A person familiar with the deal confirmed an MLB.

Rachel Balkovec will wrap up her second season as the Single-A Tampa manager this week at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, where on April 8 of last year she debuted with a win as the first woman to manage the affiliate of a Major League Baseball team.

A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the players’ association will submit union authorization cards to an arbitrator on Wednesday under an agreement with Major League Baseball that will lead to collective bargaining for approximately 5,500 farmhands.

Major League Baseball is ready to voluntarily accept the formation of a minor league union, a key step that will lead to collective bargaining and possibly a strike threat at the start of next season.

The Major League Baseball Players Association is asking MLB management to voluntarily accept the union as the bargaining agent for minor leaguers.

Players on the Single-A Tampa Tarpons have been talking individually about efforts to unionize minor league players and the idea is gaining momentum.

Rachel Balkovec was a winner as the first woman to manage a minor league affiliate of a Major League Baseball team.

Rachel Balkovec is set to become the first woman to manage a minor league affiliate of a major league team Friday when her Class-A Tampa Tarpons in the New York Yankees’ organization face the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the Florida State League.

New York Yankees minor league manager Rachel Balkovec is back on the field, a week after she was hit in the face by a batted ball during a drill.

Albert Pujols got a good hit and then some good news about his wife’s health.

Rachel Balkovec, hired by the New York Yankees as the first woman to manage a minor league affiliate of a Major League Baseball team, was hit in the face by a batted ball during a drill and will be sidelined for up to a week.

Rachel Balkovec was introduced as manager of the New York Yankees’ Low A affiliate in the Florida State League.

Minor League Baseball has its first female manager.

The New York Yankees are promoting Rachel Balkovec to manager at Low A Tampa, making her the first woman to skipper a team affiliated with Major League Baseball, according to two people familiar with the move.