Ex-Blue Jays prospect perfectly uses social media to announce deal with rival club

Following the leads of Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnación, Troy Tulowitzki, Gio Urshela and others in joining the New York Yankees after having played for the Toronto Blue Jays previously, another one of the Jays’ former top prospects have decided to follow suit this offseason. This past Monday, infielder Kevin Smith signed a minor league deal with the Jays’ long-time divisional rivals. 

Normally, a minor league deal doesn’t gain as much fanfare, especially when it doesn’t even involve a former star player. But what caught the attention of many people was the perfect way Smith announced his signing with the Yankees on X. Born in East Greenbush, New York, he intelligently posted a picture of himself donned in Yankees’ gear, claiming he was now heading home for 2024. That sure brought back the same vibes as to when John Tavares posted a photo of himself in his Toronto Maple Leafs’ pyjamas when he headed home to sign with his hometown team.

For Smith, he was a former standout picked by the Jays in the fourth-round back in the 2017 MLB Draft. He was once ranked as high as 7th on the Jays’ top prospects list according to MLB Pipeline in 2019. Over the course of three seasons, he performed admirably in the development of his game while ascending their minor league system. Smith eventually got his chance when the Jays awarded him with a hard-earned promotion in mid-August during the 2021 season. However, he failed to impress in his debut stint with the ballclub as he batted an abysmal .094 with a .382 OPS in 36 total plate appearances over 18 games of action. Nevertheless, he did have one major highlight that he will never forget during his time with the Jays. That was when he hit his first official major league home run against Detroit on August 29 to help them edge the Tigers 2-1 for the victory.

Other than that, Smith may mostly be remembered by Jays’ fans as being part of the trade package that brought Matt Chapman to Toronto. Since the trade, Smith spent the following two years with the Oakland Athletics’ organization while splitting time between the minors and majors. In his two seasons when up with the Athletics, he posted a mediocre .182 average with a .532 OPS, along with 24 runs scored, 13 doubles, 7 home runs, 24 RBI and a whopping 93 strikeouts in just 274 at-bats in 96 games. He has yet to translate his offensive success in the minors to the major league level, but at least he has fared better defensively by putting up 4 DRS and a fielding percentage above .980 across the two seasons.

In joining the Yankees, Smith will provide infield depth for the organization after losing Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Jays via free agency. Hopefully, Smith will finally get his chance to shine and make valuable contributions at the major league level in a place he can truly call his home.