Former San Francisco Giants third baseman and third base coach Matt Williams is preparing for a new challenge in his baseball career: guiding a brand-new team in a brand-new league.
The 60-year-old will be the inaugural manager of the San Francisco Firebells, one of four teams in the new Women’s Pro Baseball League that will begin play in less than two weeks.
“Hopefully I can lend them to it and be part of it and guide them along their way,” Williams told the Bay Area News Group on Thursday. “This is such a unique opportunity for them. It’s finally coming to fruition after they wanted to do this for a long time. So now we get a chance to actually start playing and do all the things that they’ve been wanting to do for so long.”
Williams hasn’t managed since 2021 with the Kia Tigers in South Korea, following his time with the Washington Nationals from 2014-15. He won the National League Manager of the Year award in his first season, when the Nationals won the NL East.
The Firebells selected former Oakland Ballers pitcher Kelsie Whitmore with the No. 1 pick in the draft in December. She, along with Firebells teammates Jill Albayati (pitcher) and Alexia Jorge (catcher), is currently playing for the U.S. women’s national team in the Women’s Baseball World Cup in Illinois before the WPBL season kicks off the first weekend of August. Other San Francisco players at the World Cup include Andreanne LeBlanc (Canada), Ela Day-Bedard (Canada), Liz Gilder (Canada), Jua Park (Korea), Flor Elena Valerio Montoya (Mexico) and Rosi del Castillo (Mexico) are also participating.
San Francisco Giants third base coach Matt Williams, left, talks with Rafael Devers before a baseball game between the Giants and the Cleveland Guardians in San Francisco, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Williams was approached for the job by the MLB Players Alumni Association, where he does charity work.
“They said there was an opportunity to coach in women’s baseball,” he said. “I thought it would be fun and unique to be a part of this.”
Williams said he would develop a strategy and style of play after seeing the team in their miniature “spring training” in the week between the World Cup and the start of play on Aug. 2, when the Firebells will debut against Boston.
“We want to win a championship,” he said. “They’re very serious about this, and so am I. I’m going to take a few days to learn everyone’s game and we’re going to go out there and play our best.”
The WPBL is the first women’s professional baseball league since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954. The league is highlighted by former Little League star Mo’nae Davis, Savannah Bananas social media sensation Ashton Linsdell and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.
Another former big leaguer, Keith Foulke, will manage the Boston Hunters, while former Giants player and Atlanta Braves first baseball coach Eric Young will work with the Los Angeles Queens and San Francisco’s Rachelle “Rocky” Henley will manage the New York Heights.
Henley is the founder of the San Francisco Bay Sox, the girls youth baseball program with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department that has become the most successful in the country. She played for the 1994 Colorado Silver Bullets, a barnstorming women’s baseball team that lasted until 1997. Founded in 2014, Bay Sox teams have won four girls national championships and 10 alumni are playing high school baseball in the Bay Area.