Maurice Bankston – ManagerCoach Bankston returns for his second season as the Grays manager in 2024.
Bankston spent the 2024 spring season as a volunteer Director of Player Development for Georgetown University. His responsibilities included on-campus recruiting in accordance with NCAA rules, practice and competition preparation and analytics/data collection. Prior to his work for the Hoyas, he spent eight years as a high school pitching coach for St. Albans School in Washington DC, leading the team to a state title and a pair of conference championships. With the Bulldogs, he guided 16 players to the collegiate level. Bankston had a storied playing career. He was chosen in the eighth round of the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft by the Pirates out of Texarkana Junior College and remains the highest draft pick selected out of the NJCAA program. With the Bulldogs in 2007, the soon-to-be Pittsburgh prospect put forth a 7-4 record with a 3.99 ERA in 13 starts across 70.0 innings of work. The fireballer also earned an all-conference selection with Texarkana in 2007. The Arkansas native played six professional seasons, five of which with the Pittsburgh Pirates and one in the Independent League with the Gateway Grizzlies. In his time within the Pirates' organization, the former hurler picked up 10 career wins and 130 strikeouts in 213.2 innings of action. |
Jimmy Williams – Assistant CoachCoach Williams has been a mainstay on the Grays coaching staff since 2013. He is a DC baseball institution, having played and coached at all levels of baseball all over the world.
He has over fifteen years of professional baseball experience playing in the Baltimore Orioles, LA Dodgers, and SF Giants organizations. He has captured Most Valuable Player, Most Popular, Topps Player of the Month, and Batting Champion Awards while playing Pro baseball. William’s spent extensive time abroad playing professionally in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico - and for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan where he played in the Japan World Series. From 1999 to 2002, he was Head Coach at Howard University. When the Howard baseball program was cut as a varsity sport after the 2002 season, he joined the baseball staff at Prince George’s Community College, where he is presently Associate Head Coach. Coach Williams completed the MLB scouting bureau program in 2004 and participates as a member of the Major League Baseball Envoy Program. He’s provided detail baseball instruction to coaches and players in Germany (2003) and in China (2004 & 2007). |
darrion smith – pitching CoachDarrion Smith is in his second season as the Grays' pitching coach. Smith is an assistant coach with Xavier University of Louisiana, and prior to that he was a graduate assistant at Georgetown University. Smith received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lincoln Christian University - where he was LCU's top pitcher - and a master’s degree in Sports Industry Management at Georgetown. |