Calling it a career?
EBENSBURG — While receiving inquiries from 18 major league organizations during the off-season, Kevan Smith recognized how he’s currently viewed in baseball.
It wasn’t good enough.
Now 33 and with six years of MLB service time — 10 total years in professional baseball— the Seneca Valley graduate is not with any big league organization as the 2022 season is underway.
“All of those teams were showing interest, but they were all offering minor league contracts with a chance of being called up,” Smith said. “At this stage of my career, I’m not going back to the minor leagues. I feel like I’m beyond that stage.
“If a team was to incur an injury and called me, wanting me to play in Triple-A for a couple of weeks before coming up, I might be open to something like that. I’m not closing the door completely, but in reality, that scenario isn’t likely to happen.”
Smith and his family live in Ebensburg and he is working an outdoors job, developing habitat for the purpose of deer hunting. It’s a business venture he entered while he was still playing.
Smith and his wife have two children — a 3-year-old son and a daughter of 20 months.
“If I was still playing ball, I wouldn’t see them again until June or something,” he said. “Spending more time with family is definitely at the top of my list right now.”
Also a former University of Pittsburgh quarterback and Butler BlueSox catcher, Smith hit .259 in 780 at-bats in the major leagues, collecting 13 homers and 82 RBI. He was a seventh-round draft choice of the Chicago White Sox in 2011.
After a couple of years of going back and forth between the minor and major leagues with the White Sox, Smith thought he found a home with the Los Angeles Angels in 2019.
“The regular catcher got hurt and I got to start the last two months of that season,” he recalled. “I played really well down the stretch and figured I had solidified my spot on the team for the following year.
‘Then I got a call from the Angels that off-season and was told I didn’t fit into their future plans, that there wasn’t a spot for me in their organization. While I appreciated their honesty, that was an eye-opener for me.
“I spent my career constantly grinding, trying to find a spot and hang on to it. From Triple-A to the big leagues, getting traded, getting released, signing with somebody, being designated for assignment ... It’s quite a roller-coaster life,” Smith added.
He wound up playing in the big leagues with the White Sox, Angels, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves. Smith was released by the Braves in September — at his request — after they asked him to go to Class AAA Gwinnett as regular catcher Travis d’Arnaud was returning from injury.
Smith said MLB’s current trend lessens his chances of getting another shot at extending his playing career.
“When I first came up (to the majors), the average age on big league rosters was 31 to 35,” he said. “Now it’s 22 to 26. Teams are all about having player control now. Guys are getting rushed through the minor leagues. That’s just the way it is now.
“I don’t regret a minute of my time in baseball. On just about every major league team, there’s one or two of my buddies playing. It’s a great fraternity. I won’t miss the travel, my body aching, the wear and tear of the game ... I will miss the clubhouse, that fraternity of people. No doubt.”
Calling his major league career “a blessing,” Smith added that it couldn’t have ended any better.
“I finally got to play at PNC Park (with the Braves last season) and I got a World Series ring,” he said. “After the Braves released me, I figured I’d go home, settle into the off-season, wait and see if there would be any interest from another club for this year. It didn’t happen.”
Playing football for Pitt, Smith was a quarterback in front of 100,000 people at a road game in Michigan. He said experiences like that helped prepare him for the major leagues.
“Sometimes I think Division 1 college football players are treated better than major league baseball players,” he said. “People look at the high salaries in baseball and think that’s the way it is. But only 10 percent of the players make the big money. The other 90 percent of us are grinding and fighting to stay in the big leagues from year to year.
“I’m healthy right now. I feel great. I’m staying ready because you never know. But in all likelihood, it’s time for me to hang it up — and I’m fine with that.”
