Rachel Balkovec, who joined the New York Yankees organization as a hitting coach in 2019, will serve as manager of the Low-A Tampa Tarpons next season, sources told The Athletic. This move makes Balkovec the first female manager in affiliated professional baseball.
Balkovec began his pro baseball career in 2012 as a strength and conditioning coach with the St. Louis Cardinals minor-league affiliate. She became the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator of the Houston Astros, also becoming the first woman to hold that position. , before moving on to a similar role with Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.
After taking time off from American baseball to earn an additional master's degree in the Netherlands, Balkovec did a fellowship with Driveline Baseball, a Washington-based player development organization. He was then hired by the Yankees as a minor-league hitting coach.
Balkovec, 34, was a catcher for the softball teams at Creighton and the University of New Mexico. Her appointment follows a recent history-making move for women in baseball, including appointing Kim Ng as Miami Marlins general manager in 2020 and Bianca Smith last year becoming the first black woman to coach in pro baseball.