AJ Smith-Shawver (born November 20, 2002) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Smith-Shawver grew up in

Colleyville, Texas Colleyville is a city in northeastern Tarrant County, Texas, United States, centrally located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. A wealthy suburb of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Colleyville was originally a small farm town in the 19th century. Th ...

and attended

Colleyville Heritage High School Colleyville Heritage High School (CHHS) is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves freshmen through senior students i ...

, where he played baseball and football. He was Colleyville Heritage's starting quarterback and passed for 2,616 yards and 25 touchdowns as a senior. He stopped pitching to focus on football, and was named All-Area by the ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' as a third baseman after batting .344 with 20 RBIs. Smith-Shawver committed to play both college baseball and college football at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues

The

selected Smith-Shawver in the seventh round of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. He signed with the team, foregoing his commitment to Texas Tech, and received an over-slot signing bonus of $997,500. After signing, Smith-Shawver was assigned to the Rookie-level

Florida Complex League Braves The Florida Complex League Braves are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Braves. The team plays at CoolTod ...

and made four appearances. He spent the 2022 season with the

Single-A Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classif ...

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina, which opened in April 2018. They previous ...

. While pitching in the FCL and for the GreenJackets, Smith-Shawver focused on developing a slider. The following year, Smith-Shawver began the season with the

Rome Braves The Rome Braves are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2020, the team served ...

. At the

High-A High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

level, he made three starts, threw fourteen scoreless innings with four walks and 23 strikeouts, while yielding six hits. On May 2, Smith-Shawver was promoted to the

Mississippi Braves The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they are referred to locally, are a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. The team is the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and plays in the Southern League. T ...

. He allowed five hits in seven scoreless innings over two appearances at the Double-A level, then made his Triple-A debut with the

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

on May 19, yielding his first earned runs on the 2023 season.

Atlanta Braves

On May 30, 2023, the Braves selected Smith-Shawver's contract and promoted him to the major leagues for the first time. He faced the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

in his major league debut on June 4, pitching innings of relief while recording three strikeouts and one walk. Smith-Shawver made his first start against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

on June 9, yielding two unearned runs on three hits in innings. On June 15, Smith-Shawver earned his first win, giving up six hits and one walk with six strikeouts in innings against the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. He became the youngest Braves pitcher to win a game since Steve Avery on August 24, 1990. On June 26, Shawver was optioned back down to Gwinnett to make room on the roster for the Braves to promote relief pitcher Dereck Rodriguez. Smith-Shawver was invited to spring training before the 2024 regular season began, but did not make the club and was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Personal life

AJ Smith was raised by his mother Laurie and stepfather Jason. He added Shawver to his surname while in high school.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith-Shawver, AJ 2002 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Augusta GreenJackets players Baseball players from Fort Worth, Texas Colleyville Heritage High School alumni Florida Complex League Braves players Gwinnett Stripers players Major League Baseball pitchers Mississippi Braves players Rome Braves players Rome Emperors players