Josh Smoker

Position: LHP
Born: 11/26/1988
Height: 6'2
Weight: 195
B/T: L/L
Acquired: Signed as a minor league free agent April 2, 2015 (NYM). Originally drafted in the first round (#31 overall) of the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft (WSH).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 3-2 with a 4.11 ERA in 52 games at Las Vegas (Triple-A), striking out 81 batters and walking 18 in 57 innings while allowing 66 hits.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Recalled from Las Vegas August 19 when LHP Josh Edgin was sent down.
MLB Debut Date: 8/19/2016

Debut Details
August 19, in an 8-1 loss to the Giants. The third of five pitchers, he allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits in one-third of an inning. Of nine pitches thrown, five were for strikes. Coming in to start the eighth inning with the Mets down, 3-1, the first big-league batter he faced, Brandon Belt, reached on an infield single to second base. The next batter, Buster Posey, reached on a force out to shortstop, and Brandon Crawford followed by singling to center field to put runners at the corners with one out. Mets closer Jeurys Familia was brought in to relieve Smoker, and allowed a single to right field by Hunter Pence to load the bases. The next batter, Eduardo Nunez, grounded into a force out at second base, which allowed Posey to score and putting runners at the corners with two outs. The next batter, Joe Panik, reached on an error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera which allowed both Crawford and Nunez to score, though only Crawford’s run belonged to Smoker and was an unearned run.

Player Notes
This was Smoker’s second promotion of the season after being recalled from Vegas back on July 26. That time, however, it was just as an emergency 26th man for a doubleheader and, after not getting into either game that day against the Cardinals, he was dispatched back to Sin City and the 51s. He’d lowered his ERA by nearly half a run in the three weeks between promotions, a span of nine games. Smoker’s rise to the majors has been one of highs and lows. Armed with a plus fastball and a dangerous splitter, he was his state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in high school in 2007, signing with the Nats as a bonus baby before an array of injuries slowed what had promised to be a swift ascent. Arm and shoulder woes ranging from a bone spur in 2008 to a torn rotator cuff and labrum in 2013 and others in between saw him sit out most of 2012 and all of 2013 after having seen mixed results in the lower levels of A ball in 2010 and 2011. Finally healthy in 2014, he needed to detour through the independent Frontier League (one of the lower rungs of established indies), posting a 4.03 ERA in 28 games at Rockford to prove to teams that he could still pitch. The Mets signed him the next spring and he worked his way through Savannah (Class A), St. Lucie (High A) and Binghamton (Double-A), combining to go 3-0 with a 3.12 ERA in 41 games and striking out 60 batters while walking 19 in 49 innings and limiting opposing hitters to a .213 average.