A growing trend over the past several years across many different sports has been the hiring of women in coaching and front office positions in the biggest sports leagues in the world. Many sports organizations, both domestically and internationally, have benefitted from new perspectives and diverse setups within their franchises.
This trend continued on Sunday, as the Yankees announced the hiring of Rachel Balkovec as the new manager of their Low-A minor league squad. Balkovec will be the first female manager of an affiliated team in professional baseball. She has been in baseball since 2012, when she started with the Cardinals, and has been a hitting coach with the Yankees since 2019.