Canaan Elijah Smith-Njigba (born April 30, 1999) 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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

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 2022.

Amateur career

Smith-Njigba attended Rockwall-Heath High School in

Heath, Texas Heath is a city in Rockwall and Kaufman counties, Texas, United States. The population was 6,921 at the 2010 census, up from 4,149 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History A proposition was placed on the Nove ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. He committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. During his senior year, he garnered attention after he was intentionally walked 32 times in 24 games, or a rate of 1.33 per game. After his senior season, he was selected by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

in the fourth round of the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on J ...

Professional career

New York Yankees organization

After signing with the Yankees, Smith-Njigba made his professional debut with the Rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Yankees The Florida Complex League Yankees are a Rookie-level affiliate of the New York Yankees, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball ...

, slashing .289/.430/.422 with five home runs and 28 RBIs over 57 games. In 2018, he played with the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League where he hit .191 with three home runs and 16 RBIs over 45 games, missing time due to injury. In 2019, he played for the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, with whom he earned All-Star honors. Over 124 games, he batted .307/.405/.465 with 11 home runs, 74 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 since the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Pittsburgh Pirates

On January 24, 2021, the Yankees traded Smith-Njigba (alongside Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras and Maikol Escotto) to the

in exchange for Jameson Taillon. He was assigned to the Altoona Curve of the Double-A Northeast for a majority of the 2021 season. He was placed on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

briefly at the end of July, but activated in early August. He was placed back on the injured list in mid-August with a thigh injury, but was activated one month later. Over 66 games, he hit .274/.398/.406 with six home runs, 40 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. Following the end of Altoona's season in mid-September, he was promoted to the

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which open ...

of the

Triple-A East The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

with whom he appeared in seven games. He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas after the season. On November 19, 2021, the Pirates selected his contract and added him to their 40-man roster. He returned to the Indians to begin the 2022 season. On June 13, 2022, the Pirates promoted Smith-Njigba to the major leagues. He registered his first major league hit the next night while pinch-hitting and recorded a double off of St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher

Giovanny Gallegos Giovanny Gallegos (born August 14, 1991) is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2017 with the New York Yankees and also pitched for them in 2018 before being ...

. On June 17, he was placed on the 60-day injured list with a wrist fracture.

Personal life

Smith-Njigba is the older brother of

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

wide receiver

Jaxon Smith-Njigba Jaxon Smith-Njigba ( ; born February 14, 2002) is an American football wide receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He holds the FBS Bowl Game and Ohio State single game record for most receiving yards with 347 in the 2022 Rose Bowl. Smith also h ...

. Smith-Njigba's grandparents are from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith-Njigba, Canaan 1999 births Living people People from Heath, Texas Baseball players from Dallas Major League Baseball outfielders Pittsburgh Pirates players Gulf Coast Yankees players Staten Island Yankees players Charleston RiverDogs players Altoona Curve players Indianapolis Indians players American people of Sierra Leonean descent African-American baseball players Sportspeople of Sierra Leonean descent Peoria Javelinas players Baseball players from Rockwall County, Texas