Appalachian League Names 2025 Data Coordinators
April 25, 2025 - Appalachian League (ApL) News Release
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Appalachian League has announced its data coordinator interns for the 2025 season.
The data coordinator serves as a technology liaison for their respective team, tasked with managing in-game video operations and the technology needed for data capture. They are responsible for verifying the accuracy of the data while working closely with the Appalachian League's tech partners to identify and troubleshoot issues. Most importantly, each data coordinator is essential in distributing information to players, coaches and scouts.
"The Appalachian League is very proud of our state-of-the-art technology and is extremely pleased to add such a great group of data coordinators for our 2025 season," said Appalachian League executive director Brian Graham. "The addition of this group sets us apart from all other summer leagues and helps boost us well on our way to being the best collegiate summer baseball league in the country."
The data coordinator positions are vital to the Appy League's daily operations. The internship provides first-hand experience to being a part of a coaching staff and hands-on experience with the game's best technology. The Appalachian League is proud to boast since 2022, over 10 former data coordinators have gone on to work for Major League organizations.
Here are the Appy League's data coordinators for the 2025 season:
Christopher McCormick, Bluefield Ridge Runners
McCormick will join the Ridge Runners after completing his junior year studying statistics at the University of Delaware, where he serves as student manager for the Blue Hens' baseball team. In this role, he has recorded and edited video for the team, used TrackMan and Synergy, and done various other analytics projects to help with player development. Prior experience includes serving as a member of the game day statistics team with the Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League for the past four seasons.
Cooper Ward, Bristol State Liners
Ward brings a background in analytics, scouting, and player development to the State Liners. He currently attends the University of South Alabama, where he is pursuing a degree in business administration and serves as the Director of Analytics and Scouting for the baseball team. In this role, he oversees player evaluations, breaks down in-game data, develops scouting reports, and contributes to player development through video analysis and performance feedback. A former collegiate baseball player at Bishop State Community College, Ward blends his on-field experience with analytical expertise to support team strategy and success.
Ethan Gomulka, Burlington Sock Puppets
Gomulka, a Southern California native, joins the Sock Puppets after completing his junior year at Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he is pursuing a degree in Sport Management with minors in Sports Analytics and Computer Science. Last summer, Gomulka gained hands-on experience as an analytics intern with the Power Summer Collegiate League and Palm Springs Power Baseball, where he analyzed player performance using TrackMan technology. He also works seasonally as a basketball analyst for Full Court Analytics, providing analytics and writing data reports for high school basketball teams. He also recently earned third place in the National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championship, further showcasing his expertise in sports analytics. A Springfield College Men's Tennis team member, Gomulka demonstrates leadership on and off the court as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club president, fostering faith and community among fellow student-athletes.
Maddie Mendelsohn, Danville Otterbots
Mendelsohn joins the Otterbots after her junior year studying sports management at New York University where she recently led the NYU-Tisch SABR team to their first room victory at the SABR conference in nine years. Mendelsohn has worked for the St. John's University baseball team as the Assistant Analytics Director, working with various data-capturing programs and tools to help create player analysis reports. She also works at WNYU- NYU's student-led radio station as the sports director, aside from her management work, she hosts multiple baseball focused radio shows every week.
Aislyn Welch, Elizabethton River Riders
Welch is a Graduate Assistant with the Western Kentucky University baseball team, where she assists with day-to-day tasks such as ordering and organizing equipment, scheduling trips, operating technology to track player performance and runs the baseball analytics X account. She is pursuing her Masters of Organizational Leadership. Welch was a Baseball Manager and Football Recruiting Assistant at WKU while she was pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. Welch previously worked as a Seasonal Trackman Operator for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay A-ball affiliate)) and interned at Prep Baseball Tennessee.
Braden McComb, Greeneville Flyboys
McComb will join the Flyboys in 2025 after graduating from Grand Canyon University, where he is majoring in business analytics and minoring in sports management. McComb played for Flyboys Manager Jack Wilson at Thousand Oaks HS in California.
Samuel Thatcher, Johnson City Doughboys
Thatcher joins the Doughboys after working as a student manager in analytics, data, and video at the University of Tennessee. He will graduate in August from Tennessee with a degree in Sports Management. During his time with the Tennessee baseball program, Thatcher operated the Trackman, Yakkertech, and BATS systems for games. He was also the video assistant for Tennessee pitchers and did advanced scouting of opposing relief pitchers on Synergy. Thatcher also worked with PBR Ohio and Michigan last summer as a tournament scout.
Dillon Kark, Kingsport Axmen
Kark earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications at Michigan State University in 2023 and is currently pursuing his Master of Arts in Strategic Communications at Michigan State. Kark was a five year member of the Spartans baseball team and was a team captain in 2024. He hit .276, collected 170 hits, 29 doubles, 14 home runs and 93 RBI in 182 career games. Kark is a five-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten honoree. During his time with the baseball team, he served as a positive ambassador for Michigan State athletics where he interacted with athletes, fans, administrators and alums.
Nicolas Hernandez, Pulaski River Turtles
Hernandez joins the River Turtles after completing his junior year at Texas Christian University, where he is studying Sports Broadcasting and Movement Science with a minor in coaching. As a part of the TCU staff, he serves as a bullpen catcher and assists with data analysis and scouting reports. In this role, Hernandez operates TrackMan, Edgertronic, and other data collection software while also facilitating the day-to-day needs of the bullpen and coaching staff. He is also responsible for content on the team's data and analytics X account. Before joining TCU, he pitched at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas.
Joshua Bell, Tri-State Coal Cats
Bell will join the Coal Cats after completing his junior year at Indiana University. He is pursuing a degree in sports marketing and management. Bell is a student manager for the Indiana baseball team, where he works with the operations, analytics and on-field execution. In 2023, Bell interned for the Lake County Corn Dogs where he worked in sales, gameday operations and media.
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