This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins' Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
WEST SACRAMENTO -- No pitcher likes giving up home runs, and Cade Smith is no exception.
“You hate them,” the Guardians’ right-hander said. “You don’t want anyone to score off you, ever.”
Smith seems to have as much of an aversion to them as anyone. He has yielded just one homer over his first 109 career innings (to Seattle’s Dylan Moore on June 18 last year), placing him near some unprecedented territory.
According to Elias, among pitchers who made their big league debut over the past 50 seasons (since 1976), Smith has thrown the third-most innings before allowing a second regular-season homer. Atlanta’s Jonny Venters tossed 133 2/3 innings before allowing his second, on June 29, 2011. Houston’s Dave Smith went 123 1/3 innings before yielding his second, on May 8, 1981.
Cade Smith recalled that Moore is the lone hitter who has taken him deep, and that Giancarlo Stanton also got him in the postseason. (Stanton hit a three-run homer in Game 4 of the 2024 American League Championship Series against the Yankees.)
Again, no pitcher likes giving up homers, so they tend to stand out.
“It’s not a good feeling when you give up home runs and to give up runs in general,” Smith said. “You remember that because you want to go out there and put up a zero. That's your job.”
Smith has done his job tremendously since he debuted on March 30 last season. He recorded a 1.91 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings over 74 appearances in 2024. In ‘25, he has a 2.41 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings over 35 outings.
His ability to limit the long ball is a byproduct of the overarching point: He’s really good. It also raises the question: Can a pitcher be good at not giving up homers?
“That’s always a good thing,” Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis said with a chuckle. “... I just think it's a testament to how good his stuff is, the deception that he has with his stuff, particularly his fastball.”
Smith’s arsenal features a four-seam fastball, splitter and sweeper. The former two work well in tandem because of Smith’s ability to tunnel them -- they leave his hand on the same trajectory and appear identical to a hitter for a long period. By the time the pitch reaches the plate, it reveals itself.
Hitting is hard as it is, certainly when you have to make a swing decision on a pitch that could be a four-seamer (which Smith largely throws middle-to-up) or a splitter (middle-to-down). His heater has averaged 96.1 mph this season and his splitter 88.3 mph. He also has great extension (98th percentile), which makes his four-seamer look like an even faster offering.
“He’s got the best fastball in baseball,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “His extension is elite. The metrics are elite. It's hard, it’s right on top of you. He's got a great [splitter]. The split just continues to be better, and the sweeper is developing into a really good pitch too. Just nothing rattles him. It doesn't matter when he comes in. He comes right after you, and his strike-throwing is elite as well. Cade Smith is just super valuable.”
As good as Smith was last season, in some ways, he’s been better this year:
• Opponents entered Saturday hitting .147 against his heater with a 33.9 percent whiff rate. Last year they hit .174, and he had a 30.4 percent whiff rate.
• Opponents have hit .278 against his splitter this year (.175 in 2024), but his whiff rate has improved from 29.9 percent to 37.3.
• His sweeper’s whiff rate has jumped from 29.2 percent to 40.0 percent, with similar usage (10.2 percent in 2024, 10.1 in ‘25).
“His slider has really come a long way in terms of him consistently getting it to the gloveside and not trying to make it too big,” Willis said. “[You] get more strike-to-ball locations with that pitch, as opposed to before, kind of backing it up in the center of the plate.”
Through it all, Smith’s mentality has remained consistent.
“I'm going out there with everything I have against the hitters -- my best stuff against everything you've got,” Smith said. “And I want to compete. I want to beat you, and I want to put up a zero to maintain the lead, give the team a chance to win.
“Whatever the situation is, you want to put up a zero.”