Red Sox hiring Bianca Smith as minor league coach: first Black woman to coach in pro baseball history

soxhop411

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The Red Sox are hiring Bianca Smith as a minor league coach, making her the first Black woman to serve as a professional baseball coach in the sport’s history.
Smith will work with the minor league club in Fort Myers, Fla., and her focus will mainly involve position players.
“She was a great candidate coming in,” said Red Sox vice president of player development Ben Crockett, who helped spearhead the hire. “She’s had some really interesting experiences and has been passionate about growing her skill set and development herself.”
Smith comes with a track record: She played softball at Dartmouth College (2010-12), was director of baseball operations and a graduate assistant at Case Western Reserve (2013-17), and served as an assistant coach at the University of Dallas (2018).
Smith’s major league experience goes back to 2017, when she interned for the Texas Rangers in their baseball operations department. She spent time working at Major League Baseball in amateur administration before interning in the Cincinnati Reds baseball operations department.

Smith currently serves as assistant baseball coach and hitting coordinator at Carroll University in Wisconsin, a position she’s held since 2019.
The Red Sox will officially announce Smith’s hire in January.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/31/sports/red-sox-hire-bianca-smith-minor-league-coach-making-her-first-black-woman-coach-mlb-history/
 

taxmancometh

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Excellent! I was pleasantly surprised to see that she worked for a bit with my alma mater, The University of Dallas back in 2018. I hope that working with the Red Sox is a successful and rewarding experience for both parties.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
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For any soccer fans out there: Bianca Smith's (half-?) (step-?) brother is Reggie Cannon.
 

steeplechase3k

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From The Athletic:
Red Sox are next step on Bianca Smith’s pioneering path

It was a hot afternoon during batting practice in the summer of 2019 when Cincinnati Reds assistant hitting coach Donnie Ecker glanced into the stands at Great American Ball Park and noticed something out of the ordinary. A woman was watching the team from the empty stands, diligently writing notes on a yellow notepad.

Everything about the situation stood out to Ecker. She didn’t have an iPad and wasn’t absorbed in her phone like most multitasking team officials would be. She was paying close attention, as if the answers to an upcoming test were right in front of her. It piqued Ecker’s interest, but he had hitters to attend to. When he saw her again the next day, doing the same exact thing, he had to find out more and asked manager David Bell who she was. Bell didn’t know.

https://theathletic.com/2307122/2021/01/07/bianca-smith-boston-red-sox/