Jan. 5 (UPI) — The Boston Red Sox have hired Bianca Smith as a Minor League coach, and she will be the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball history.
Boston announced the hire Monday. Smith, 29, now works as the assistant coach and hitting coordinator at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wis.
“The opportunity is amazing,” Smith said Monday on MLB Network. “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.”
Smith held previous roles as director of baseball operations at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland and as an assistant coach at the University of Dallas. She also had internships in the baseball operations departments of the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds.
She played softball from 2010-12 at Dartmouth College before she began her coaching career.
Smith will work with positional players out of the Red Sox’s player development facility in Fort Myers, Fla.
“She was a great candidate coming in,” Red Sox vice president of player development Ben Crockett told the Boston Globe.
“She’s had some really interesting experiences and has been passionate about growing her skill set and development herself.”
Smith’s hire follows another historical addition for Major League Baseball from November, when the Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng as the first female general manager in league history.
The San Francisco Giants in January of 2020 also hired Alyssa Nakken, the first woman to hold a position on an MLB coaching staff.