about, it came from a midnight phone call to meet at a hotel lobby fountain after having done the interview just hours before. You might ask why that was the case, and the only answer I can give you is….that’s Baseball!