The Detroit Tigers continue to add pitching depth.
Right-handed reliever Burch Smith signed a minor-league contract Dec. 23 with the Tigers.
The deal includes a non-roster invitation to MLB spring training and pays $1.5 million if he makes the MLB roster, plus $250,000 available in incentives, according to multiple people with knowledge of the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity because it hasn’t been announced.
So far, it’s the most lucrative minor-league contract the Tigers have dished out during the 2025-26 offseason.
Smith hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2024.
The 35-year-old spent the entire 2025 season in Triple-A Indianapolis with the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting a 7.08 ERA with 12 walks and 26 strikeouts across 20⅓ innings in 19 games.
The Pirates released him in late July.
Smith became the closer for Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Winter League, making his first appearance in early November. He has registered a 1.76 ERA with six walks and 20 strikeouts across 15⅓ innings in 18 games, recording six saves.
More notably, Smith has allowed at least one run in just two of his 18 outings. He hasn’t surrendered a run in his past nine outings, issuing two walks with 10 strikeouts during the 8⅔-inning scoreless streak.
He continues to pitch in the Dominican Winter League, with 35 days until pitchers and catchers are required to report to the Tigers’ spring training complex in Lakeland, Florida.
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In 2025, Smith threw six pitch types at the Triple-A level: four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, sweeper, sinker and changeup, but he primarily relied on three of those pitches: four-seam fastball (51.5%), cutter (23.9%) and curveball (14.9%).
His fastball averaged 94.1 mph (maxing out at 97.2 mph) with an impressive 27.8% whiff rate.
It plays at the top of the strike zone.
Smith, who turns 36 in mid-April, has pitched in parts of six MLB seasons for the San Diego Padres (2013), Kansas City Royals (2018), Milwaukee Brewers (2019), San Francisco Giants (2019), Oakland Athletics (2020-21), Miami Marlins (2024) and Baltimore Orioles (2024).
In February 2020, the Giants traded Smith to the Athletics for cash considerations – marking the first trade between the cross-bay rivals since December 1990.
In his MLB career, Smith owns a 5.79 ERA with 99 walks (9% walk rate) and 230 strikeouts (20.8% strikeout rate) over 247⅓ innings in 152 games (13 starts), including a 4.95 ERA across 56⅓ innings between the Marlins and Orioles in 2024.
Smith spent 2022 and 2023 in Asia, logging 64⅔ innings for the Saitama Seibu Lions in Japan in 2022 and 2⅔ innings for the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea in 2023.
The Padres selected Smith in the 14th round of the 2011 draft from Oklahoma. He missed the entire 2015 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers sign reliever Burch Smith to minor-league contract
