Carson Smith suffered another blown save yesterday, his 3rd of the year. As of mid-July, Smith was a nearly unhittable force of nature. His swerving, tumbling sinker and big slider combined to make life exceedingly difficult on lefties as well as righties, and, crucially, he had enough control that he wouldn’t give up many free passes. From the beginning of the year through July 12th, Smith allowed a triple slash line of . 169/.223/.262. His K:BB ratio was 47:6 in 36 1/3 IP, and while he had 3 HBPs, that’s still over 5 punchouts for every free baserunner. Because of the sink on all of his pitches, he was a ground-ball machine which made it next to impossible for batters to drive pitches in the air.
What’s Wrong with Carson Smith?
