Rachel Balkovec is moving up, but is no longer part of the Yankees organization.
Balkovec, who led the Yankees' low-A club for the past two seasons and became the first woman to manage an affiliated minor league team, has agreed to become the Marlins' director of player development, officials said Tuesday. He confirmed this to the Post. MLB.com first reported the appointment.
Balkovec has previously indicated he would like to become a general manager in the future, and a move from the dugout to a front office position would seem to align with that goal.
Balkovec, 36, joined the Yankees as a minor league hitting coach in November 2019 after serving as a minor league strength and conditioning coach with the Cardinals and Astros.
She was then promoted to coach at Low-A Tampa for the 2022 season.
“Generally, I want to be a head coach, and now I'm in a role that obviously has a lot of leadership responsibility, but I want all the pressure,” Balkovec said. in 2022, he told The Post's Steve Serby in April.
“So, I want to be a head coach, and I think the GM of most baseball teams is someone who probably makes more decisions than a major league manager. I'm also interested in the organization as a whole, so I think I have a bird's-eye view.”
The Marlins hired Kim Ng in 2020, making them the first MLB organization to have a female general manager, but Ng left the club after last season because she was replaced by a president of baseball operations. It is said that this was because he wanted to.
The Marlins will then hire former Rays general manager Peter Bendix as their new president of baseball operations, with Balkovec also joining the staff.
