Cubs’ Rachel Folden is a real barrier buster

Coach Rachel Folden was working with the Cubs at spring training before the coronavirus outbreak halted activities.MESA, Ariz. — Rachel Folden figured something out early during her first spring training with the Cubs — long before the coronavirus pandemic wiped out team activities.

None of the players care all that much that one of their coaches is a woman. As for the girls she encounters, they care very much that one of the coaches is a woman.

‘‘I’ve had quite a few people reach out that their daughters are, like, glued to the television watching baseball now,’’ Folden said. ‘‘Or their daughters know that there’s some sort of way that they can get into baseball, they don’t have to pick…