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A dream came true for Grainger’s Brady Smith on Monday.

A standout athlete for the Grizzlies, Smith was drafted in the third round of the MLB Draft (Pick 95) by the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

For Smith, this was a moment he has been thinking about ever since he was a kid. 

“It’s a dream come true,” Smith said. “I have been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid playing wiffle ball in my yard. I’m just really excited to get started.”

“It means a lot getting selected by the Dodgers. They do a really good job developing pitchers, and I can’t wait to get to work and learn more about pitching.” 

The numbers this year tell the story for Smith as he batted .447 with a .520 on-base percentage, .788 slugging percentage with 12 doubles, five homers, a triple, 32 RBIs and eight stolen bases. On the mound, he surrendered only 15 hits all season and had a 0.869 earned run average. Smith’s other pitching stats included a .745 WHIP, 101 strikeouts in 48.1 innings pitched and an opponents’ batting average against him of 0.88.

Smith’s name will be etched in the Grainger history books for a long time to come. Pitching-wise, he is first all-time in career strikeouts (322) and ERA (0.81), second in win-loss (20-5), and fourth in innings pitched (164). He yielded only 59 hits, 74 walks and 19 earned runs in his four-year high school career. Just as impressive as his mound work is his plate production where he is third in career RBI (75) and triples (5) and fifth in at-bats (289), batting average (.363), hits (105), runs (80), doubles (21) and homeruns (9) .

He is a three-time All-State selection, three time district Player of the Year, twice been named as a finalist for Tennessee’s Mr. Baseball award in 3-A and  is the three-time recipient of the Citizen Tribune Lakeway Area Player of the Year award.

Smith becomes the first Grainger baseball players drafted since Trey Cabbage in 2015. Smith is currently committed to Virginia Tech.

The recommended slot value for the 95th pick is $705,500. 

According to MLB.com, Smith’s curveball graded out as his best pitch on the mound. 

“His curveball,” MLB.com said about Smith’s most notable skill. “Graded a 60 by MLB Pipeline, the No. 138 Draft prospect rounds out his arsenal with a fastball that touched as high as 95 mph, a slider and a changeup that he’ll continue to develop as he progresses.”

In their scouting report of Smith, MLB Pipeline said Smith’s fastball hits around 90-93 MPH, topping out at 95 MPH. 

“He should gain more velocity once he adds some strength to his skinny 6-foot-2 frame,” MLB Pipeline said. “He notches high spin rates on two distinct breaking pitches — an upper-70s curveball that grades as plus, and a low-80s slider with more lateral break.

“Smith also has feel for a low-80s changeup with fade and depth that he hasn’t needed much against prep competition. While he lacks size, he compensates with athleticism and arm speed. He has a clean delivery and no trouble filling the strike zone.” 

Smith impressed scouts during the MLB Draft Combine a few weeks ago. In an inning of work in Arizona, Smith struck out two.