Rachel Luba

Rachel Erin Luba[1] (born July 27, 1992) is an American sports agent. She is the founder and owner of Luba Sports, a sports agency based in Maple Valley, Washington.[2] She is also the youngest certified female agent in baseball.[3]

Rachel Luba
Born
Rachel Erin Luba

(1992-07-27) July 27, 1992
Monterey, California
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Pepperdine University (JD)
OccupationSports agent, attorney
EmployerLuba Sports
Websitelubasports.com

Early life

Luba is a native of Monterey, California. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a gymnast.[4] Luba graduated magna cum laude a year early in 2013 from UCLA, earning her bachelor's degree in communications.[5] Following her retirement from gymnastics, Luba entered the world of competitive boxing.[6] Luba went on to attend law school at Pepperdine University, graduating a semester early in 2016.[7]

Career

Luba began her sports agency career as an intern for the Beverly Hills Sports Council while in law school. In 2017, she was hired by the Major League Baseball Players Association as a lawyer, working on over 22 arbitration cases and helping win a record 12 hearings for MLB Players in 2018.[8]

Luba founded her own sports agency, Luba Sports, in October 2019. She revealed that in an effort to pay off student debt from law school, she started out working 10-14 hour days as the sole employer of the company.[9] Later that year, pitcher Trevor Bauer signed with the company, becoming Luba's first client.[10] Her first negotiations as an agent were between Bauer and the Cincinnati Reds. Luba negotiated the second highest contract for an arbitration-eligible pitcher in MLB history, with Bauer signing a one-year, $17.5 million contract with the Reds.[11]

The following year in the 2020-2021 offseason, Luba helped negotiate a record-breaking deal for Bauer with the Los Angeles Dodgers, earning $40 million in 2021 and $45 million in 2022 and making him the highest paid player in Major League Baseball history in each of those years. Luba's record-breaking deal for her client is the first contract in Major League Baseball to eclipse $40 million in a single season. The contract was also structured with a player opt-out after years 1 and 2, and with a three year total of $102 million, should he choose to opt-in for both 2022 and 2023.[12]

Luba also represents professional Softball Player and former UCLA Softball Catcher Paige Halstead. Additionally, she represents several MLB coaches. In November 2020, All-Star right fielder Yasiel Puig signed with Luba's sports agency.[13]

Luba was featured in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 under the sports category.[14]

Luba co-hosts a podcast, Cork'd Up, with Jessica Kleinschmidt. She also runs her own YouTube channel in which she explains the arbitration process, and other jobs of an agent.

References
  1. "2011 Gymnastics Roster - Rachel Luba". UCLA Athletics. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  2. Schwerzler, Ted. "Paving a Path, Women in Baseball: Rachel Luba". Twins Daily. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  3. Caparell, Adam. "Rachel Luba, the Groundbreaking Agent for MLB Pitcher Trevor Bauer, Is About to Make History". Complex Sports. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  4. Pavlovic, Alex. "NorCal's Luba brings unique approach to Bauer's free agency". NBC Sports Bay Area. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  5. Abraham Leader, Lewis. "Baseball Lives: Monterey native is an agent and a pioneer". Monterey Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  6. "UCLA's women boxers at USIBA Championship". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  7. Thosar, Deesha. "Rachel Luba is rejecting the Old Boys' Club and changing the baseball industry after starting her own agency". New York Daily News. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  8. Slusser, Susan. "How Monterey's Rachel Luba is upending the man's world of baseball agents". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  9. Tucker, Hank. "How The 30 Under 30 Class Of 2021 Is Handling More Than $10 Million In Student Loan Debt". Forbes.
  10. Walker, Mollie. "How Rachel Luba helped Trevor Bauer become MLB's most intriguing free agent". New York Post. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  11. Nightengale, Bobby. "Cincinnati Reds avoid arbitration with all players; Trevor Bauer nets near-record deal". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  12. Nguyen, Thuc. "Who is Rachel Luba, the former UCLA gymnast who negotiated Trevor Bauer's deal?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  13. Feinsand, Mark. "Ready to play, Puig drawing interest (sources)". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  14. Settimi, Christina; Badenhausen, Kurt. "Forbes 30 under 30 2021: Sports". Forbes.
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