Distaff Director Drives Dodderers' Dominant Draft Day

[Denny]

By Linda Pirkl, Palm Springs Sports Monthly
August 2008 issue

Angie Martinez is out of the ordinary. She is a rarity to begin with as a female employee of a major league team, but her ascent to the upper echelons of the Palm Springs Codgers' front office has also happened very quickly since the twenty-something was hired in 2007.

"I'm the Assistant General Manager," said a beaming Martinez.

"No, that's 'Assistant to the General Manager'", called GM Denny Hills from his office down the hall.

While her exact title remains in some dispute, it nevertheless represents a meteoric rise for the Rapid City native; in fact, there are whispers that it is not due to talent alone – that she is in fact the illegitimate daughter of eccentric recluse billionaire team owner Hopkins Bunner III, and that this is the reason for her quick promotion. Martinez, however, shrugged off those rumors.

"None of that is true at all. Whoever is spreading those rumors is a lying lieface. Obviously there are people who are jealous that I just have a natural talent for this front office stuff – and that's what got me where I am today. It's really a shame, as almost everyone with the club has been lovely to work with." Regardless of the reasons behind her appointment, however, there is no doubt about Martinez's importance to the franchise: she is in charge of preparing for and selecting players in the annual Amateur Draft each June.

"It's definitely a major responsibility. The draft is one of the main ways to bring new talent into the system, so the Codgers stay competitive year after year," Martinez said. "It's something I take very seriously, since there are so few females in this sport. A lot of eyes are on me, and if I do well it could open doors for other women in PEBA front offices."

Angie walked us through the Codgers' draft evaluation process. "We look at players' stats to some degree, but because talent levels are so uneven we don't put too much stock in them. Instead we rely almost totally on our scouts."

Does Martinez herself judge the talent? "I did play softball in college so I at least know a little bit about what to look for, but no, I mostly leave that to the professionals. Dan Winburn is our final authority on hitters, and we mainly look to Gabe Gómez for evaluation of pitchers. Each of them comes up with a ranked list of guys in order of desirability, and then with the help of our office intern Courtney" – she nodded toward a girl wearing a pirate eye patch and carrying a banjo – "we combine those to come up with a master list that we use on draft day."

Does Martinez have the authority to make deals? "Generally I and the rest of the draft team hunker down in our war room and don't have much interaction with other clubs. Everyone with Palm Springs is good to work with as far as dealing with a female – much better than you'd expect from a team named after dirty old men! – but some of the guys on other teams tend to look at my chest rather than my face. Rude!"

GM Denny Hills interjected at this point, "I am the sole authority for making trades, etc. – I just let Angie and her 'draft SWAT team' do their thing behind the scenes."

According to Martinez, the system produced a good result this year. "Our draft was spectacular – we absolutely nailed it. Our first five picks were all in the top 35 of our list! I think we'll look back on our draft this year as a very successful one."

Coming up next month: a look at the Codgers' draft picks and how they've done so far.