The New York Yankees have hired Rachel Balkovec as the manager for the 2022 Tampa Tarpons (Low-A Southeast). Balkovec will be the first female manager in affiliated professional baseball.
Balkovec said (in 2019) she had "aspirations of being in a more leadership role from a broader standpoint . . . [possibly as] director of baseball operations or farm director or GM." Lindsey Adler of The Athletic added that Balkovec is comfortable with advanced analytics and fluent in Spanish.
Mark Polishuk (MLB Trade Rumors) recaps Balkovec's work history:
Beginning as a strength and conditioning coordinator in the Cardinals' farm system from 2011-15, she then moved to a similar role with the Astros from 2016-18, working with both Houston's Latin American prospects and then the Astros' Double-A affiliate. She has spent the last two seasons working within the Yankees' minor league system as a hitting coach, following some time spent working with Driveline and in the Netherlands working with the Dutch national teams.
Never let it be said that I'm unreasonable when it comes to discussing those neo-Nazi Brownshirts.
Craig Calcaterra's latest Cup of Coffee includes news of Genevieve Beacom, a 17-year-old left-hander, who become the first woman to pitch for a professional team in Australia when she tossed a scoreless inning for the Melbourne Aces, managed by Peter Moylan (a 12-year MLB veteran).
Calcaterra notes: "As a bunch of people who watched video of Beacom said over the weekend, her mechanics are very much like Jon Lester's. Very economical and efficient as she mixed in fastballs and curves."
Seventeen-year-old Genevieve Beacom speaks on her professional debut with the Aces as the first women pitcher to pitch for a professional baseball team in Australia #GenevieveBeacom pic.twitter.com/YF1qNbYCit
— Melbourne Aces (@MelbourneAces) January 8, 2022
HISTORY.
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 10, 2022
We’ll chat with Genevieve Beacom on Monday’s #MLBTonight at 6pm ET! https://t.co/uNdeIxwIdZ
The highlight in that tweet-- producer so obsessed with seeing the *moment* a run scores, they show a guy crossing the plate and follow him toward the dugout...on a run that didn't count! Instead of showing the woman coming off the mound after the historical moment. Maybe the Australian network blindly chose an American one to learn the ropes from, and picked NESN.
ReplyDeleteWomen in baseball: almost enough to give you hope for the human race.
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting this great news, even though it means praising NYY.
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