The New York Yankees have promoted Rachel Balkovec to be the manager of the Low-A Tampa Tarpons, making her the first female manager in affiliated professional baseball.
With an extensive resume, the 34-year-old has worked in pro ball for ten years. Serving as the hitting coach in 2019 for the rookie-level Florida Complex League, she became the first female full-time hitting coach within an MLB organization.
The skipper’s journey in pro ball began in 2012 when she was hired by the St. Louis Cardinals as a minor league strength and conditioning coach. She had moved on to the Houston Astros organization in 2016 where she then was hired as a Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator with their Double-A affiliate, Corpus Christi.
Spending time at both Creighton University and the University of New Mexico, Balkovec played Division I college softball. In 2018, she briefly left baseball to continue her studies and obtain a second master’s degree in the Netherlands at Vriji University, where she worked with the country’s national baseball and softball teams.
