AJ Smith-Shawver flirts with no-hitter in game ‘you kind of dream about as a kid’

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ATLANTA — He’s a former Texas high school quarterback who can sling spirals 70 yards, but AJ Smith-Shawver chose baseball after being drafted by the Atlanta Braves instead of a college football scholarship. If there were lingering questions about whether he made the right decision, he quashed those Monday night.

Smith-Shawver took a no-hitter to the eighth inning of the Braves’ 4-0 win against the Cincinnati Reds, the best and longest start of his professional career and a major development for an Atlanta team that’s pined for starting pitching after free-agent departures and recent injuries.

After Santiago Espinal broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the eighth, a crowd of more than 30,000 gave Smith-Shawver a boisterous ovation unlike anything he’d experienced in his professional career.

“That’s just like one of those feelings you kind of dream about as a kid, just going out there and playing the game you love,” he said 45 minutes later, still smiling continually. “I mean, I’m just trying to take it all in right now.”

Manager Brian Snitker relished the chance to congratulate AJ Smith-Shawver after the eighth inning. (Matthew Grimes Jr. / Atlanta Braves / Getty Images)

Smith-Shawver was 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA in four starts this season before Monday, and 2-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 11 games (10 starts) over parts of three seasons in the majors, with plenty of trips back and forth from Triple A. Still just 22 years old, he has impressed teammates with his attitude through ups and downs.

“It’s not an easy game by any means,” said Braves first baseman Matt Olson, who had a two-run inside-the-park homer during a four-run third inning, after rookie left fielder Tyler Callihan crashed into a wall and broke his arm trying to make the catch. “It’s not easy to get the big leagues. It’s even harder to stay up here. A lot of guys have to go through the ups and downs and kind of weather the storm a little bit.

“(Smith-Shawver) always had a good attitude anytime he’s gone down or come back up, kind of seamlessly fit back in. Good dude in the clubhouse and a great pitcher. So, you get really excited for nights like this.”

After never pitching more than 5 2/3 innings in his previous 11 big-league starts (including one postseason start), and twice finishing the seventh inning in 59 minor-league starts but never recording an out in an eighth, Smith-Shawver went into uncharted waters Tuesday.

He worked eight innings in 99 pitches (60 strikes) and allowed just the one hit, with four walks and five strikeouts. And he did it 3 1/2 weeks after being optioned back to Triple-A Gwinnett on April 13 in a move that raised some eyebrows, considering how well he had finished an April 12 start at Tampa Bay.

He didn’t complain about being sent down, and since returning, Smith-Shawver has made two starts and pitched like a man determined to stick around.

“This is where you want to play your games,” he said. “And so whenever you get optioned down, you have to look at what you really need to work on, and try to see the reasoning behind it. And I felt like I did a good job of going down there and just kind of really working on my stuff and how I was moving, to get those answers that I wanted for myself.

“I’m pretty happy with how I handled the situation and how I went about my business. I feel that’s the most important part.”

The right-hander pitched 5 1/3 innings of four-hit ball in his first win of the season Tuesday at Colorado before exiting after being hit in the arm by a line drive, then he strode to the mound Monday and pitched the game of his young life.

“That’s kind of what keeps you coming back, because there’s a lot of nights that aren’t this enjoyable obviously,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who relished the chance to congratulate Smith-Shawver after eighth inning for the job well done.

The manager told him that if he’d had the no-hitter intact, he might’ve let him go as high as 120 pitches.

“I know in the seventh, he knew what was going on,” Snitker said, “because he had a couple of reactions when that inning was over, that he knew what was going on, that he was nearing something.”

When did Smith-Shawver start to realize he had a no-hitter going?

“I probably started really kind of noticing in the fifth, and everybody really got away from me (after innings) six and seven,” he said. “And I was like, OK, this is real. So, just trying to go out there and execute pitches, just do the same thing I’ve been doing, but just with a little bit more adrenaline and just really focusing on executing.”

Like he had in Colorado, Smith-Shawver used his fastball more than he had in his prior three starts this season. It accounted for 58 percent of his pitch total Monday, and his 95.5 mph average fastball velocity was up 0.8 mph from his previous season average. He got 27 swings and five whiffs on those 57 fastballs.

The rest of his mix: 29 splitters, 12 curveballs and one slider.

“I was just feeling kind of weird about my (fastball) early on in the year this year,” Smith-Shawver said. “And so it was just kind of getting back to the basics and what I do, driving the ball low and up in the zone, just kind of feeling more natural and kind of just putting some things together as we go on.”

Smith-Shawver was asked what it meant to hear those words of encouragement from Snitker and the hugs and congratulations from teammates after the eighth inning.

“It means everything,” he said. “Whenever the guys in the clubhouse are believing in you and they want you to take the ball and go win games — I feel like as a pitcher, that’s your ultimate goal. You want those guys to trust you and know what they’re going to get out of you every night.”

Smith-Shawver showed more poise Monday than he did earlier in the season and previous years in similar situations, such as when he struck out Spencer Steer to end the first inning with two on (both had reached on walks), and when he induced an inning-ending popup after consecutive two-out walks in the fourth inning.

He also had some superb defense behind him, including a few plays by shortstop Nick Allen, who backhanded a grounder from his knees on the edge of the outfield grass and made a strong one-hop throw to get leadoff man TJ Friedl in the third inning, and caught a 102.2 mph liner off the bat of Tyler Stephenson in the seventh.

“One time through, he came up to me and he was like, ‘Hey, keep making those plays,’” Allen said. “And I was like, ‘You keep pitching well, man. You keep doing your thing.’ I had to look up at the board and kind of see that he’s got no hits. Obviously I couldn’t say anything to him about it.

“It was amazing. AJ threw the rock really well. All you want as a defender is just to make plays for him. When you kind of look it up at the board and you’re seeing no hits or something like that, you want to make the play for him. You want to give everything, dive for anything. Unfortunately they got the one in the eighth, but he threw so well today, with conviction, and that’s all you ask for.”

Smith-Shawver credited catcher Sean Murphy for guiding him through eight innings.

“I’ve said thank you a few times (to Allen), those were some nice plays tonight,” Smith-Shawver said. “Him, Murph, I got a few thank-yous to dish out tonight. I mean, our guys are unbelievable. Murph and a bunch of good defensive plays tonight really helped out.”

(Top photo of AJ Smith-Shawver: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)

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