The Miami Marlins have hired Rachel Balkovec as their director of player development, according to MLB.com's Christina De Nicola.
Balkovec replaces former director of player development Geoff DeGroot, who was let go in September 2022.
She is the latest front-office hiring made by president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, joining assistant general manager Gabe Kapler and director of baseball operations Vinesh Kanthan.
Balkovec is also the latest woman executive to join the Marlins after Kim Ng, Major League Baseball's first and only female general manager, resigned in October.
The 36-year-old is also MLB's second woman farm director, joining Houston Astros director of player development Sara Goodrum, who was hired by the club in February 2022 before being let go in October 2023.
Balkovec is a trailblazer for women in baseball, getting her start in the sport in 2012.
She served as a strength and conditioning coach for the Johnson City Cardinals—a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals—in 2012 and was promoted to the club's strength and conditioning coordinator in 2014, becoming the first woman in baseball to hold the role.
The Houston Astros hired Balkovec in 2016 as their Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator and in 2018 she was promoted to strength and conditioning coach of the Corpus Christi Hooks, the club's Double-A affiliate.
In 2019, Balkovec was hired by the New York Yankees as a minor league hitting coach, becoming the first woman to serve as a full-time hitting coach in an MLB organization.
In 2022, the Yankees made Balkovec the first woman to be a full-time manager for an MLB affiliate when they announced that she would manage the Low-A Tampa Tarpons. She remained in the role through 2023.
During her tenure in Tampa, Balkovec worked with some of the Yankees' top prospects, including slugger Jasson Dominguez. The Tarpons went 61-67 in 2022 and 61-69 in 2023.
Additionally, Balkovec has coached in the Netherlands, the Australian Baseball League and has also "spent time researching eye tracking for hitters and hip movement for pitchers at data-driven performance center Driveline Baseball," according to De Nicola.
