Texas Rangers: Team part of history with Bianca Smith hiring

The Texas Rangers can now say they’re part of baseball history with a recent and historic Boston Red Sox coaching hire.

Bianca Smith was once an intern in the Texas Rangers‘ organization.

Now, she’s breaking barriers and serving as an inspiration for women all over baseball and the sports world.

On Monday, the Boston Red Sox announced they had hired Smith to become a minor league coach in their organization, making her the first Black woman to coach in any capacity in MLB history.

Smith had previously served as a scouting intern for the Texas Rangers, who gave her an opportunity in pro baseball by evaluating young talent.

In her introductory press conference with the Red Sox on Thursday, the 29-year old Smith made sure to credit the organization that equipped her with the skills that continue to assist her in her development as an MLB coach:

"“I still use a lot of that now as a coach, being able to evaluate my own players, evaluate the opposing players. So that was big. And being able to come back later, about a year later, and working as a Youth Academy coach for the Rangers as well, was a great opportunity.“The Rangers, yeah, they had a huge part in my development.”"

Smith grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, attending Colleyville High School before going to college at Dartmouth, only adding to the feel-good Texas angle of this historic hire.

The newly minted coach now becomes just the second female coaching hire in MLB history, after the SF Giants hired Alyssa Nakken earlier this year.

The Miami Marlins also hired longtime MLB executive Kim Ng as their GM this off-season, making her the first female GM in the history of the sport.

Certainly, the Rangers have to feel good that they played a role in making this opportunity possible for Smith, and those sentiments were reflected in her comments during Thursday’s press conference.

There might already be a prominent female coach in the state of Texas in San Antonio Spurs’ assistant Becky Hammon, but make no mistake, the Texas Rangers can and should take some of the credit for Bianca Smith’s barrier-breaking hire in Boston.

Here’s hoping the organization keeps contributing to history going forward.