Cleveland Guardians’ Post

Transcript

I think that, you know, I really enjoy the competitiveness of baseball, like it's, it's a very interesting individual team sport. You're matching U1 on one with the header and it is pitch by pitch a battle and I really enjoy that. Both my parents played college basketball in Canada, so there's a basketball background in my family. I played that growing up. I volleyball was the biggest sport at my school, so I played that because my friends played. I played basketball to maintain athleticism. I did a little bit of track and field. Not too much running after a couple of years, mostly the throwing actually. Is always pretty clear to me that baseball was the one that I had the most potential in and also the one that I enjoyed playing the most. And so my senior year of high school was baseball only, and then it's been baseball only on since that point. So Cade, he's been with us, came into our organization from the University of Hawaii. He wasn't married yet. We got to know him. We got to know who he was as a pitcher. We got to know what motivated him and what he wanted to do, and we aligned on that plan. Due to a COVID shortened 2020 MLB Draft consisting of only 5 rounds, Kate Smith signed with the Guardians organization as an undrafted free agent. The big things that separated the Guardians from anybody else was that they were renowned for their pitching development. Like they, even in the first talks I had with them, we're presenting things about like. Me that I didn't even know were things that were unique, things that were strengths and they were able to like identify them. Like, hey, like we recognize that this is something special. We want to lean into that. After signing, he found himself in a unique situation. As a result of COVID restrictions, there was no minor league season in 2020, but with the help of the organization, he still received all of the support he needed to one day prepare for his time in the big leagues. It was a bit of a desperate times, desperate measures kind of thing. While I was working out in my parents basement with a couple of dumbbells and plates that we had, I was doing my, you know, running and my sprinting down in the trails like next to my house outdoors. I was throwing into a chain link fence and then, you know, when Jims did open then I could get started there. Cleveland has done a phenomenal job like. Right from the get go when we signed, class was in session, we had Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting. There was all sorts of classes that we were going through and information that was being presented to us that we could take advantage of that time. The entire time that I was at home after signing, I had a throwing program, I had a clear strength conditioning program and there was an opportunity for me to have conversations with staff who I would end up working with once I got there in person. Kate Smith lets it fly and JD Davis. Swings and misses, How about that? Kade Smith finishes his outing with a 96 mile an hour heater, and in his Major League debut he gave the Guardians 2 shutout innings and struck out five. Smith made his MLB debut on March 30th against the Oakland A's. Since then, he's become one of the key members in Cleveland's bullpen. He's the 4th reliever in Cleveland history to reach 100 strikeouts. And a season and he also led the majors with a 5.6 inherited runners scored percentage, allowing just two of 36 inherited runners to score. Does routines are a model for what our player development group, you know, essentially helped collaborate and groom with him. And he's obviously shown that here at the Major League level with that he's an elite teammate as well. So it's a he makes my job really easy now the pants. Getting enemas, fastball, 98 miles an hour. Another great job by Kate Smith.