MLB's Content Diversity Fellowship continues success

Every baseball player has a story to tell, and it’s important to unearth those stories in order to bring fans of the sport closer to the players they root for on the field.

But as the sport has become more international in so many ways, it is equally important that those stories be told by a more global and diverse group of content creators.

“Baseball is America’s national pastime, and it also belongs to the world,” said Jesse Sanchez, MLB’s Director of Talent Development and Diversity Outreach for Content. “There is a place for everyone and everyone’s story in this great game.”

That is why Major League Baseball’s Content group and its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Department partnered to launch MLB.com’s Diversity Fellowship ahead of the 2023 season.

The eight-month initiative aims to prepare early-career candidates, including recent college graduates, for roles in MLB’s Content department and the baseball industry at large. The fellowship, which is geared toward applicants with a unique lived experience who understand the domestic and international significance of the game and the global makeup of its rosters, immediately attracted top-tier talent.

Last season’s fellows, Matthew Ritchie and Jesús Cano, continued working with MLB.com during the 2024 season, writing and producing content for MLB.com and MiLB.com.

This season’s fellows, Melanie Martinez-Lopez and Annalee Ramírez, have continued the program’s success by crafting entertaining stories and engaging content while experiencing some of MLB’s jewel events, including the 2024 All-Star Game.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to see the professional growth of Annalee and Melanie over the course of their fellowship,” said MLB Vice President of Content Matt Meyers, who led the effort along with Sanchez, MLB Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean, and MLB Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Catalina Villegas to create this initiative last year. “They’ve embraced every challenge we’ve thrown their way and asked all the right questions.”

Martinez-Lopez was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Va., and graduated from Marymount University in 2022. After working last year as a high school beat reporter for the Richmond-Times Dispatch, she has spent much of the 2024 MLB season providing game coverage from either Nationals Park or Camden Yards. Martinez-Lopez has also helped out with editorial production, contributed to MLB Pipeline and has written stories while at some of the sport’s biggest events of the year, including the All-Star Game, the London Series and the Little League Classic.

The latter was her favorite experience thus far.

“I followed the Tigers throughout the day, and it was a day full of fun,” she said. “The stories from that day were some of my favorite to write and to see the faces of kids seeing their favorite players was priceless.”

Martinez-Lopez, who is fluent in English and Spanish and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said it has been special for her to communicate with and tell the stories of Spanish-speaking ballplayers.

“Everyone deserves to have their stories told by people who understand them and come from similar backgrounds,” she said. “It helps create stories that are deeper and more meaningful, that go beneath the surface. Through this, fans can understand players better, from their approach to playing the game to who they are as people.”

Ramírez, who is also fluent in English and Spanish, equally understands the value of diverse storytelling.

“When the story of baseball is told from different, diverse vantage points, we offer more than one connecting point to the sport and the athletes that make way for life-long fans,” she said. “… Baseball is a legacy-building sport. There is so much to share in it and from it.”

Born and raised in Phoenix, Ramírez earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Grand Canyon University. Her love of baseball started at a young age but is marked forever by her hometown D-backs winning the 2001 World Series. She spent the 2022 and 2023 fall seasons working as the Spanish Content Creator and Interpreter for the Arizona Fall League. Now, she is in New York working with the social media team at Las Mayores, MLB’s Spanish-language site, and creating content across all of the league’s Spanish social media accounts.

She worked throughout All-Star Week in Arlington, Texas -- "I'll remember that week for the rest of my life, she said" -- but there was one interaction that stood out among the rest. One the day before the MLB All-Star Red Carpet Show, Ramírez received a surprise: She and the Las Mayores team learned that they would be interviewing and taking pictures of Brewers All-Star catcher William Contreras in his hotel room as he got ready for the red carpet.

There is no doubt that the work done by Martinez-Lopez and Ramírez would make Bean proud. His vision and desire to expand opportunities for those interested in baseball helped inspire the creation of MLB’s Digital Content Diversity Fellowship. Bean passed away in August after an 11-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. However, his vision persists.

“It’s important for us to honor his legacy as a champion of mentorship and support,” Villegas said. “... Annalee and Melanie have been exceptional fellows, bringing their passion and creativity to the table while consistently going above and beyond to create high-quality content. I am excited to see what the future holds for them and to explore how we can continue to offer valuable opportunities for talented individuals from all cultural identities.”