John Smoltz on the Coast: News 25 Deep Dive with Braves Legend

Just seven weeks into the MLB campaign, pitchers are on pace to shatter the previous record for no-hitters in a season.

Last night, Madison Central alum Spencer Turnbull joined the now six-member club after Corey Kluber threw his first career no hitter Wednesday night.

The former MC Jaguar made history in the great northwest, keeping the Seattle Mariners out of the hit column for the second time this month as the Detroit Tigers relished in his 5-0 no-hit bid.

Keep in mind, the most no hitters for any one season is seven, accomplished in 1990, 91, 2012, and 2015. Now as fate would have it, News 25 just so happened to run into former Atlanta Braves Pitcher and 1995 World Series Champion John Smoltz at the Mississippi Aquarium during last night’s Rapiscan Systems Charity Challenge Banquet.

Smoltz never threw a no-hitter during his Hall of Fame career, but maybe he would have in this new era of all gas, no brakes. “Yeah, it’s different. Philosophies are different. Reward systems are different. The players are playing under the system that the clubs want them to play, and right now it’s max velocity, max distance off the bat. So therefore, you’re going to have a lot of swing and miss and a lot of walks and strikeouts. I’m sure I would’ve adjusted to this style. I would’ve thrown a little bit different, but I wouldn’t have thrown much different than what I did when I was pitching. It just was different because guys had two-strike approach, and today, it’s you make a mistake, they’re going to hit a home run. If you make your pitch, you’re going to get a strikeout.”

Smoltz threw a four-seam fastball clocked as fast as 98 miles per hour. Turnbull led the Majors with 17 losses in 2019.

The game has changed in more ways than one, starting from the ground up during the hardships of COVID-19.

The Minor League system was consolidated to 120 teams and the annual first-year player draft cut from 40 rounds all the way down to just five.

You know who wouldn’t have gotten drafted under that model? John Smoltz, who was taken by the Tigers in the 22^nd round of the 1985 draft.

Smoltz says he got to drive by Biloxi’s MGM Park for the first time during his stay on the Gulf Coast and sympathizes with the next generation. “Yeah, I feel bad for the guys in the minor leagues trying to get their shot, trying to at least get their reps in and it’s really been taken from them. I can’t imagine what that would be like back in the day if I was trying to get back to the Big Leagues, and I’m glad and hopeful that the kind of routine that will be normal for these guys, cause it’s not like they have the ability to do nothing else. They’ve got to grind it out to try to make their dream come true. And hopefully we’re on our way back for that.”

The draft is set to go back up to 20 rounds this summer.

Smoltz is the only player in Major League history to record at least 200 wins and 150 saves.