Cade Jared Benjamin Smith...Wife, Elizabeth...Drafted out of Mennonite Educational Institute school by Minnesota in 2017, opting to attend the University of Hawaii...Signed by Cleveland in 2020 after a five-round draft...Three-year record at Hawaii was 4-4 with a 4.54 ERA in 34 G/15 GS (117.0 IP, 127 H, 59 ER, 113 SO)...Pitched for the Canadian U18 Junior National Team in the 2017 U18 Baseball World Cup Championship...Earned the Jenny Matsuda award for the top GPA among male student-athletes at Hawaii...Hails from Vancouver area...Lettered three seasons in volleyball and basketball, lettered one season of track and field in HS...Enjoys kayaking and hiking...Favorite baseball memory is the U18 Team Canada stint in the Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Ontario...Grew up a Blue Jays fans, father is from Mississauga...The newcomer made an instant impact off the field in 2024, attending several events such as the visit to the Cleveland APL, Guardians Kid¡¯s Club meet & greet, Significant Others Auction and the Batter Up Brunch.
2024
Recorded one of the best seasons by a rookie reliever in franchise history, going 6-1 with a 1.91 ERA (16 ER/75.1 IP) across 74 appearances and logging 103 SO, a Cleveland rookie record and T-third-most by any Cleveland reliever in a single year with Paul Shuey's 1999 season...Ranked T-third in strikeouts, fourth in ERA and T-fifth in appearances among qualified AL relievers in 2024...Also tallied the second-most games(Hunter Gaddis - 78 G) and second-most strikeouts (OAK's Mason Miller - 104 SO) by any MLB rookie reliever...ERA was 13th lowest in a single-season club history among RP with at least 50-G/50.0 IP (third-lowest by a club rookie)...His 3.0 Win Probability Added was ninth-highest among AL pitchers...Made his first career Opening Day roster and remained on the active roster for the entire 2024 season...Roster certainty wasn't confirmed until actual Opening Day...Debuted on 3/30 at OAK, punching out five batters across two innings in a 12-3 CLE victory...Marked the most strikeouts by a Clevelander in a debut of two-or-fewer innings in club history...Was mostly utilized in the sixth (34 G, 23.1 IP) and seventh (36 G, 29 IP) innings, also appearing in each inning from the fourth through the ninth during the regular season...Earned his first career save on 5/22 vs. NYM, fanning two hitters in a scoreless ninth frame...Logged 28 holds, second-most by a Guardians reliever in 2024 (Gaddis- 33 HLD) and T-ninth most in MLB...Struck out one or more batters in 61 of 74 games and registered 1.1-or-more innings in 17 games...Became the club's most reliable reliever when entering with runners on base, stranding 34 of 36 inherited runners... His 5.6 IRS% (2IRS/36IR) was the lowest in MLB in 2024, ahead of TB's Kevin Kelly (17.5%, 7 IRS/40 IR) and signaled the fourth-lowest IRS% by any pitcher since 2000 (min. 30 IR)...Opponents hit just .087 (6-for-69) off Smith w/RISP...Leaned heavily on his 4-seam fastball, throwing the pitch 69.1% of the time...The opposition went 33-for-190 (.174) with 81 strikeouts against his 4-seamer in 2024...The pitch accrued a 28-run value, per Baseball Savant, which marked the highest run value on any offering by any pitcher in 2024 and the highest since Zach Britton's sinker in 2016 (29)...Smith also featured a split-finger (20.7%, .175 BAA) and a sweeper (10.2%, .381 BAA) in his rookie campaign...Enjoyed a career-long 13-game scoreless streak (16.0IP) from 7/5-8/2, totaling 25 SO to just 2 BB...After snapping the scoreless streak on 8/5 vs. ARI (0.2IP, 2ER), Smith closed the year with a 1.27 ERA (3 ER/21.1 IP) across his final 22 regular season games...Shined in the 2024 Postseason, appearing in nine of Cleveland's 10 playoff games and owning a 1-0 record with a 3.60 ERA (4ER/10.0IP) and 16 SO...Pitched in all five games of the ALDS vs. DET (1-0, 1.42 ERA, 6.1IP, ER, 12 SO), becoming the first Clevelander and 12th MLB pitcher to appear in all five games of a Division Series...Earned the win in ALDS Game 1 vs. DET (1.1 IP, 4 SO), becoming the first player in MLB history to strike out each batter he faced in a Postseason debut of 1.1-or-more IP...Smith's 12 SO vs. DET set a Division Series record by a reliever...Became just the fourth Canadian-born reliever to notch 100-or-more strikeouts in a single season in MLB history, joining Eric Gagne (4x), John Hiller (4x) and Matt Brash (1x)...Smith was one of four Canadians on Cleveland's ALDS and ALCS rosters...Earned a fifth-place finish in the BBWAA Rookie of the Year voting following the season.
2023
Added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 14 (ranked 26th-best prospect in player development system according to MLB.com and Baseball America)...Opened the year with Akron before being promoted to Columbus on June 6. Posted a combined 5-3 record with a 4.02 ERA (28ER/62.2IP) across 47 relief outings in 2023¡Recorded a 2.86 ERA (7ER/22.0IP) with 13 saves in 13 opportunities for AA Akron before being promoted to AAA Columbus. Has led the player development system in saves the past two seasons with 15 in 2023 and 13 in 2022¡Led the organization in relief strikeouts (95) and posted the third-highest SO/9 in the player development system (13.64)...Owns a career SO per 9.0 IP of 14.12 (262K/167.0IP), compared to 8.7 in college. Five of his 15 saves needed more than three outs¡16 of his 30 outings for Columbus were 1.1-or-more innings pitched, eight of which were 2.0 IP...Competed in the WBC, representing Team Canada based out of Phoenix and gave up two earned runs in 1.0 IP across two outings.
2022
Split season between High-A Lake County and AA Akron, opening season at LC before a June 21 promotion to Akron... Combined on the year went 4-2 with 13 saves and a 2.93 ERA in 44 relief outings (61.IP, 38H, 20ER, HR, 35BB, 99SO, 14.5 K/9, .178 average)¡Led org. pitchers in saves (13), was second in relief SO (99) and was T5th in games... Worked at least 2.0IP in 12 outings¡Fanned six in 2.1IP on Aug. 23 vs. AA Richmond¡Did not allow a run at Akron over 12.1 consecutive innings, Aug. 12-Sept. 2... Owns a career SO per 9.0 IP of 14.4 (167K/104.1IP), compared to 8.7 in college¡For the year, left-handed hitters hit just .111 (9-for-81) off him¡Batters hit .164 (10-for-61) with RISP and .175 (18-for-103) w/runners on¡ Allowed just eight 2B and one HR on the season (.229 slg all¡¯d)... Appeared in six games for Peoria in the Az. Fall League after the season (4.26ERA, 6.1IP, 6H, 3ER, 5BB, 11SO).
