By Alexis Brudnicki

Chris Smith’s story is a little different. 

Sure, he’s a brand new big leaguer whose first day in the show was surreal, his journey to get there was a long and winding road, and he’s overwhelmed with support as he tries to contribute to a playoff-bound Blue Jays club, is excited to help an already-solid bullpen, and he’s looking forward to enjoying the experience. 

But, his is a dream that has had to change every step of the way, every rung on the ladder seeming out of reach only until he was on the one directly beneath it. The latest addition to the Blue Jays’ relief corps went from flying as the lone passenger in a propeller plane with two 23-year-old pilots just for a shot at playing independent ball, to getting a first-class ticket to Toronto on Tuesday afternoon. 

“When I told my dad [Patrick] that I was actually active yesterday, it was pretty emotional to hear him, and all he could say was, ‘Wow,’” Smith said. “Then he got teary-eyed, which inevitably made me teary-eyed, and it’s like damn, this is a phone call you always want to have. 

“My mom [Maria] and dad have played such a pivotal role in everything that’s gotten me to where I am now. Whenever I was thinking about hanging them up, they’ve always believed in me…Without them initially pushing me to see what I can do with this, it would be crazy to think about where I would be instead of here.” 

The right-hander is 28, but he turned himself into an unlikely prospect this season down on the farm, spending the majority of the year in Double-A New Hampshire before receiving an end-of-season promotion to the Buffalo Bisons to fill out the roster when September came calling for players on the 40-man to be added in Toronto. 

Between both squads, the native of Louisville, Ky. posted a 1.93 ERA over 47 appearances and 60 2/3 innings, walking 22 and striking out 81 with a fastball up to 98 and a nasty slider to complement it, getting his name into conversations among the Blue Jays brass. Then, Smith went to Dunedin to continue working out for the team at its minor-league complex, “just in case”, never really thinking that his time would come. 

On Monday night, having a late dinner at Olive Garden with his girlfriend Abby Avila, he got a phone call from Toronto’s director of player development Gil Kim, but it wasn’t exactly THE phone call. The team wasn’t yet sure of the status of relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit, who had been injured during extracurricular on-field activities in the game against the Yankees, so they wanted Smith to fly to Toronto and wait. He had a chance of being activated, but there was also a chance he might sit in his hotel room until they sent him back home. 

“It’s been incredible,” Smith said. “When Gil Kim gave me the call, that night at around 11 p.m., he apologized for calling me late, and I said, ‘Don’t worry, this is the best phone call I’ve ever received.’ At the time, we were wondering if I was going to get activated, so I had to explain it to my mom and dad, and it’s been a flight of emotions.”

By the time Smith got into Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, and to the ballpark less than an hour-and-a-half before game time, the odds against Benoit returning in good time had been narrowed with a calf tear diagnosis. Bad news for him, bad news for the team, but great news for Smith. He was on a big-league roster for the first time. 

“Getting here, I’m continuing to stay excited,” the fireballer said. “As a child, you always dream of that call. When it comes, you just try to take it all in. that’s what I’ve been trying to do since I’ve been here.” 

It was a whirlwind, like it is for most, but with some peculiar and interesting details, just like the bulk of Smith’s career. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

With his suitcases tucked away in the Blue Jays clubhouse, the reliever was told he was going to get some warmup tosses in on the field with Jason Phillips, one of the team’s two bullpen catchers. Unsurprisingly, Smith had trouble. He didn’t know who Phillips was, where the bullpen was located, or even where to find the field. Also, he still hadn’t met manager John Gibbons. 

As he went to find Phillips, Smith kept an eye out for where he was told his new skipper might appear, which would likely be somewhere around the dugout. But since his bullpen catcher had just gotten the stitches out of his nose earlier in the day, caused by a vicious foul ball, Phillips wanted to play catch as close as possible to the outfield fence, far away from where the Baltimore Orioles were taking batting practice, and from the dugout. 

The clock wound down and it didn’t take long before Smith had to make his way out to the left-field bullpen for the game. He took a seat knowing that if he were to make an appearance in the matchup against the Orioles, the latest bullpen addition would meet his manager for the first time as he handed him the ball on the mound. 

Smith gave it some thought throughout the contest, but in the end he didn’t make his debut on Tuesday, giving him the chance to meet Gibbons when it was all over, and allowing his parents time to arrive in Toronto on Wednesday, in the hopes of taking in his first major-league outing, something he looks forward to having under his belt.

“There’s a lot of pressure because first impressions are a huge thing,” Smith said. “Ironically in the past, it’s kind of funny, my first games have not always been the best. But after that, I settle in. It’s about getting my feet wet. Take for instance this year, I blew my first save [with the Fisher Cats], gave up a homer. In independent ball, my first outing I gave up a homer. Then my first outing in Puerto Rico last year, I gave up a homer. I’m trying to end that trend. 

“At this level, it’s all about winning and helping the team, ad that’s why I’m here. Whether they put me in a game where it’s 12-1 or where we’re ahead 3-2, there’s going to be pressure no matter what, because you want to succeed and do well because there’s someone always looking. There’s someone always evaluating and it’s not just about what you did for me yesterday, it’s about what can you do for me today? So every outing there’s pressure but it’s the same game. I’ve just got to take a deep breath and take it pitch to pitch.”

In terms of innings and wear and tear on the arm, Smith is a fresh pitcher. It wasn’t until after he finished college at Kentucky Wesleyan and decided to hang up his cleats and go to grad school that he was pushed into pitching instead. Every guy on the mound thinks he’s a shortstop, but Smith actually was, spending the majority of his time there and playing centre field before occasionally taking the hill for the Panthers. He impressed his pitching coach Paxton Gardner so much though, that he had to promise that before he went to take his GRE test, if Gardner found a workout for him, Smith would take it. 

The hurler wound up in the independent Frontier League instead of immediately retiring and got released by the Lake Erie Crushers after throwing just one inning. It was enough for the Traverse City Beach Bums though, at least for five outings, the amount of time they kept him between signing and releasing him. When the Washington Wild Things signed him, they kept him around for an entire season, plus the end of the previous one, and helped him earn his next spot. In between, he had a tryout with the Tampa Bay Rays that he and his uncle drove through the night to get to, and couldn’t have possibly gone better, before he was told they were going in another direction. 

So, that next spot was to go play club ball in the Greater Brisbane League, all the way down under, with a chance to make an attempt at cracking the Brisbane Bandits roster in the Australian Baseball League. There, Smith quickly took over as the ace of the Bandits, dominating the competition with his slider and a fastball sitting around 91-92, getting looks from the eye of every evaluator in Australia, including John Wadsworth with the Yankees. 

Extremely excited for his first shot at affiliated ball, Smith arrived early for spring training and on his first day, ran poles until someone told him he should probably stop. He just didn’t want to leave. But that first year wasn’t all he had dreamt it to be, sidelined for the entire season with a strained forearm and wondering how long his chance with the Yankees would last. It couldn’t be over before it started, could it?

It wasn’t. He came back and had a good season with Class-A Advanced Tampa and headed into the following spring training – last year – excited for what might come. He was up to 95, he barely issued a walk all spring, his slider was working, and he had a shot to break camp with Double-A. And he was told he would. Smith got his money to travel to Trenton to join the Thunder, and before he could start his drive, they released him. 

A few days later, the Yankees realized they had made too many cuts. They didn’t have enough bodies to fill out their teams. They re-signed Smith, who was happy to have a job again, but when they sent him to join one of their GCL squads at extended spring training, no one had been informed he was returning. He had no place to go and nowhere to belong. 

Eventually his situation with the Yankees was sorted. That is, until he got released again. It was after the draft, when every organization was already making a number of additions and subtractions to fit their players, and Smith’s situation looking grim again. 

“The craziest part of this all has been the releases,” he said. “To be told you’re not wanted. I mean, it adds fuel to the fire but at the same time, it’s like if something else doesn’t fall in place, then this could be it. Last year, when [I was] released by the New York Yankees for the second time that year, that was probably the craziest part because that’s when I thought I was at a crossroad where my career was over. 

“At that time, I was 26 years old and I only had High-A experience and a month of Double-A time. Who’s going to give a 26-year-old with that much time a shot? I could go back to independent ball probably, to try and prove myself, but taking steps backward was going to crush me.”

But it also happened to be the time when the Blue Jays were trading away minor-league arm after minor-league arm in order to get back the big-league talent that eventually helped them to the American League Championship Series. It looked like a perfect fit for Smith, and his Canadian agent Blake Corosky found his right-hander a spot, signing with Blue Jays director of minor league operations Charlie Wilson and heading to Dunedin to finish his year with the Class-A Advanced Blue Jays. 

“At the same time, the craziest part is just how everything has lined up too,” Smith said. “All the releases have been blessings I disguise and it’s made me a better person, helped me want to do more. When I was in independent ball I thought man, if I can get to affiliated ball that would be awesome. It would something I can tell my [future] kid. 

“Then the New York Yankees signed me and I thought I’m always going to be able to tell my kid I signed with the Yankees. Then I get to start pitching and I’m thinking, I can be here. I deserve to be here. Then I get up to a higher level and I wanted more. I got to Double-A and I want to be in the big leagues, and I know I can do it. I wanted to tell my kid I’ve been to Double-A. Now, I want to tell my kid I was a major leaguer. Just having that dream come true has been crazy.”