The Arkansas-native had a long career in the game. He played, coached and scouted in the pros. He'd also coached in high school, working with youth, according to The Courier News.
"You're not going to find a person in this state with the experience and wealth of knowledge like Randy Smith," Hixson told The Courier News upon Smith's hire in 2012. "He's a phenomenal teacher. He teaches in a way that can make kids better... He knows what he's getting into. I think he can jump start this program and build it to one that we can all be proud of."
Smith's long career in baseball began more four decades earlier as a player, taken by the Angels in the first round of the January 1973 draft out of Three Rivers Community College in Missouri.
Smith started with the Angels at rookie Idaho Falls. The pitcher went 6-8, with a 3.50 ERA over 14 starts. He moved to single-A Salinas for 1974, where he had his best season. He went 15-6, with a 3.19 ERA.
He made AA El Paso for 11 starts in 1976 and finished out his playing career at single-A the next season.
Smith later returned to the pros as a coach. In 1989, he rejoined the Angels as a coach at rookie Idaho Falls. He stayed at Idaho Falls through at least 1991.
In 1995, he took head coaching job at Senath-Hornersville High School in Arkansas. He even returned to the pros briefly in 1999 and 2000 as coach at short-season Spokane.
He continues as head coach with Blytheville in 2016. In March 2013, Smith tried to make sense of a Blytheville loss to The Courier News.
"We had a lot of chances early and had a chance to really put them away early and we didn't do it," Smith told The Courier News. "Our pitching kind of went south and they started swinging the bats a little bit and we started walking some people and it just kind of snowballed on us."
- Blytheville Courier News, May 22, 2012: Blytheville hires Smith as new baseball coach
- Blytheville Courier News, March 28, 2013: Rams sweep Chickasaws
Players/Coaches Featured: 2,468
Made the Majors: 997-40.4%
Never Made Majors:1,471-59.6%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 416
10+ Seasons in the Minors:252
No comments:
Post a Comment