As director of player development, Balkovec speaks on Marlins' culture and expectations

In January 2024, a week or so after being hired by Peter Bendix as the Marlins organization’s new director of player development, Rachel Balkovec took some time to Zoom in with Kyle Sielaff and Stephen Strom from the Marlins Radio Network. I’d like to thank Sielaff for asking the question a lot of people may have skipped over: “You’re the director of player development. What does that mean? What do you do?”

Balkovec has taken a 12-year path to the Marlins front office, and many of her previous roles seemed to have set her up to be a logical addition to Peter Bendix’s new front office. She has a very solid educational background. Forbes tells us, “She possesses a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science with two master’s degrees—in Sports Administration and Biomechanics” (the latter being heavily research-based).

The grit and drive is all there, too, as Balkovec emptied her savings to go abroad to get her master’s in biomechanics prior to her internship at Driveline Baseball (one of six internships she completed in her career). There was a rumor, eventually confirmed by Balkovec during a press conference, that she did in fact have to dumpster dive for a mattress to sleep on while in school in the Netherlands. Talk about dedication to the craft.

rachelbalkovec.com
 

All of that built her analytical acumen necessary to develop baseball players, which is in addition to her coaching career. On top of coaching experience from the Cardinals organization to the Arizona Fall League, the Astros, Yankees and internationally in Australia among other organizations, she comes with the insight of managing a minor league club, serving in the role for the 2022 and 2023 Low-A Tampa Tarpons. She also speaks fluently in Spanish. This should set her up to effectively help “coach the coaches,” as she put it to Sielaff and Strom.

Overall in Miami, she sees an opportunity for the whole front office staff to make their mark right out of the gate:

“What’s really incredible and unique about this situation is having Gabe (Kapler) come in, myself—there’s a lot of us kind of starting fresh and new. And that can be a big advantage, at times, where there’s no preconceived notions about what it has been before or what baseball has done before. It’s all kind of a really blank slate for us personally, of kind of getting a fresh perspective on what’s going on inside the organization and where it could possibly go.”

Taking a wide-angle view of the Marlins organization, one thing that was talked about almost ad nauseam last year was culture: the culture in the clubhouse, a new Marlins culture of winning and the mindset of success at every level. Even the culture of sports in Miami as a whole was a hot topic in 2023. Since this was a huge component of organizational success last year, what insight do we have on how Balkovec in particular thinks about creating culture in baseball?

She was asked about building clubhouse culture and referred back to the Low-A Tarpons 2022 season opener, her first as a team manager, Balkovec had this to say:

“The music is loud, and that’s how we want it. The energy is high…It's an environment where we’re having fun, and we talked about [this] in the first meeting: ‘Having fun’ is all relative. In my mind, winning is fun. And having success is fun. If we can also say we wanna relax and have fun, but we also want to push and compete…That’s kind of the culture that’s already been set. I’m fortunate I’m not the only one setting that.”

There’s obviously more to baseball operations and building on success than just culture, and that’s where player development comes in. With hundreds of minor leaguers under the purview of Marlins player development within the Marlins organizational structure, all of whom have the goal of getting the the big league ballclub, Balkovec plans to blend process and goal-oriented thinking to enhance every opportunity each individual player can go after.

“Focusing on what I can control in the moment and what I can control in the smaller goals has always been really productive for myself personally, but also in general with research and understanding how humans function.

"For example with a player: ‘Hey, 16-year-old Latin American player, your goal is to make it in the big leagues!’ That can be seven years from now. That can get really easily lost and forgotten about, and you can lose motivation. But, if I give you a small goal, right now, to accomplish that’s a part of that process, then you’re going to be much more likely to see that right in front of your face and to really push for it.”

As one of those fans who's passionate about on-field gameplay and major leaguers, but admittedly does not get in the weeds regarding the minor league system, I appreciated the 12-minute conversation. It’s worth a listen if you’d like to learn more about the role and her blend of process/goal-oriented approach.

The Marlins made late hires in the offseason, including Balkovec, but the work of building and adjusting the structure and personnel of the farm system has begun.

New minor league coordinators were announced in March. Recent trades have brought in more young talent for Balkovec and the Marlins to mold into long-term contributors. Just prior to Opening Day, Jon Berti was dealt to the New York Yankees in exchange for outfielders John Cruz and Shane Sasaki. On May 4, the Fish shipped Luis Arraez to San Diego for outfielders Dillon Head and Jakob Marsee, first baseman Nathan Martorella and right-handed reliever Woo-Suk Go. Cruz, Head, Marsee and Martorella each rank among the organization's top 30 prospects, according to Fish On First.

In late April, Balkovec spent time with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and took a few minutes to hop on their radio broadcast during a home game. She was asked what she has liked about her first month of regular season baseball while overseeing player development.

“We’re taking a really aggressive approach to making sure that we can be one of the best communicating organizations in baseball. There’s a lot to be excited about. Overall philosophy about being aggressive to give guys opportunities to show what they can do at higher levels."

However, there's a clear endgame to player development across the board in MLB, and Balkovec doesn't see it any differently than one would expect. How would she mark a successful first year at the helm of this player development department?

“I would say at the end of this year is a really short timeline to make huge progress. Shifting a minor league system is like moving the Titanic…Success for this season would be markers of success for each individual player…Staying really process-oriented for this year, and for years to come, but...in three or four years, it’s going to be how productive our minor league system is at developing major league players.”

In the near term, the transition could be painful. As of Thursday, the Marlins have a 10-29 record, on pace to be their worst for a single season in franchise history. They will be relying on current prospects to be their eventual cornerstones, and that will take time even if executed properly.

Balkovec has earned the respect of the baseball organizations she’s worked in and the players she’s worked with, or else she wouldn’t continue to ascend in baseball. Here’s to the future of the Marlins, with leadership at all levels with fresh perspectives and creative grit determined to establish this as a quality major league organization.