Dylan Smith

Smith pitched mainly out of the bullpen for Alabama during his first two years at the program, when he pitched with an ERA above 5.00 with just average strikeout and walk rates. He chose a good year to have a breakout season this spring and stepped into the team’s ace role, posting a 3.84 ERA over 16 starts and 98.1 innings of work, while striking out 113 (10.3 K/9) batters and walking 14 (1.8 BB/9)—both easily career-best marks. Smith is a lean, athletic righthander listed at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds with room to fill out, athleticism and impressive hand speed. Scouts have credited his improved strike throwing this spring to better consistency and tempo in his delivery, and he’s also shown a solid four-pitch mix. Smith’s fastball sits in the 91-93 mph range but has been up to 96 and he also throws a curveball, slider and changeup. The slider has been his best swing-and-miss offering this spring, but all three secondaries have collected a good number of whiffs. He throws the slider in the low-to-mid 80s and regularly down and away to his glove side. The pitch features solid tilt but breaks early out of his hand. His curveball is a few ticks slower with more downer shape but has solid power and occasionally blends into his slider. His changeup has solid fading action in the mid-to-upper 80s but is his least-used pitch. He has been a bit homer prone this spring (14 in 16 starts) but Smith’s improved strike throwing and the projection left on his frame have teams excited about him in the second round.