AJ Smith-Shawver
21-Year-Old
Atlanta Braves AAA
2024 Stats
W-L
0-0
ERA
0.00
WHIP
0.00
K
0
SV
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
2024 Fantasy Outlook
The second-youngest pitcher to make five-plus starts in the majors last year (only Eury Perez was younger), Smith-Shawver has an impressive combination of youth, size and stuff. He dominated over three starts at High-A and two starts at Double-A before spending the bulk of his age-20 season going back and forth between Triple-A and the majors. The 6-foot-3 righty sat 93-96 mph with his plus fastball while touching 98 mph in the big leagues. He has touched triple digits in the past, but command and control have been lacking at times, so he may have dialed back his velocity in favor of more control during his 25.1 innings in the majors. Smith-Shawver threw his mid-80s slider 22 percent of the time while throwing his upper-70s curveball and fourth-pitch changeup each over 10 percent of the time, so it's a true four-pitch mix. All three secondary offerings can flash plus, but his breaking balls are more consistent than his changeup. He missed over two weeks with shoulder inflammation in the second half but returned to make four appearances in September. All told, he tallied 87.1 innings across four levels, so we can hope for around 140 innings in 2024 with good health. The main thing to keep in mind with Smith-Shawver is that he is still developing and could be far from a finished product. His command, secondary offerings and sequencing could all improve over the next couple years. Read Past Outlooks
Sent down to Triple-A
Atlanta optioned Smith-Shawver to Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday.
ANALYSIS
Smith-Shawver finished with an 8.22 ERA over three Grapefruit League starts but also boasted an 11:2 K:BB across 7.2 innings of work. The young right-hander was always pegged for Gwinnett's rotation to open the season but could wind up making a good number of starts with the big club in 2024.
Smith-Shawver finished with an 8.22 ERA over three Grapefruit League starts but also boasted an 11:2 K:BB across 7.2 innings of work. The young right-hander was always pegged for Gwinnett's rotation to open the season but could wind up making a good number of starts with the big club in 2024.
Pitching Stats
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2023
Minor League Game Log
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Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-52%
BAA vs RHP
2024
No Stats
BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2022vs Left | .240 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 5 | |||
Since 2022vs Right | .116 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||
2024vs Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2024vs Right | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2023vs Left | .240 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 5 | |||
2023vs Right | .116 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||
2022vs Left | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
2022vs Right | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
-60%
ERA at Home
2024
No Stats
ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Since 2022Home | 3.20 | 1.07 | 19.2 | 5.9 | 3.7 | ||||
Since 2022Away | 7.94 | 1.24 | 5.2 | 11.1 | 4.8 | ||||
2024Home | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2024Away | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2023Home | 3.20 | 1.07 | 19.2 | 5.9 | 3.7 | ||||
2023Away | 7.94 | 1.24 | 5.2 | 11.1 | 4.8 | ||||
2022Home | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2022Away | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
More Splits→ | View More Split Stats |
Stat Review
How does AJ Smith-Shawver compare to other starting pitchers?
This section compares his stats with all starting pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 120 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 120 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
1.82K/9
7.1BB/9
3.9HR/9
2.5Fastball
94.5 mphERA
4.26WHIP
1.11BABIP
.163GB/FB
0.84Left On Base
76.9%Exit Velocity
85.4 mphBarrels/BBE
4.7%Spin Rate
2111 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
23.3%Swinging Strike
9.3%Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Pitching Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Today's Lineup
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2023 Fantasy Outlook
Smith-Shawver, an over-slot prep righty whom Atlanta gave almost $1 million to after selecting him in the seventh round in 2021, has one of the best fastball/slider combos in the entire minors. His fastball touches the upper-90s with elite movement and his upper-80s slider is already a monster bat misser. Smith-Shawver is still very raw as a pitcher, however, as his delivery and command need significant refinement. He made 17 starts in Single-A last season and went five-plus innings with two or fewer walks on five occasions, so there were flashes of him putting it all together, but his 13.0 BB% and 1.35 WHIP on the year showcase how far he still has to go. Smith-Shawver's third-pitch changeup isn't very usable right now, but the main thing for him is streamlining his plus athleticism into a repeatable delivery that allows him to throw enough strikes to start. If he does that and stays healthy, the sky is the limit, even with a mediocre third pitch.
More Fantasy News
Fans five against Twins
Smith-Shawver struck out five batters over 2.2 scoreless innings in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Twins, allowing just one hit and one walk.
ANALYSIS
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Mixed bag in spring start
Smith-Shawver gave up three runs on four hits and a walk over two innings during Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Phillies. He struck out three.
ANALYSIS
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Part of NLDS roster
Smith-Shawver will be on Atlanta's roster for the NLDS against the Phillies, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Solid in short start
Smith-Shawver allowed one run on one walk and struck out two over 3.2 hitless innings in a no-decision versus the Cubs on Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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Summoned for Thursday's start
Smith-Shawver was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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