Bravo: The Yankees will have a hitting coach named Rachel

It's too soon to get a sense of how Rachel Balkovec will do as the new Yankees minor league hitting coach. For a groundbreaking, potentially culture-changing pioneer, she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. But here are some items that we do know...

To communicate with roughly half the prospects she'll encounter, she learned to speak Spanish. That's smart. In fact, I wonder how many other Yankee minor league coaches have done this? If not, why?

She has two Masters' Degrees. That's - well - I'm not sure what to make of it. An old reporter and adjunct professor, I always wondered about people with Masters degrees in Journalism; it seemed like a way to avoid finding a job. In this case, it might be what a woman needs to get an edge in a man's game. If so, fine. Still, two masters degrees... hard to figure.

She seems to have a sense of humor. This is good.

She's sort of a dweeb, a lab-coat. I say this in a positive sense. She comes from a burgeoning, computer-driven field of body motion analytics - which comes in stark contrast to the traditional, ball-scratching, cud-chewing trope of the minor league coach, as advanced by baseball movies and novels. To some, her very presence will be threatening. I mean, you wouldn't imagine Stump Merrill giving a talk at a bio-metrics conference.  

In some, if not many cases, she will represent the first woman boss a teenager ever encounters. Actually, "boss" is not the right word. And certainly, they had female school teachers. But she will become their first and only empowered female since they signed the $200,000 contract. All the others will have chin stubble and ball sacks. Let's hope she affects the way that entitled and pampered young athletes react to females - be they reporters, trainers, fans, hookups, the whole assortment. Because NYC is no place for a 20-year-old future millionaire who cannot deal with women. 

Case in point: Domingo German. Had he not faced accusations of slapping around his girlfriend, German might have two months ago pitched the Yankees past Houston. Now, he'll be pitching under a cloud. I'm not saying Rachel Balkovec could have made a difference. But I don't see it hurting.

Well, actually, it could. What if she seduces a 16-year-old prospect, or goes crazy and boils someone's bunny, or castrates an entire minor league pitching staff? (Okay, what other tropes am I missing?) More importantly, what if Yankee coaches and personnel fail to support her, or whisper against her, to keep their status quo. Some boomers may believe that, on a ball field, toxic masculinity wins. Yep, things could go south. But let's give the Yankees credit here. This is worth a try. Yo, Rachel! You go, girl!