Todd Andrew Smyly (born June 13, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent.
He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs.
He competed for the United States national baseball team, winning the silver medal in the 2011 Pan American Games.
[5][6] As a redshirt freshman in 2009, Smyly came within two outs of pitching the first no-hitter at the NCAA Division I championship tournament in 18 years.
[7] During the summer following his 2009 season, Smyly pitched for the Duluth Huskies of the Northwoods League where he played for a brief time under former New York Mets Manager Terry Collins.
Serving in the Razorbacks starting rotation in 2010, Smyly had a 9–1 win–loss record with a 2.80 earned run average (ERA) and 114 strikeouts in 103 innings pitched, and was named All-SEC.
[19] Smyly competed with Rick Porcello in spring training for the fifth spot in the Tigers' 2013 starting rotation.
[20] On April 5, Smyly got his first career save after pitching four perfect innings of relief in an 8–3 win over the Yankees.
Because of off days, he pitched six innings out of the bullpen before making his season debut as a starter on April 18.
[22] Smyly pitched seven shutout innings to earn the win in a May 3 game against the Kansas City Royals.
[25] On September 9, Rays' manager Joe Maddon announced they would shut down Smyly for the remainder of the season, after he had pitched a career-high 153 innings.
[13] On January 11, 2017, the Rays traded Smyly to the Seattle Mariners for Mallex Smith, Ryan Yarbrough, and Carlos Vargas.
On June 28, the team announced Smyly would need Tommy John surgery for a torn left elbow ulnar collateral ligament, which he had the following month, ending his season with Seattle without him having started a game.
[30] During the 2018 season, after recovering from his surgery Smyly made a single appearance in the minor leagues, pitching one inning for the Class A South Bend Cubs, striking out three.
[33] For the portion of the 2019 season that he pitched for Texas, he was 1–5 with an 8.42 ERA in 13 games, 9 of which were starts, as he struck out 52 batters in 51+1⁄3 innings.
[18][34] With the Phillies he was 3–2 with a 4.45 ERA, as in 12 starts, he pitched 62+2⁄3 innings and struck out 68 batters; the 32 home runs he gave up for the season between Texas and Philadelphia were the 10th-most in the major leagues.
[48] He has a cut fastball around 87, which has drawn praise for its late, darting movement into right-handed hitters and away from lefties.