Rays sign former SF Giants, A's reliever to minor-league contract

Former SF Giants and Oakland Athletics reliever Burch Smith has signed a minor-league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Steven Rissotto | Jan 7, 2024

Rays sign former SF Giants, A's reliever to minor-league contract /

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The Tampa Bay Rays added some pitching depth this week by signing former SF Giants right-handed reliever Burch Smith to a minor-league contract. Smith has appeared in five different big-league seasons with the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Giants, and Oakland Athletics. The agreement includes an invitation to big-league spring training.

Burch Smith throws a pitch for the SF Giants against the Miami Marlins at Oracle Park on Sept. 15, 2019. — Burch Smith pitches for the SF Giants against the Marlins at Oracle Park. (2019) / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Smith, 33, has not pitched an MLB inning since 2021, but has spent the last two seasons overseas in top professional leagues in Japan and Korea. He also got the attention of teams this offseason by playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, allowing just four earned runs in 14.1 innings of work.

Smith's big-league career has spanned 2013-2021. He has posted a 6.03 ERA in 191 innings of work with 184 strikeouts and 87 walks. Smith’s stint with the Giants was rather forgettable, as the club claimed him off waivers from the Brewers in August 2019. Although he impressed with 10 appearances out of the bullpen down the stretch, surrendering just two runs across 8.2 innings pitched. However, the organization designated him for assignment ahead of the 2020 season and he was claimed off waivers by the A's.

Smith was a mainstay on Oakland's pitching staff from 2020-21. He was particularly effective in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In six appearances, Smith allowed just three earned runs on seven hits and a walk in 12 innings pitched with 13 strikeouts. His numbers took a step back the following season, though, when he recorded a 5.40 ERA (4.21 FIP) in 43.1 innings pitched (31 appearances) with 28 strikeouts and 11 walks.

The move marks Smith’s second stint with Tampa Bay –– he was traded to the Rays following the 2014 campaign in a three-team deal that resulted in Wil Myers ending up in San Diego while Trea Turner found a home in Washington. With the amount of roster manipulation the Rays conduct, it wouldn’t be difficult to see Burch Smith find his way back to the major leagues next season in the AL East.

Published Jan 7, 2024

STEVEN RISSOTTO

Steven Rissotto (he/him) is an award-winning journalist who currently covers the San Francisco Giants for SFBay.ca and Giants Baseball Insider. At 19-years-old in 2021, he joined SF Bay Media as the Giants beat writer, covering games a few times a week during the Giants’ record-setting 107-win season. Along with his game story coverage he is also the host of RizzoCast, a baseball podcast he founded in 2020 that features interviews with professional and amateur baseball players, coaches, media, fans, and everyone else around the game. Past guests have included Tyler Glasnow, Bob Kendrick, Shawn Estes, Bill Laskey, Renel Brooks Moon, Dave Dravecky, Ned Colletti, Denard Span, Ron Wotus, Joe Maddon, J.T. Snow and more. He is also a co-host with Tylor Hall on the Shutdown Inning Podcast, a show focused on all the latest happenings around the baseball world. Both podcasts are available on YouTube and everywhere podcasts are found. Currently, he is a student at San Francisco State University where he is majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in print/online and minoring in education. At SF State, he is the managing editor for Golden Gate Xpress, the student-run newspaper. He was formerly a member of the newspaper at Skyline College, where he served as editor-in-chief and news editor while also writing sports and features. He was formerly a student-journalist at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, where he pitched for the baseball team and covered some of the biggest stories in campus history. This includes a new multi-sports facility on campus, the breaking news coverage of Riordan’s coed announcement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Steven is well-respected by his peers and has been honored numerous times by Student Newspapers Online, JEA, ACP, and the California Publishing Association. In 2021, he finished second in the country for Reporter of the Year for ACP among the two-year college schools.