Sloan Smith

Sloan Matthew Smith

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 215 lb.
• School Northwestern University
• High School Evanston Township High School

• Born November 29, 1972 in Cincinnati, OH USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Sloan Smith played five seasons in the minors, reaching AA.

Smith was a 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA at Northwestern in 1993. The New York Yankees selected him in the fourth round of the 1993 amateur draft. He was the Yanks' second pick, after first-rounder Matt Drews, as they had no selections in rounds 2 or 3. He hit .198/.319/.284 that summer for the Oneonta Yankees. Smith split 1994 between Oneonta (.246/.370/.355 in 38 G), the Greensboro Bats (.190/.301/.283 in 79 G) and the Albany-Colonie Yankees (4 for 23, 3 BB, 2 2B, 3B). For the summer, he hit 9 triples and drew 70 walks but struck out in 145 of 430 at-bats. He was 4th in the Yankee chain in walks and tied Jalal Leach, Fernando Seguignol and Ricky Ledee for second in triples, behind Derek Jeter.

Showing good strides in 1995, he produced at a .260/.375/.415 clip for the Tampa Yankees, with 13 homers and 74 walks. Among Yankee minor leaguers, only R.D. Long drew more walks and Smith tied for 7th in homers. On the other hand, only Ruben Rivera had more Ks than his 136. He was third in the Florida State League in walks (behind Jeff Patzke and Glenn Reeves) and tied Chris Fick, Kevin Millar and Bubba Smith for 7th in home runs.

Smith slumped in 1996 with Tampa (.222/.368/.345 in 61 G) and the Norwich Navigators (.218/.319/.317). He had 76 walks and 156 strikeouts in taking lots of pitches. He was third in the Yankee farm system in walks (behind Kevin Riggs and Jorge Posada) and second in strikeouts (behind Cody Samuel). He hit .167/.263/.214 for the Melbourne Reds with 31 K in 84 AB in the 1996-1997 Australian Baseball League. In '97, he again played for Tampa (.220/.338/.344 in 65 G) and Norwich (1 for 5, 2 BB). He also pitched for Tampa (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 3 K), showing promise in that new role. Returning to the ABL in 1997-1998 but injured his arm in his lone start (4 H, 4 BB, 2 R in 2 IP) and never recovered.

Smith hit .225/.344/.345 in 470 minor league games, with 223 runs, 186 RBI, 270 walks and 536 strikeouts.