Drew Smith Becoming Integral Part of Mets’ Bullpen
With the Mets slipping out of contention as the trade deadline approached in 2017, the team decided to sell off some of its veteran pieces.
New York focused on acquiring minor league relief pitchers with hopes that at least a couple of them could eventually stick in the big league bullpen.
Reliever Addison Reed, first baseman Lucas Duda, second baseman Neil Walker and outfielders Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce were traded over several weeks between July and August for a total of eight pitching prospects.
Of those eight, but two remain in the organization, and just one on the Mets’ current 40-man roster: right-hander Drew Smith.
Smith, 28, was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of several trades the Mets would make, in exchange for Duda.
A former third round pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2015 MLB draft, Smith was traded to the Rays as the player to be named later in the deal that netted Detroit outfielder Mikie Mahtook.
Smith would only pitch for a few months in the Rays organization before New York acquired him, and ultimately called him up to the big league roster in 2018.
Over 27 appearances during his rookie year, Smith pitched to a 3.54 ERA, 3.66 FIP, a 79.1 percent strand rate and was worth 0.3 fWAR.
Unfortunately, the righty wasn’t able to build off the foundation he had laid in 2018, as he missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
The Dallas Baptist product returned to pitch in eight games during the shortened 2020 season, and while he missed time with injury again in 2021, put together a decent campaign as he pitched to a 2.40 ERA in 41.1 innings.
Now in his fourth MLB season, Smith looks like he’s really come into his own, as he has thrown 11.1 scoreless frames to kick off the campaign, which is the second-longest streak in baseball.
On Friday, April 29, Smith was part of history as he chipped in 1.1 innings of the Mets’ combined no-hitter, striking out all four batters he faced.
Returning to action on Tuesday afternoon in the first leg of a doubleheader with the Atlanta Braves, Smith gave the Mets two crucial scoreless innings late in the game to help preserve a 5-4 lead.
“Onto the next one," Smith said after his latest scoreless outing. "As a reliever, I can’t think too much in the past. You have to be up in the game every day and just have to reset every time. It’s a good start, but It’s barely May. It’s a long season, we just need to stay focused and keep on winning.”
“It gives you a lot of confidence, especially as a reliever. I just try to take it one step at a time, one game at a time, but the start is encouraging.”
According to Smith, he enjoys making multi-inning relief appearances because it allows him to use all four pitches in his arsenal: fastball, slider, changeup, curveball.
While Smith throws his fastball about half the time, an important pitch for him so far this season has been his newly developed slider, and it’s been extremely effective.
Hitters are 1-for-15 against the pitch this year, and Smith has struck out nine with it. Last year, Smith threw a cutter, which he felt was too flat and prone to the long ball. So heading into 2022, he turned this pitch into a slider using the same grip.
Taking a look at Smith’s Baseball Savant page, there’s a lot to like. His fastball spin ranks in the 93rd percentile, while its velocity isn’t far behind in the 83rd percentile. His 87 percent whiff rate and 92 percent strikeout percentage are telling statistics as well.
There are some aspects of Smith’s game to monitor, as batters are hitting the ball hard against him (15th percentile in average exit velocity, eighth percentile in hard hit percentage and 24th percentile in barrel rate), but he’s been able to mitigate disaster thus far.
With fellow bullpen mate Trevor May landing on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, manager Buck Showalter will continue to lean on Smith in high-leverage situations moving forward.
While the majority of the pitching prospects the Mets acquired in 2017 may not have panned out for them, Smith is looking like the one that has. And five years later, New York is seeing a significant return on their investment.
Read More:
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