Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

The Mets made a string of moves yesterday, one of them being trading Kevin Smith (along with a player to be named later of cash considerations) for Miguel Castro. On the recent iteration of MMO’s Top 30 Prospect List, Smith came in at 11th. He was 14th on Fangraphs, ninth on MLB.com, and ninth on Baseball America.

When Smith was drafted, he was seen as someone who’s slider had a high spin rate and got good movement on his fastball. His velocity hasn’t been anything remarkable but in his writeup of the trade, Jay Jaffe of Fangraphs said this on his fastball: “it has a good deal of spin (about 2,450 rpm) as well as an interesting blend of both horizontal and vertical movement and an odd approach angle.” Brodie Van Wagenen mentioned that Smith was seen as a potential fifth starter.

The Orioles analytics staff might be able to get something from him that the Mets might not have seen. Smith is definitely a high spin pitcher and could generate some more value there if a team believes they can get him to us an active spin on his pitches more frequently.

I was a big fan of Smith and I think he’ll be a successful MLB pitcher. That said, I don’t think the Mets came out as bad as it might have initially seemed. Castro’s slider is a has the fourth highest spin rate in baseball and his changeup can be a weapon at times.

The trade made sense for both teams. The Orioles got a solid pitching prospect while the Mets got a hard throwing bullpen arm with some potential.