Kevin De Smedt

Kevin De Smedt

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.

• School University of Northwestern Ohio, Globe Institute of Technology
• High School Centre Scolaire Eddy Merckx

• Born November 8, 1995 in Brussels Belgium

Biographical Information

Kevin De Smedt has pitched in Belgium's First Division and for the Belgian national team. He is the brother of Cedric De Smedt.

De Smedt allowed 4 runs in 3 1/3 IP in the 2011 European Junior Championship. He made his First Division debut in 2011 with the Namur Angels, allowing 4 runs (2 earned), 5 hits and 4 walks in 3 innings while striking out one; he was 1 for 6 with a walk at the plate. In 2012, he outpitched his more established brother, going 2-1 with a 2.90 ERA for Namur. He was a 1B/P for Belgium in the 2013 European Junior Championship, going 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA with a loss to Russia; he hit .136/.174/.136 with 5 runs in 6 games while playing error-free defense (17 PO, 5 A). He had a 2-6, 5.81 record for the Angels in 2013.

The Brussels native attended the MLB Europe Elite Camp in 2014. Moving to the Borgerhout Squirrels that summer, he helped them to their first title in 57 years. He was 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA as part of a strong staff; he was 10th in the league in ERA and tied Jordy van den Heuvel for 7th in wins. Still a teenager, he made his debut for Belgium's senior national team, at the 2014 European Championship. There were actually three younger players on the team in Sam Buelens, Axel Poesmans and Matthew De Permentier. One of the other players was his brother Cedric. In his debut, he relieved De Permentier in the 8th with two on, no outs and a 8-5 deficit against Italy. He struck out Gabriele Ermini and retired both Alessandro Vaglio and Alex Sambucci to escape the jam. After Belgium scored twice, he ran into trouble in the 9th with unearned runs. Mattia Reginato hit into an error by Dennis De Quint, then De Smedt threw a wild pitch and walked Marco Sabbatani. Joe Mazzuca singled. De Smedt got Erick Epifano to fly into a double play to get one out away, but Lorenzo Avagnina walked and Juan Carlos Infante walked on a full count to force in a run. Robbe De Jongh relieved and allowed all three runners to score, giving De Smedt four unearned runs. He was much better in his other game, outdueling former Twins farmhand Nikita Lobanov and Russia. He allowed only one hit (to Nikita Monakhov) in five shutout innings (4 BB, 4 K) before De Jongh relieved. He thus finished with a 0.00 ERA for the Euros; only four pitchers had more innings with a 0.00 ERA - Mike Bolsenbroek, Kevin Heijstek, Eric González and Martin Schneider.

Kevin came to the US for college ball in 2015 with Globe Institute of Technology. He was 7-1 with a 3.67 ERA back with Borgerhout in Belgium, finishing 9th in ERA (between Sharlon Lebacks and De Jongh) and tying Terrence Antonacci for 6th in wins. He then transferred to the University of Northwestern Ohio but did not get into a game in 2016-2017. In 2017-2018, he had a 5.06 ERA in six outings for Northwestern Ohio. The team made it to the 2018 NAIA World Series but he did not appear in the Series. He was 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in limited action for Louvain-La Neuve Phoenix back in Belgium.

He made Belgium's squad for the 2018 Super6. He saved their only win, relieving his brother Cedric in the 8th against Germany with two on, no outs and a 7-4 lead. He got Maurice Wilhelm to hit into an out at second but a throwing error as they tried for two scored one run. He then got Vincent Ahrens to ground into a double play. In the 9th, he hit Nadir Ljatifi, got Lukas Steinlein on a grounder and retired Lukas Jahn on a fly. Eric Brenk singled to make it a one-run game but De Smedt fanned former minor leaguer Maik Ehmcke to get the save. He was one of four pitchers with a save in the first Super6, alongside Andrea Pizziconi and Alex Bassani of Italy and the Netherlands' Kevin Kelly.