High-upside righty acquired in Skubal trade makes Tigers org debut
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Perhaps viewed as the third piece in the trade that sent Tarik Skubal to the Dodgers, Brady Smith has flashed plenty of upside this season.
The Tigers' No. 15 prospect looked the part in his first outing with his new team, tossing five innings of two-run ball while striking out four in High-A West Michigan’s 14-6 win over Fort Wayne on Saturday night at Parkview Field.
Originally selected in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the Tennessee high school product had Tommy John surgery shortly after turning pro.
After working just 21 innings in his first professional season in 2025, the right-hander has taken on a larger workload in his first full affiliate campaign. Over his past eight starts, Smith has worked into the fifth inning or later five times; that included tossing six shutout innings with 11 strikeouts back on June 25 for Single-A Ontario.
In that same span (37 1/3 innings), Smith’s command has shown improvement, walking just 8.4 percent of batters he's faced.
Smith features an interesting five-pitch mix headlined by an above-average mid-90s fastball that tops out at 98 mph with solid ride and a 60-grade mid-80s changeup that has 10 mph of separation from his fastball with good armside fade. The 21-year-old has shown the ability to land the offering for strikes, while also utilizing it to generate whiffs and chase.
To round out his arsenal, Smith also sports a curveball, slider and a cutter, giving him the look of a starter in the long term. The Tigers are banking on that playing out as he continues to develop, joining Top 100 overall prospects Zyhir Hope (DET No. 2/MLB No. 25) and River Ryan (No. 5/MLB No. 68) as part of the return for the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
The potent ensemble of pitches has helped Brady generate plenty of swing-and-miss this season. Against the TinCaps, Smith logged a cool 32.2 percent whiff rate (10 whiffs on 31 swings). For the year, he sports a 34.4 percent strikeout rate and 13.3 K/9; both immediately rank him first among pitchers in the Tigers organization to have thrown at least 70 innings across the Minors this year.