Balkovec, Rachel (1987-…), an American baseball executive, became the first woman to manage a team affiliated (associated) with a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. In 2022, the New York Yankees appointed her manager of the Tampa Tarpons, one of the club’s minor-league affiliates. Affiliated teams, sometimes called farm teams, help train and develop players for MLB teams. In 2024, the Miami Marlins hired Balkovec to be their director of player development.
Rachel Ann Balkovec was born July 5, 1987, in Omaha, Nebraska. Balkovec attended Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha, where she played basketball, soccer, and softball. She attended nearby Creighton University before transferring to the University of New Mexico (UNM). She played catcher on the softball teams of both schools. She graduated from UNM in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science.
Balkovec served as a strength and conditioning intern for several professional baseball teams and university athletic programs. She earned a master’s degree from Louisiana State University in 2012. She was a strength and conditioning coach in the minor leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 2014 to 2015 and the Houston Astros organization from 2016 to 2018.
Balkovec earned a second master’s degree from Vrije University Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, in 2019. That year, she became the first woman to be a full-time hitting coach in MLB-affiliated baseball, with the New York Yankees organization.
