Rachel Balkovec, a pioneering manager in the Yankees' minor-league system, has agreed to become the Miami Marlins' next director of player development, MLB.com's Christina De Nicola reports.
Balkovec, 36, first made history as the first woman to become a full-time strength and conditioning coach for an affiliated minor-league team. Then in 2020 she again blazed a trail when the Yankees made her the first woman to be a full-time hitting coach for a major-league organization. Balkovec kept another appointment with history prior to the 2022 season, when she was named manager of the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees' single-A affiliate in the Florida State League. She's served in that role over the last two seasons. She began her coaching career as an interim strength and conditioning coach in the Cardinals' organization for their rookie-league affiliate. Years prior, Balkovec was a catcher for the Creighton and University of New Mexico softball teams.
She also studied human movement sciences with a focus on biomechanics during a master's program at Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands and has worked at the analytics-heavy Driveline performance center, according to MLB.com.
With the Marlins, who have not yet confirmed or announced the move, Balkovec is poised to fill a vital and powerful role in the front office under new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. Bendix's predecessor as head of Miami's baseball operations was Kim Ng, the first female general manager in MLB history.
Doubtless, Balkovec in part will be tasked with improving the organization's capacity for developing hitters, which has been been lacking for some time.
