Who is Chris Smith?
Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under Prospects |
I can make a safe assumption that nobody else in the history of baseball has had their career start off like Chris Smith. He has spent six years in the minors while undergoing two arm surgeries and fighting through another barrage of injuries thanks to an ATV accident.
He finally got called up to Boston on May 17th when Jonathan Van Every (who was brought up to take the roster spot of an injured Clay Buchholz) was sent back down to Pawtucket. The very first time he was warming up in a major league bullpen was during Jon Lester’s no-hitter on May 19th. Lester didn’t need any help closing out the game and Smith was sent back to Rhode Island 3 days later without getting into a big league game.
Smith returned to Triple-A and strengthened his case as a big league pitcher by only allowing 2 runs in his last 10 minor league appearances. Management was impressed and he got the call again on June 17th when Bartolo Colon went on the DL. This time would be different.
He came into his first game on June 21st. Things weren’t going well for the Red Sox and he inherited a bases loaded jam with no outs in the 2nd inning. After a deep breath, he struck out the very first batter he faced. Just like the minor leagues, right? Wrong. The next hitter crushed a curveball over the Monster in left for a grand slam.
Something like that could absolutely destroy the confidence of a young player, but not this one. He grabbed a new baseball from Varitek and proceeded to get the next 2 outs, and then throw another 3 innings of shutout ball while only giving up 2 more hits.
There have been a lot of ups and downs in Chris Smith’s career. From spending a seemingly never-ending 6 years in the minors, to the pressure of possibly relieving a guy if he blows a no-hitter in the 9th, to striking out the first guy he faces, to giving up a grand slam to the next hitter, to earning his first Major League win last night.
I don’t know if he’ll continue with the dominance that he’s shown so far (only giving up that 1 run on the grand slam in 6 total innings) but it’s definitely been interesting to watch.
Good luck Chris Smith.
Comments
3 Responses to “Who is Chris Smith?”
Leave a Reply
Wow - I love stories like this, guys you can root for - guys who scrap and claw their way into the bigs…just awesome.
http://www.markwaitkus.com
Yeah it definitely gives you something to be proud of as a fan, to be able to cheer on a guy like this.
[...] If you’re interested in learning more about CS, check out my article: Who is Chris Smith? [...]