Red Sox hire 1st Black woman to be pro coach

The Boston Red Sox announced Monday that they hired Bianca Smith, 29, to be a minor league coach.

Smith becomes the first Black woman to coach in professional baseball.

Smith has worked as the assistant coach and hitting coordinator at Carroll University in Wisconsin since 2018. With the Red Sox, she will be based at the team’s player development facility in Fort Myers, Florida, working primarily with position players.

“The opportunity is amazing,” Smith said Monday during an interview with MLB Network. “I’m still wrapping my head around it. I probably won’t really have it sink in until I’m actually there.”

Previously, Smith worked as director of baseball operations at Case Western Reserve University from 2013 to ’17, and as an assistant coach at the University of Dallas in 2018. She also had internships with the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds, in their baseball operations departments.

“I think it’s a great opportunity also to kind of inspire other women who are interested in this game,” Smith told MLB Network. “This is not really something I thought about 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.”

In November, the Miami Marlins named Kim Ng general manager, making her MLB’s first female GM.

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