This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat publication. To learn the total publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it usually in your inbox.
NORTH PORT, Fla. — AJ Smith-Shawver nonetheless enjoys tossing a soccer every now and then. However the Braves’ high 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 an excellent 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 Purple 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 loads 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 previous when he made his MLB debut final summer time, 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 Sequence.
“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 check out new issues.”
It appears to be like 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 development and maturity,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “The expertise he received final yr was big. You’ll be able to see a child that’s simply maturing. The largest 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 fast 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 pal Bobby Witt Jr., who is 2 years older. Witt’s great potential lately 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 through the years, he does every thing the suitable method. He’s going to maintain getting higher.”
Smith-Shawver hasn’t but earned that monetary safety, however people are additionally very excited to see what the following few years maintain for him.
