This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it usually in your inbox.
NORTH PORT, Fla. — AJ Smith-Shawver nonetheless enjoys tossing a soccer from time to time. However the Braves’ prime prospect has by no means regretted his determination to decide on baseball over the chance to be Texas Tech College’s quarterback.
“Each time I give it some thought, I’m like, ‘Man, I’m pleased with what I did,’” Smith-Shawver stated. “I miss [football]. I throw the soccer bit within the offseason simply to maintain the arm shifting. So, I get my repair.”
Smith-Shawver toyed with the thought of taking part in each soccer and baseball at Texas Tech. Patrick Mahomes Jr. had completed the identical factor throughout his freshman season with the Pink Raiders. However he felt it was in his finest curiosity to bypass school and go straight to the skilled baseball scene.
“I wished to signal, as a result of I wasn’t a bookworm by any means,” Smith-Shawver stated. “I additionally thought the event in professional ball was going to be quite a bit higher.”
There’s definitely no motive to query the choice made by Shawver, who obtained a $997,500 signing bonus after the Braves took him within the seventh spherical of the 2021 MLB Draft. He was simply 20 years outdated when he made his MLB debut final summer season, and he was nonetheless a month shy of the authorized ingesting age when he pitched in entrance of the Phillies’ raucous followers throughout final yr’s Nationwide League Division Collection.
“I’ve made fairly good strides every year,” Smith-Shawver stated. “I’m far more developed than I used to be presently final yr. It’s tremendous thrilling simply to study and take a look at new issues.”
It appears like Smith-Shawver might start this season with Triple-A Gwinnett. However the early indicators from camp have been encouraging, so there’s definitely an opportunity the extremely regarded prospect might spend extra time with Atlanta this yr.
“I’ve been watching his sides and he’s been beginning to take that subsequent step, simply together with his progress and maturity,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “The expertise he acquired final yr was enormous. You’ll be able to see a child that’s simply maturing. The most important factor for him is simply expertise. He’s nonetheless actually, actually younger with restricted expertise. However he’s had a whole lot of expertise for his age.”
Smith-Shawver’s speedy rise may need been a product of spending a lot of his childhood taking part in quite a lot of sports activities together with his good good friend Bobby Witt Jr., who is 2 years older. Witt’s great potential not too long ago earned him an 11-year, $288.8 million cope with the Royals.
“I am so excited for him,” Smith-Shawver stated. “He is earned each little bit of that. I feel the Royals made a extremely good determination to signal him, as a result of simply watching him over time, he does every little thing the fitting means. He’s going to maintain getting higher.”
Smith-Shawver hasn’t but earned that monetary safety, however of us are additionally very excited to see what the subsequent few years maintain for him.
