Daniel Nicolaisen Joins Softball Staff As Assistant Coach

 Head coach Jamie Trachsel rounded out her staff with the addition of MLB assistant hitting coach Daniel Nicolaisen.

Nicolaisen arrives in Oxford with an elite resume that includes four years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, where he was promoted to the major-league staff as an assistant hitting coach at the age of 29, three seasons with Seton Hall softball and background in men’s fastpitch that features two European Championship titles.

Nicolaisen spent this past season in the Major League on staff with the Cardinals, serving as one of the team’s hitting coaches. Working with some of the top talent in the league, he helped coordinate the integration of technology, data and analytical insights throughout the team’s hitting program.

Prior to making it to the Majors, Nicolaisen spent three years in the Cardinals farm system, quickly rising through the ranks. He was brough on staff in 2020, before the minor league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Nicolaisen was as the hitting coach for Palm Beach and in 2022 he became an assistant hitting coordinator in the farm system, which led him to take on special projects with Paul Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and other MLB players as they trained during the winter for the upcoming season. 

Before his time in the MLB, Nicolaisen was a member of the softball staff at Seton Hall. Working with the Pirates for three seasons, he helped lead the offense as an assistant coach in 2019 and a volunteer prior. During the 2019 season, Seton Hall posted a .277 batting average, with thirty-five home runs, and a .447 team on-base percentage, a total .160 improvement to the offense’s OPS.

Nicolaisen also had a two-year stint as the Director of Softball Operations and Head Coach of Mavs Performance Institute from 2016-2018 where he oversaw four teams.

Working in the sport of softball for most of his career, Nicolaisen also served as a softball school instructor at the Danish Softball Federation in his native country of Denmark, a head coach for Jersey Shore Diamond Crush Softball and Jersey Intensity Softball before rising to the collegiate ranks as an assistant at Atlantic Cape Community College.

A former varsity baseball athlete, Nicolaisen earned a degree in business administration from Neumann University in December of 2016.

Nicolaisen has a background in fastpitch softball. After participating in the U-19 Men’s Softball World Cup 2008, he won the U-19 Men’s Softball European Championship 2009 and the Men’s Softball European Championship 2010.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports