Alexandria Native Greg Smith Pitches First MLB Game

Like many people, I saw this one coming for many years.

I remember how Greg was a phenom in Dixie Little League. My little brother, who prefers golf to baseball, played on his team, and though my brother was a right fielder who batted ninth (if you know what I mean), he still managed to find a spot on a winning team, thanks, in large part, to the discipline of the Smith father/son combo.

When Greg was in high school, he led ASH to the State Semifinals in 2000 and into the Finals in 2001. He then went onto play at LSU.

And today, he started in his first Major League Baseball game.

Kudos to Greg.

Here’s his box score. In layman’s terms, this means Greg pitched for six innings, giving up only two hits and yielding three runs (one of which was unearned). Greg walked five and struck out five. He threw 103 pitches, 59 of which were strikes.

Even though he wasn’t credited with the win (and his team, the Oakland A’s, did win), this was an auspicious debut.