Adam Smith may not have arrived in the Arizona Fall League with the loudest prospect buzz in the Mariners’ group, but he’s the one headed to the Fall Stars Game.
Seattle’s other Smith - the 26-year-old right-hander, not catching prospect Boston Smith - has quietly turned himself into one of the more interesting arms in the organization’s AFL mix. He’s part of the Mariners’ “Mr. and Mr. Smith” battery, and while Boston has drawn most of the attention, Adam has earned his own spotlight.
The Mariners bought Smith’s contract from the independent Lancaster Stormers last May to help fill out Everett’s bullpen, and he wasted little time making an impression. He overpowered hitters at High-A, then got bumped to Double-A Arkansas in the middle of the season.
The results there weren’t as clean: his strikeouts dipped and his walks climbed. Even now, the stat line doesn’t jump off the page.
He’s built like a pitcher at 6-foot-2, but he wins more with spin and command than pure velocity, and his ERA in the Fall League sits north of 5.
Still, the stuff plays. On a trip to the AFL last month, Smith threw the most dominant inning of the night in a lopsided Peoria win, and hitters looked lost. They weren’t picking up the ball well, offering at pitches that looked ugly or simply backing away from strikes in the zone.
That’s been the bigger theme in Arizona. Through seven AFL appearances, Smith has thrown 6.2 innings, hasn’t issued a walk, and has punched out 10 batters. That work earned him a spot in the Fall Stars game.
Smith’s path to Seattle has been a winding one. The Padres drafted him in the 14th round in 2021 out of UNC Wilmington, where he spent four years, and he later spent a year in the Red Sox system before moving to indy ball, where the Mariners found him.
As a former starter, he brings a full menu out of the bullpen: four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, changeup and sweeper. He leans heavily on his off-speed pitches, especially because his fastball has never been about overpowering velocity. His favorite pitch is easy enough to identify.
“I would say I get most of the ugly swings from my sweeper,” said Smith. “It’s kind of my go-to, the old reliable. I learned it about two years ago, and then once I really figured out how to use it, I haven’t gone away from it.”
What’s changed most in Seattle, Smith said, is his comfort level in the strike zone. He’s bought into the Mariners’ “dominate the zone” approach and trusts the organization’s view of what makes him effective. That confidence, even without premium velocity, has helped his fastball tick up into the mid-90s.
“The velocity aspect early in my career wasn’t really there, and being a part of two different organizations prior where they strive for only velocity just didn’t fit my motto because I was more of an in-zone pitcher, get a lot of strikes, and just average velocity. Whereas here, being able to embrace the identity of being in the zone all the time has translated into my velocity being where it’s at now.”
For Smith, the appeal goes beyond the numbers. He says the Mariners have given him a clear plan and, just as important, made sure everyone is on the same page.
“Everyone’s got a plan here, and they’re solely driven on that plan, and everyone’s bought into the plan, which is that communication aspect where everyone is in tune with what’s going on,” Smith said. “I think it makes it a lot easier for us as players when we’re communicated with on a daily basis about what we need to do, maybe in our routine or changing other things up.
Everything is communicated. It’s not like we have to find out a few months later, like, oh, we’ve been actually wanting you to do this, but we didn’t tell you.
It’s very upfront.”
That kind of message matters, especially in light of the communication issues that hurt the big-league club this year. Smith’s rise is a reminder of what can happen when the organization’s plans are clear and the player buys in - and of how Seattle has helped turn a low-profile arm into a pitcher worth watching.
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