Chris Smith returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in August of 2011 following a 10-year professional baseball career that began after his junior season at UC Riverside. The Boston Red Sox selected the Apple Valley, CA native in the fourth round of the 2002 MLB Draft.
The left-hander worked his way up to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox by 2006, and on May 18, 2008, the Red Sox called him up to the big leagues. He made his major league debut on June 21 of that year allowing just one run and three hits in four innings of relief work against the St. Louis Cardinals. Smith appeared in 12 games on the season for the Sox, all in relief, striking out 13 batters in 18.1 innings.
In 2009, Smith signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers. He appeared in 35 games that season for the Brew Crew striking out 35 in 46.0 innings and posting an earned run average of 4.11. The following season, he made three appearances for Milwaukee striking out four hitters in three innings of work.
As a junior at UCR, Smith was named Second-Team, All Big West following a campaign that saw him post a 9-8 record with a 2.91 earned run average while striking out 127 batters and throwing a staff-high eight complete games.
