Smith did sign.
Round 15 - Travis Smith - RHP, U of Kentucky
Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40
One of Kentucky's top high school prospects in 2021, Smith's career was placed on hold when he required both Tommy John and heart surgery. After redshirting at Kentucky in 2022, he worked his way into the Wildcats' weekend rotation by the end of last season and threw four shutout innings in a regional playoff game against Ball State. He flashed top-three-rounds stuff this spring, though he missed a start with soreness in late March, worked out of the bullpen afterward and barely pitched in the final two months.
Smith's two-seam fastball operates at 93-95 mph and tops out at 97, featuring heavy life that induces a lot of ground-ball contact. His high-spin slider parks at 85 mph and peaks at 89 with both horizontal and vertical action, and he also can turn it into a low-90s cutter. He's still developing feel for a sinking changeup that's too firm in the upper 80s.
As he puts his elbow reconstruction further behind him, Smith has improved his strength and conditioning and now carries 220 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame. He's also showing more aptitude for locating and sequencing his pitches. If he stays on track toward developing two plus offerings and average control, he could be a mid-rotation starter.
Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 185 | B-T: R-R
Age: null
School: Kentucky Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.7
Smith was a notable prep prospect in the 2021 class thanks to a large frame, a sinker he showed feel to pump into the zone and a pair of quality secondaries in his slider and changeup. He made it to campus at Kentucky, missed the 2022 season with Tommy John surgery but was solid in 2023 and in 2024 posted a 6.21 ERA over 37.2 innings with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate. Smith’s stuff seems louder than his peripherals would indicate, but despite a fastball that averaged 94 and gets up to 97, the pitch has just mediocre life and has been hit around at times. It’s been more of a groundball-inducing pitch than a bat-misser, and he will need to refine his command of the pitch or tweak its shape to get the most out of it. Smith’s mid-80s slider is his primary secondary pitch, though he has also mixed in a harder cutter and a firm, upper-80s changeup. Smith has plenty of pure stuff to work with and a powerful 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame, and teams might be excited about the pitcher he could become as he gets further away from his surgery.
He's in the transfer portal and committed to Mississippi State, but who knows. Throw some money at him and see what happens.