Two Major League Baseball Relief Pitchers Switch Teams
Brad Hand of Minneapolis, Minnesota will play for the Colorado Rockies in 2023 after signing a one-year deal worth $2 million. The Texas Rangers signed Will Smith of Newman, Georgia to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million according to spotrac.com. Smith is joining his sixth Major League Baseball team. He previously pitched for the Kansas City Royals (2012 to 2013), Milwaukee Brewers (2014 to 2016), San Francisco Giants (2016, 2018, 2019), the Atlanta Braves (2020 to 2022), and Houston Astros (2022).
Smith won a World Series with the Braves in 2021. He was on the Astros World Series roster in 2022, but did not play a World Series game. In 2022, Hand pitched 55 games in Philadelphia, and had three wins and two losses with five saves and an earned run average of 2.80. In 45 innings pitched, he had 13 holds, and 38 strikeouts, and gave up 37 hits, 23 walks and 14 earned runs. Hand also had a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.33. In 2022, Smith pitched 65 games with the Braves and Astros. He had a record of zero wins and three saves with five saves and an earned run average of 3.97. In 59 innings pitched, he had 16 holds, and gave up 58 hits, 26 earned runs, and 25 walks. Smith also had a WHIP of 1.41.