| Bianca Smith | |
|---|---|
| Coach | |
| Born: March 1991 (age 33) [1] [2] Sewickley, Pennsylvania | |
Bats: Right Throws: Right |
Bianca Smith (born March 1991) is an American professional baseball coach. During the 2021 season,she became the first African American woman to serve as a professional baseball coach,working in the Boston Red Sox organization.
Smith was born in Sewickley,Pennsylvania,and moved to Grapevine,Texas,at age 6 or 7. [3] Her father,Victor Smith,played college football at Dartmouth College from 1985 to 1987;her mother,Dawn Patterson (d. 2013),was also a Dartmouth alumna and an attorney. [4] [5] Her mother was a New York Yankees fan who passed her love of the sport on to Smith. [6] Her step-brother,Reggie Cannon,is a professional soccer player. [6]
Smith attended Colleyville Heritage High School in Dallas,where she played softball and was a co-captain in her senior year. [4] She graduated high school in 2008. [7] She next enrolled at Dartmouth College,where she played on both the varsity softball team and the club baseball team. [4] [8] [9] She graduated from Dartmouth with a bachelor's degree in sociology in 2012. [7]
With an eye on pursuing a career as a baseball general manager,Smith obtained a J.D. degree and an MBA in sports management from Case Western Reserve University in 2017. [7] [10] At the same time,from 2013 to 2017,Smith worked as director of baseball operations for the Case Western Reserve Spartans. [11]
In 2018,Smith was a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Dallas college baseball team,as well as an intern in the baseball operations departments of the Texas Rangers. [12] [7] She also interned at Major League Baseball corporate headquarters. [13] In 2019,she was a baseball operations trainee with the Cincinnati Reds. [7] In August 2019,she was hired as assistant athletic director for compliance and administration,and assistant baseball coach and hitting coordinator,at Carroll University in Wisconsin. [7] [9] [14] [13] Her coaching relied heavily on statistical metrics and data analysis. [12]
On December 31,2020, The Boston Globe reported that the Boston Red Sox would hire Smith as a minor league coach,to be based in Fort Myers,Florida,working with position players. [8] On January 4,2021,the Red Sox made the hiring official. [11] Per the Red Sox' 2021 minor league assignments,she became part of the coaching staff assigned to the team's Fenway South complex,led by manager Tom Kotchman. [15] With that assignment,Smith became the first African American woman to serve as a coach in a professional baseball organization. [8] [15] She received sponsorships from Nike,Oakley,and Topps. [6]
In 2022,Smith returned as a coach at the Fort Myers complex, [16] and later served as a coach for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. [17] In 2023,Smith declined an offer to remain as a coach in the Red Sox organization,opting to look for a new opportunity. [18]
Smith was born in Sewickley, but most of her upbringing took place in Grapevine, Texas.