AJ Smith-Shawver

AJ Smith-Shawver is a right-handed starting pitcher who was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on November 20, 2002. He attended Colleyville Heritage High School (Texas) and was selected in the 7th round (25th pick) of the 2021 MLB Draft. Smith-Shawver made his MLB debut on June 4, 2023. In the 2025 regular season, he appeared in 9 games, all starts, logging 44.1 innings with a 3–2 record and a 3.857 ERA. His AJ Smith-Shawver stats show 42 strikeouts (8.526 K/9) against 21 walks (2.0 K/BB), with a 1.421 WHIP and 3.902 FIP. Opponents hit .249 against him, with a 0.335 OBP and 0.379 SLG allowed. Pitch tracking from 2025 highlights his power four-seam fastball, averaging 95.6 mph and topping out at 99.6. His splitter was a prominent secondary offering (242 pitches) and generated a 38.9% whiff rate, while his overall whiff rate was 27.1% across 711 pitches. For an AJ Smith-Shawver MLB profile, those swing-and-miss rates and velocity stand out among his early career pitching indicators. He entered the 2026 update listed with a D60 status.