Written by Dain Solberg
Freddy Smith never thought that he wanted to get into coaching after his playing career but when that career as a bench boss started, he was hooked.
Smith returns to Bill Taunton Stadium in 2023 and enters his second season as the manager for the Willmar Stingers and for his 4th season in the Northwoods League.
Last season, he led the Stingers to a Northwoods League playoff berth as his team scored 525 total runs but things didn’t always look like they were going to start out that way.
“We started 1-5 and got to see what we were made of.” Smith said.
Before landing in Minnesota, Smith spent several years as a player and coach in collegiate baseball.
As a player, Smith played for El Camino College from 2014-2015 and Cal State Northridge during the 2016-2017 season.
He then went on to start his collegiate coaching career at Cal State Northridge.
Smith credits the mentors he had as a player to get into coaching baseball. Some of those mentors were Rich Hill and Matthew Troupe who both currently serve on the Hawaii coaching staff.
Smith is a Graduate Assistant for the Rainbow Warriors helping with the infielders.
He talked about the Northwoods league being all about details.
“College players are honing their craft in the summer and getting stronger for next season.” Smith said.
Freddy heard about the opportunity to coach in the Northwoods League from the staff at Cal State Fullerton including Neil Walton and Casey Harms, who have both been involved in Division 1 NCAA baseball.
Smith took this opportunity and has had success and learned things about the midwest summer baseball league in the process.
He started his journey developing as a coach in his first season in the Northwoods League with the Waterloo Bucks as the third assistant coach.
But in Willmar, Smith credits general manager and NWL commissioner Ryan Voz for helping him ease into Willmar, a role which includes recruiting.
As a manager he is motivated to help develop his players, a process which has three goals for his players.
“ Smith’s goals for players are to get stronger, improve on a focus area of the player’s choice and to use the NWL as a stepping stone to Collegiate season ”
This process has worked out in his first year with the Stingers having the best season in franchise history in the summer of 2022 and Smith hopes to replicate that success starting at the end of May.
Smith’s ultimate goal is to manage his own Division 1 program and credits the Northwoods League and the Stingers for steps to his development as a coach.
