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M A I D
d r a H s k r o W d n a ig B s m a e r D c a v ko l a B el h c a R
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n Jan. 11, 2022, the New York Yankees announced Rachel Balkovac as the new manager of the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees’ Low-A team.
The hire of a low-level minor league baseball coach usually doesn’t create much stir, but Balkovac is the first female to manage an affiliate of a professional baseball team— and that team is the famed New York Yankees. Almost 120 reporters signed on to listen to the announcement, made via Zoom, and to hear Balkovac talk about her historic opportunity; she’s been making the headlines and airwaves ever since. This season in pro baseball there are 11 women in uniform for various teams, which is encouraging to Balkovac. “I do think we’ve made progress in the numbers, obviously, but also just the way people react to me and the way that they talk to me. It’s becoming more normal and it’s just exciting to see how much progress we’ve made. We definitely have a lot more room to grow. But it’s really exciting.” In late March, her parents, Jim and Bonnie Balkovac of Omaha, had the chance to watch their daughter perform as manager at Yankees Spring Training Complex in Tampa, Florida, for the first time. As they watched her throughout the preseason // 30 //
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practices and saw how she interacted with the young players and other coaches, her dad said he felt “proud and in awe” of what he was witnessing from the stands. “As a lifelong Yankees fan, all I could do was shake my head and say wow,” Jim said.
As Balkovac showed them around and introduced them to several people within the Yankees organization, Jim heard firsthand how well-respected she is. “From the guard at the gate to those at the highest level of the team, they all told me they see something special in Rachel and they totally accept and respect her.” Jasa Talarico, whose husband, Matt, is an assistant Yankees coach, has two young daughters that she’s glad have a chance to be around Balkovac. “My girls love watching Rachel coach. When I ask them what they want to be when they grow up, they often say ‘a baseball coach!’ I want them to dream big and work hard to reach their goals. Rachel is a perfect example of those things. Young girls are lucky to have a role model like her.” Dream big and work hard. These two attributes pretty much define the character of Balkovac from the beginning of her sports playing career. Jim recalled helping coach his daughter’s softball team. They were without a catcher, and it seemed none of the girls wanted the hot, dirty job. “Rachel stepped forward and said, ‘I’ll do it,’ grabbing the face mask and chest protector.” Jim
admitted he thought Rachel being a catcher may be a short-lived stint, but she proved him wrong by sticking with it through little league, high school, and college. As she grew and matured as a catcher, she practically became a coach on the field, barking orders and demanding total effort from her teammates. Skutt Catholic Head Coach Keith Englekamp said, “Rachel was always a great leader that was demanding on herself and on all the players on the team.”
After graduating high school from Omaha Skutt in 2005, Balkovac took her softball skills to Creighton University. Things didn’t go as well as expected her freshman year, when she developed arm trouble and could barely throw the ball back to the pitcher. With her identity as a rocket-armed catcher no longer there, things spiraled downward and she found herself full of anxiety that her big dream of becoming a professional softball player was fading fast. But then she discovered a new love, a new way she could help her teammates. The weight room became her refuge, her way to lead others by example, knowing that strength and conditioning would make players better. After that freshman-year struggle, Balkovac transferred to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she finished out her playing days but never quite recovered the promising skills. She graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. She then enrolled at Louisiana State University and earned a master’s degree in kinesiology while working with female and male LSU athletes in strength and conditioning. Balkovac never was a big baseball fan, preferring the faster pace of softball
