*The Red Sox have hired Bianca Smith as a Minor League coach, and she becomes the first Black woman to serve as a coach in professional baseball.
“The opportunity is amazing,” Smith, 29, said in an interview on MLB Network’s Hot Stove program on Monday. “I’m still wrapping my head around it. I probably won’t really have it sink in until I’m actually there.
“I think it’s a great opportunity also to kind of inspire other women who are interested in this game. This is not really something I thought about it when I was younger. I kind of fell into it being an athlete. So I’m excited to get that chance to show what I can do.”
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Bianca Smith will be joining the #RedSox organization this season, making her the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball history. pic.twitter.com/ZQsHd8iprD
— Red Sox (@RedSox) January 5, 2021
Here’s more from NBC Sports:
Smith has a strong pedigree that dates to her playing days on Dartmouth College’s softball team. She spent four years as the director of baseball operations at Case Western, was an assistant coach at the University of Dallas and currently serves as the baseball hitting coach and assistant athletic director for compliance and administration at Carroll University. Smith also has held internships in the Texas Rangers’ and Cincinnati Reds’ front offices.
Smith will kick off her Red Sox career based at the club’s player development facility in Fort Myers, Fla., per mlb.com.
“As the hitting coordinator, I run all of our technology side for hitting at Carroll,” said Smith. “The number of different resources that the Red Sox have as far as tech goes, I’m really excited to get my hands on that and learning the different metrics and being able to dive deeper into what I currently have is pretty exciting.”
Best Christmas present ever!! pic.twitter.com/WC23t1tOlS
— Bianca Smith ⚾️ (@biancaesmith12) December 30, 2020
Smith will continue working at her current job until MLB training camp begins in late February.
“Preparing for the season, I’m doing what I’ve been doing for the last several years: Just continuing to keep learning, continuing to keep researching, doing as much as I can,” Smith said.
“I’ve still got several weeks here at Carroll, so I’ll get to work with my players here. That will be great preparation. I’m going to be nonstop coaching for the next seven or eight weeks before I get started with the Red Sox.”
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