The Rays have acquired righty Drew Smith from the Tigers, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He represents the player to be named later from the trade that sent outfielder Mikie Mahtook to Detroit over the winter.
Smith, 23, was taken in the third round of the 2015 draft out of Dallas Baptist University. Coming into the current season, Smith rated as the Tigers organization’s 17th-best prospect, per MLB.com, owing to his solid four-seam fastball and quality curve.
Smith has risen to the High-A this year and is off to a nice start. In 11 2/3 frames over seven relief appearances, he has permitted just one earned run on four his while racking up a dozen strikeouts against four free passes. Though Smith has dealt with control issues at times and isn’t really seen as having a future in a rotation — despite the fact that he often appears for multiple innings — he seems reasonably likely to make it up to the majors in relatively short order.
The 27-year-old Mahtook, meanwhile, has struggled to a .179/.281/.321 batting line in 32 plate appearances for the Tigers. But he has generally put up good numbers in his time at Triple-A and showed well in his 2015 debut with Tampa Bay. If he can move towards a league-average batting line, Mahtook could be quite a useful player, as he is regarded as a quality up-the-middle defender.
Tigers got ripped off.
Smart of TB. They have good scouts and are notorious for snagging under radar deals.