Miami Marlins in agreement to hire Rachel Balkovec as director of player development, AP source says

By: Alanis Thames, The Associated Press Posted: 1:26 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024

MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins are in agreement with Yankees minor league manager Rachel Balkovec to become their director of player development, according to a person familiar with the deal.

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MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins are in agreement with Yankees minor league manager Rachel Balkovec to become their director of player development, according to a person familiar with the deal.

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MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins are in agreement with Yankees minor league manager Rachel Balkovec to become their director of player development, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The person confirmed an MLB.com report of Balkovec’s hiring to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal.

Balkovec finished her second season as manager at Class A Tampa in September. She debuted with the team in April 2022 with a win as the first woman to manage a Major League Baseball affiliate.

FILE - Tampa Tarpons manager Rachel Balkovec watches from the dugout, while making her debut as a minor league manager of the Tarpons, a Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees, April 8, 2022, in Lakeland, Fla. The Miami Marlins are in agreement with Yankees minor league manager Rachel Balkovec to become their director of player development, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person confirmed an MLB.com report of Balkovec’s hiring to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2024, on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

Before that, Balkovec was the first woman to serve as a full-time minor league strength and conditioning coach, then the first to be a full-time hitting coach in the minors with the Yankees.

A former softball catcher at Creighton and New Mexico, Balkovec got her first job in professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals as a minor league strength and conditioning coach in 2012.

In 2016, Balkovec joined the Houston Astros, hired as the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator and later was the strength and conditioning coach at Double-A Corpus Christi.

She joined the Yankees organization as a minor league hitting coach in 2019.

The Marlins have made a series of front office moves since the 2023 season ended.

A month after parting ways with general manager Kim Ng, who led the organization for three seasons, the Marlins hired former Rays GM Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations. Ng was the first woman to become GM of a major league team.

Bendix got to work immediately, bringing in former San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler as an assistant GM.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb