When Rachel Luba walks into a room, she says, people guess wrong about who she is. “Every time I walk into the room, people think I am a girlfriend, wife or secretary,” she told FOX 11 Los Angeles in 2021. Then she negotiates a contract nobody in baseball had ever seen.
Luba is the founder of Luba Sports, the MLB player-agent who represents Trevor Bauer, and one of the few women running her own agency in a business long dominated by men. She is also one of its most visible voices online, explaining how baseball deals actually work to tens of thousands of followers.
Quick answer: Who is Rachel Luba?
Rachel Luba is the founder of Luba Sports and one of the most recognizable agents in baseball. A former UCLA gymnast turned attorney, she launched her agency in 2019 with Trevor Bauer as her first client, then negotiated his record contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first deal in MLB history to pay more than $40 million in a single season. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2021 and shares the business of baseball with more than 200,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Key takeaways
- Luba learned baseball from scratch after a 20-year gymnastics career and became the youngest certified female agent in the sport.
- As an MLB Players Association attorney, she helped players finish 12-10 in a record 22 salary arbitration hearings in 2018.
- Her Dodgers deal for Trevor Bauer paid $40 million in 2021 and $45 million in 2022, with a three-year total of $102 million.
- Luba Sports charges for services, not a percentage of a player’s earnings, a direct challenge to the industry standard.
- She has kept Bauer pitching for six years, finding him work in Japan, Mexico and beyond.
Who is Rachel Luba?
Luba grew up in Monterey, California, and spent about 20 years as a gymnast, competing at UCLA until injuries forced her to retire. She moved straight into boxing and won bronze for the UCLA boxing team at the first national championship for women’s collegiate boxing, according to Luba Sports.
Baseball came next, and she started from zero. She had never followed or played the game. She graduated from UCLA a year early, interned at a baseball agency, earned her law degree at Pepperdine, passed the bar, and was hired by the MLB Players Association as a salary arbitration attorney. In 2018, she helped take a record 22 cases to hearing, and the players finished 12-10.
Bauer, a UCLA classmate and friend, helped her learn the sport. “He never viewed it as, ‘You didn’t play. How could you do this?'” she told FOX 11. “He viewed it as, ‘That’s going to be a big challenge, but cool. I’ll support you. How can I teach you?'”
How Rachel Luba became a trailblazer
Luba left the Players Association to start Luba Sports in October 2019, as its only employee. Bauer signed as her first client after the 2019 season. Within about a year, she had put together a list of firsts. According to her agency, she is:
- The youngest certified female agent in Major League Baseball.
- The first woman to represent a Cy Young Award winner (Bauer won the 2020 National League Cy Young).
- The first woman to negotiate a contract worth more than $100 million.
- The first MLB agent, male or female, to negotiate a contract paying more than $40 million in a single season.
Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 sports list in 2021. She has done it without changing who she is, which has drawn criticism. “I’ve been scrutinized for being too feminine, for how I dress,” she told FOX 11. “How I present myself in a picture should have nothing to do with when you’re critiquing my ability to do my job.”
The record Trevor Bauer contract
Her first negotiation for Bauer was a one-year, $17.5 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds in January 2020, one of the largest ever for an arbitration-eligible pitcher. After his Cy Young season, Bauer was the top free agent on the market, and Luba took an unusual approach, using social media and public updates as part of the process.
The result, in February 2021, was a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that paid $40 million in 2021 and $45 million in 2022, with opt-outs after each of the first two seasons and a three-year total of $102 million. It was the first contract in MLB history to pay more than $40 million in a single season and made Bauer the highest-paid player in the game.
Why she’s known as a loyal and relentless agent
Bauer has not pitched in MLB since 2021. MLB suspended him under its domestic violence policy, a suspension an arbitrator reduced to 194 games in December 2022. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, and Bauer has denied wrongdoing. The Dodgers released him in January 2023.
Luba stayed. Since then, she has kept her first client pitching at a high level around the world: with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan, and with the Diablos Rojos del México, where in 2024 he went 10-0 with a 2.48 ERA, won the league’s pitcher of the year award and set a Mexican League record with 19 strikeouts in a nine-inning game on June 21, 2024. In 2026 he threw a seven-inning no-hitter for the Long Island Ducks before returning to the Diablos, and he has since joined the Dominican Winter League.
She travels with him, films his starts, and celebrates them like a fan. “I always just feel, like, such a proud mama after a client has a great game,” she said in a recent video. Asked about her favorite part of the job, she answers: “It’s seeing my guys go out there and just dominate.”
An innovator: the pay-per-service agency
Luba Sports’ biggest idea is about money. Most agents take a percentage of a player’s contract. Luba, who studied the economics of the top agencies before starting her own, decided that model was the problem. “Players are being taken advantage of,” her agency’s site says.
Her answer is an “a la carte” agency. Players choose the services they actually want, such as contract negotiation, marketing or branding, and pay for those services. The agency’s tagline sums it up: “Pay for the Service, Not Your Performance.” Luba Sports also says it uses data and algorithms to sharpen player valuations and negotiations.
A pro on social media
Luba may be the most transparent agent in baseball. On TikTok (@agent_ray_chalupa, about 35,000 followers and 710,000 likes), Instagram (@rachel.luba, about 162,000 followers) and YouTube (about 25,000 subscribers), she explains how the business works: what happens at the Winter Meetings, how free agency plays out, and what it takes to break in.
Her advice is practical. Asked whether you need a law degree to be a baseball agent, she says no: MLB only requires a high school diploma, a background check and the union’s exam. “But I do think getting a law degree can really set you apart in the industry,” she adds. For people trying to get a first job in sports, she suggests building something of their own while they wait: “create a project, start a project, work on a project.”
She also co-hosts the podcast “Cork’d Up” with Jessica Kleinschmidt, launched a nail polish line with ORLY, sells Luba Sports merch through “The Lubanati,” and has competed on “American Ninja Warrior.” In 2025 she showed off her gymnastics again, opening a ceremonial first pitch for the Diablos Rojos with a back handspring.
Why top players should be looking at Rachel Luba
Luba’s résumé makes the case on its own. She knows salary arbitration from the union side. She has negotiated a record-setting free-agent contract. She has built international options for a client when MLB was not one of them. And she offers a fee structure most agencies do not.
Above all, she has shown the trait players say they want most from an agent: she doesn’t leave. In ESPN’s SportsCenter feature about her, she put it simply: “You can’t break me. I’ll find a way, and I’m not going to stop.”
Players and families can reach Luba Sports through its contact page. Follow her on TikTok at @agent_ray_chalupa and on Instagram at @rachel.luba.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Rachel Luba?
Rachel Luba is an MLB player-agent, attorney and the founder of Luba Sports. A former UCLA gymnast and collegiate boxer, she worked as a salary arbitration attorney for the MLB Players Association before launching her own agency in 2019. She is best known as Trevor Bauer’s agent and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 sports list in 2021.
Who is Trevor Bauer’s agent?
Rachel Luba of Luba Sports. Bauer became her first client after the 2019 season, and she negotiated his one-year deal with the Cincinnati Reds and his three-year, $102 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
What is Rachel Luba’s TikTok?
She posts on TikTok as @agent_ray_chalupa, where she has about 35,000 followers. She is also @rachel.luba on Instagram (about 162,000 followers) and runs a YouTube channel about the agent business.
What records has Rachel Luba set as an agent?
Luba Sports says she is the youngest certified female MLB agent, the first woman to represent a Cy Young Award winner, the first woman to negotiate a $100 million-plus contract, and the first MLB agent, male or female, to negotiate a contract worth more than $40 million in a single season.
How does Luba Sports charge players?
Instead of the standard percentage of a player’s contract, Luba Sports uses an “a la carte” model: players choose the services they want and pay for those services, not a cut of their performance.
Do you need a law degree to be an MLB agent?
No. Luba, who has one, says MLB has the easiest educational requirement of the major leagues, a high school diploma, plus a background check and the players union’s exam. She says a law degree can still set you apart.
Sources and media credits
- Background, firsts and agency model: Luba Sports, About the Founder and Luba Sports home page (checked October 31, 2026).
- Interview quotes: Liz Habib, FOX 11 Los Angeles, March 23, 2021.
- Career and contract details: Wikipedia, “Rachel Luba” and the reporting it cites, including the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
- Bauer’s 19-strikeout record and 2024 season: ESPN Deportes and Associated Press.
- Other quotes come from Luba’s own TikTok videos, embedded above.
- All photos are frames from Rachel Luba’s TikTok, @agent_ray_chalupa. Videos are embedded with TikTok’s official player.