The Miami Marlins have made a groundbreaking move in hiring Rachel Balkovec as their new director of player development, according to sources. The club has not yet confirmed the news, but Balkovec’s extensive experience in the game speaks for itself.
At 36 years old, Balkovec has worked in various roles across three different baseball organizations since starting her professional career in 2012. Most recently, she served as the Class A skipper for the New York Yankees over the past two seasons, making her the first woman to hold such a position in baseball.
Balkovec’s background in cutting-edge analytics, along with her experience as a Division I softball catcher and her master’s degree in kinesiology, have prepared her well for this new position. She has also earned accolades such as the Appalachian League Award for Strength Coach of the Year during her time as an interim strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization.
In recent years, Balkovec has furthered her education and research in human movement sciences and biomechanics, focusing on areas such as eye tracking for hitters and hip movement for pitchers at performance center Driveline Baseball. She has also coached in the Australian Baseball League and was named to the coaching staff for the 2021 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.
Balkovec’s hiring comes amid a restructure of the Marlins organization under new president of baseball operations, Peter Bendix. The team has also recently brought in Gabe Kapler as assistant general manager and Vinesh Kanthan as director of baseball operations.
The move to bring in Balkovec follows the departure of Geoff DeGroot as the director of player development in September 2022. Since then, the Marlins’ farm system has faced challenges in producing homegrown position players, leading to a drop in MLB Pipeline’s rankings.
With her extensive experience and trailblazing career, Balkovec brings a fresh perspective to the Marlins’ player development program and could be just the change the organization needs to revitalize its farm system and prepare for future success on the field.