Timothy James Smith (born June 14, 1986) is a Canadian former

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 c ...

. Prior to beginning his professional career, he played

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 p ...

at Arizona State University. Smith has also competed for the

Canadian national baseball team The Canada national baseball team represents Canada in international baseball. They are overseen by Baseball Canada, the governing body of baseball in Canada. Their manager is Ernie Whitt, a former Major League Baseball catcher for the Toronto ...

Career

Amateur career

Smith attended Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, where he was named to the High School Baseball All-Star Team by the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' after his senior year. Drafted by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

in the 21st round (614th overall) of the 2004 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, Smith opted to go to college instead of signing. He enrolled at

Midland College Midland College (MC) is a public community college in Midland, Texas. It was established as an independent junior college in 1972 and held its first classes on campus in 1975. Since that time, the campus has expanded to a main campus on in Mi ...

, a junior college, where he set school records for career average (.459), OBP (.547), slugging (.736) and steals (41). and after one season, Smith was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 17th round (505th overall) of the

2005 MLB draft The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the bes ...

, but again, he did not sign. Smith transferred to Arizona State University, where he played

for the

Arizona State Sun Devils baseball The Arizona State Sun Devils baseball program at the Arizona State University (ASU) is part of the Pac-12 Conference. Since it became a member of the Pac-12, it had the highest winning percentage, at .681, of all schools that participate in Di ...

team in the Pacific-10 Conference of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

. The Sun Devils reached the

2007 College World Series The 2007 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was held from June 1 to 24, . Sixty-four NCAA Division I college baseball teams advanced to the post season tournament after having played through a regular season, and for some, a conference tourname ...

Professional career

Following the 2007 season, Smith was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 7th round of the

2007 MLB draft The 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players and was held on June 7, 2007 and June 8, 2007. The first day session of the draft included the fir ...

. He was a

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

All-Star in 2008, winning All-Star Game Most Valuable Player honors. On September 3, 2009, the Rangers traded Smith and Manny Piña to the Kansas City Royals for Danny Gutierrez. Smith was a

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

All-Star in 2010. Offered the choice between serving as a backup in

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

or being released, Smith opted for

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

. Smith signed with 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) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

in April 2012. In January 2013, Smith signed with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

International career

Smith has played for the

. In 2011, he participated in the

2011 Baseball World Cup The 2011 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 39th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, winning the bronze medal, and the Pan American Games, winning the gold medal. At the Pan American Games, Smith was second on the Canadian team in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.350) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.985).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Tim 1986 births Living people Arizona League Rangers players Arizona League Royals players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Bakersfield Blaze players Baseball outfielders Baseball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Baseball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Clinton LumberKings players Frisco RoughRiders players Lynchburg Hillcats players Mississippi Braves players Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in baseball Spokane Indians players Baseball players from Toronto Winnipeg Goldeyes players World Baseball Classic players of Canada 2013 World Baseball Classic players Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games