This Could Be Intersting

The Yankees made it official yesterday, naming 34-year old Rachel Balkovec as manager of their Low-A Tampa team. Intriguing, to say the least. Balkovec won’t be like other minor-league hires for the simple fact she’s not an ex-baseball play, which is hardly her fault; the next woman playing for a MLB organization will be the first. So, her experience will be different from that of other first-time managers. Will it matter? I don’t think so, but we’ll see. A former college softball player, Balkovec held strength-and-conditioning positions with a number of organizations before the Yankees hired her as a minor-league hitting coach in 2019. Today’s story in MLB.com quotes her from January 2020 saying, “Swing mechanics are right up my alley,” so she may be big into analytics. I’m more old school. So is Clare, who called to tell me about the hiring yesterday. That’s the thing about managing, you learn what does and doesn’t work. It’ll be interesting to see how Balkovec goes about her job, assuming, of course, the lockout doesn’t wash out minor- and major-league baseball in 2022.