Brewers Prospect Spotlight: RHP Shane Smith

24-year-old Shane Smith grew up in the Boston area and attended The Governor's Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts. A star on and off the field, Smith chose to head to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Unfortunately, he missed the 2019 season due to injury.

In 2020, he was the team's closer but only pitched in five games before Covid ended the season. He made two starts for Wake Forest in 2021 before hurting his elbow and needing Tommy John surgery.  With just 10 1/3 innings under his belt over three college seasons, Smith went undrafted. He could have stayed at Wake, rehabbed most of the 2022 season, and had a year of eligibility remaining in 2023.       

Instead, after much deep thought and conversations with his parents and others, he decided to bet on himself. Using the Communications degree classes he had already taken, he went about contacting MLB organization after organization. It paid off. In early July, the Milwaukee Brewers gave him a chance. He continued to rehab that summer as well as into the 2022 summer. He was able to end that year with three innings over three games for one of the Brewers Arizona Complex League teams. That gave him confidence heading into the 2023 season that he could do it again. 

The Brewers worked on a plan with him for that year. He began in Carolina, the Brewers Low-A affiliate. He made 19 appearances and had 50 strikeouts and 10 walks in 31 1/3 innings. He moved up to High-A Wisconsin and got better. He posted a 1.37 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP over 26 1/3 innings and 17 appearances. He had 34 strikeouts to just 10 walks. He was able to end that season with two games for Double-A Biloxi where he tossed two scoreless innings. He never worked in back-to-back games all season, and if he worked two innings, he would get three days between outings. 

He was finally above to enjoy a "regular" offseason. In mid-January, Smith joined me for his first Brewers Spotlight. It's worth going back and listening to just to get to know him and his story, and about his pitches and much, much more. 

That brings us to the 2024 season. As you would expect, he began the season with the Shuckers, but the plan was a bit different. Through conversation, he was going to slowly transition to the role of starting pitcher while still being cautious with his arm. His first nine appearances of the season came out of the bullpen. One inning. One inning. Two innings. Two innings, and up to three innings out of the bullpen. When he made his first start, the progression continued; four innings, four innings, five innings. He continued to start until late in August when he made two more relief appearances for the Shuckers. Soon after, he was promoted to Triple-A Nashville where he pitched in five games out of the bullpen to end the season. 

He jumped from 59 2/3 innings in 2023 to 94 1/3 innings in 2024. Overall, he went 6-3 with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He had 113 strikeouts to just 29 walks. 

We caught up with Shane Smith earlier this week to discuss his 2024 season. Below you will find the topics that we covered with Time Stamps so that you can come back and listen over and over again, and tell your friends about it. 

2:00: What were the things that you wanted to work on last offseason after a successful return to the full season? 

3:15: How important was it to just get those two games in Biloxi late in the 2023 season? 

4:00: In spring training, did you have the opportunity to spend time at big-league camp for some games as an extra arm? Did you gain any knowledge from being around the veterans on the bus or in the clubhouse or dugout? 

 5:55: Knowing you're just two promotions from the big leagues, were those types of opportunities more stressful or important?

6:50: Were you able to work in spring training with some of your coaches and other coaches that you haven't worked with previously that you learned from? 

7:45: Were you aware of the plan ahead of time that you would get work as a starter, and was that something you were able take into consideration with the offseason workouts?

9:30: With the progression of innings and pitches, and then the role change from starter to reliever, does it alter your preparation or how you pitch in a game? And how did you adjust to what you needed to do pre-game?   

12:55: What was the conversation like with the coaches or coordinators as the season went on and the innings count went higher and higher?

14:30: How nice was it to get to spend about a month in Nashville? Were you expecting it?

15:45: The Communications major talks geography and what he enjoyed about playing in Biloxi, Mississippi, and then playing in Nashville, Tennessee. 

17:20: Were there noticeable differences between Double-A and Triple-A on the field? Any advice received from some of the veterans? 

19:30: What pitches do you throw? What is your mix?

19:45: Smith developed a pitch in-season. How does that happen? Just playing catch, or a coach/coordinator comes in and says, "Let's try something" and then how do you know it's ready to use in a game? 

Then we spent several minutes showing video of him pitching and showing his various pitches and what he's trying to accomplish with each. Which pitches and pitch philosophy improved for him the most throughout the season?   

29:00: Can it be a challenge to trust your stuff when you move up a level? 

30:30: Smith discusses some of the other very talent pitchers in the upper levels of the Brewers system. Jacob Misiorowski has "insane" stuff. Find out what makes Craig Yoho's stuff work together and make him dominant. K.C. Hunt "did the three-levels in one year which is really cool." Smith roomed with Logan Henderson for the first year they were working at the team's Complex rehabbing their injuries. He's "electric, a competitor." Brett Wichrowski is "legit." 

38:00: Is there a hitter (teammate) that you didn't want to miss when they were taking batting practice?

39:50: Is there a Wow moment on the mound in the upper levels, maybe facing a big leaguer?

42:00: What are the plans for the offseason in terms of things you're working on, and what are the conversations around starting and relieving moving forward?

Join us in congratulating Shane Smith on another very good season. Thanks to him for taking the time to do this. 

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