- Full name Spencer Smith
- Born 12/03/1998 in Durham, NC
- Profile Ht.: 6'1" / Wt.: 205 / Bats: R / Throws: R
- School Harford CC
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Drafted in the 37th round (1,124th overall) by the Texas Rangers in 2017.
View Draft Report
Smith has one of the most explosive swings in this year's class. He's a righthanded hitter with plus raw power that comes from lightning-quick hands and a long swing. He has a lot of moving parts to his stroke, including a leg kick and a late load with a deep back-elbow swoop. These moving parts lead him to swing and miss often when facing top arms at the 2016 East Coast Pro Showcase, but he did a better job of making contact in the spring. Smith is a strong, sturdy defender behind the plate. He's got solid footwork behind the plate and handles wild pitchers well. His arm plays near average. The biggest question mark on Smith is how much he will hit at the next level. If he hits enough for his power to play, Smith could develop into a power-hitting catcher with strong intangibles. He is committed to East Carolina.
Top Rankings
Draft Prospects
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A highly-touted backstop out of high school, Smith was ranked the No. 158 prospect on the BA 500 in 2017, but made it to campus at East Carolina in the fall before transferring to Harford (Md.) JC prior to the spring season. A torn labrum kept him from catching at all this spring, but scouts got to see him hit a team-high 19 home runs with a .319/.472/.779 line through 163 at-bats. There are real strikeout concerns with Smith--as there were when he was a high schooler--and he whiffed 70 times compared to 42 walks. There's real power in the tank and a lot strength out of Smith's 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame, but it's an all-or-nothing sort of swing and there's more pressure on his bat now than previously with less of an idea of what kind of defender he could be. Teams who draft Smith as a backstop will be doing so with much of his defensive evaluation coming from 2017 reports which saw him as a fringe-average defender with an average arm. -
Smith has one of the most explosive swings in this year's class. He's a righthanded hitter with plus raw power that comes from lightning-quick hands and a long swing. He has a lot of moving parts to his stroke, including a leg kick and a late load with a deep back-elbow swoop. These moving parts lead him to swing and miss often when facing top arms at the 2016 East Coast Pro Showcase, but he did a better job of making contact in the spring. Smith is a strong, sturdy defender behind the plate. He's got solid footwork behind the plate and handles wild pitchers well. His arm plays near average. The biggest question mark on Smith is how much he will hit at the next level. If he hits enough for his power to play, Smith could develop into a power-hitting catcher with strong intangibles. He is committed to East Carolina.
