“When you have Scott Boras calling you up telling you that you’re a first round pick, you take it!”
Wantagh grad Chris Smith was not just one of the best players on Long Island during his magical ride of a senior season in 1998, but his took his game up a notch at Florida State University, where he became an All-American OF with a cannon of a left arm that generated 98 MPH heaters – and that’s before every team had someone sitting in the mid 90s. Smith was the rare two-way player that could thrive on either side of the ball, but once he showcased upper 90s heater against the University of Miami, it became clear the best path to multimillionaire status was on the mound.
He made the controversial and difficult decision to leave Florida State after playing in back-to-back College World Series in 1999 and 2000. He decided his next stop would be to Tennessee – not for the Vols but to play at Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN.
But to understand why, first we need to backtrack.
The Early Days
Growing up with a single mother and three siblings in Wantagh, NY, Chris Smith admitted he came from a lower-middle class upbringing. He joked that as the oldest of four siblings, there was “definitely plenty of those 25 cent lunches and some turkey dinners waiting on our step on Thanksgiving.”
But it was clear from the beginning that he was a special athlete. He grew up as a die-hard Yankee fan idolizing Don Mattingly and Ron Guidry, but baseball wasn’t his only sport. He also excelled on the gridiron and basketball court.
When Chris was 11-years-old, he was selected to play in the prestigious Pan-American games which is a continental multi-sport event which features the best athletes in the Americas. Not only was he selected, but he helped them win it all and he was named MVP. It was pretty clear that he had a future on the ballfield.
Wantagh High School
Most of our readers know Wantagh for being a baseball powerhouse – and indeed they are. 2022 was the first year they didn’t make the playoffs since Keith Sach‘s first season, three decades ago. But according to Smith, that was not always the case.
“We were a joke,” said Smith. “My mom was screaming at a board meeting saying I will send my son to St. Anthony’s if we don’t turn this around,” he said. But after Keith Sachs took over, things began to change. Smith recalled that they defeated Bethpage in football to end a really long winning streak of theirs and that “put them over the top.”
On the baseball field, Smith said “we were average”, but a big moment was during his freshman season. They had finished with a .500 record but reached the playoffs on a coinflip. They were awarded with facing MacArthur’s unbeatable ace Randy Leek. He noted that he came on in relief and was in line for the win but some sloppy defense cost them the game. Despite the loss, he noted it “escalated the program”, knowing that they could face one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Nassau County and he wound up going to William & Mary and having a long professional career.
The next season, they were better, but they really blossomed his junior season in which Smith was the unquestioned ace and he went 9-1 on the season with his only loss coming to Division’s ace LHP Jimmy Bailin in a 4-0 game. Smith noted he had put on some muscle and his fastball jumped from 82-83 to 88-91 during the season.
Around that time, Smith had been thinking about where to attend college. He stated that prior to the proliferation of Perfect Game, it was hard to know how you stacked up against players across the country. You might be one of the best players from Long Island, but that it didn’t necessarily mean anything.
“Here I was thinking I was going to Marist or St. John’s, but I really wanted to go down south to a mid-tier program like Radford or JMU.”
That notion was put to the test shortly after. His uncle was the recruiting coordinator at Briarcliffe College and he had many connections across the country. He asked Chris what his dream school was and he told him that he “was a diehard Seminoles fan since he was 4-years-old.”
His uncle told him he was going to take him to their camp to showcase his skills. At that time, you needed to be a on draft board in order to get invited to Florida State’s camp.
“My uncle chased down Pat Short to get me on that list. When I went down there I was a deer-in-a-headlight. But on the second day there, I get told that coach wants to see me in his office. Mike Martin offers me a scholarship and tells me he wants me to take over for J.D. Drew.”
If you’re unfamiliar, Drew was the best player in college baseball at that time and was arguably the best college baseball player of all-time. He was named Golden Spikes Award in 1997 after batting .455 and becoming the first player to record a 30/30 season in college, as well as the first player to eclipse 100 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBIs in a season. That was the player Mike Martin was asking him to replace.
Nevertheless, he went back to Long Island to finish out his high school career.
Wantagh got a significant boost when their catcher transferred back from St. Anthony’s. Smith noted he was their only other player attending college to play baseball and he was committed to Hofstra.
The 1998 season was a season for the ages. The Warriors went 31-1 and captured the program’s first Long Island Championship and NYS Championship. Smith was untouchable, going 16-0 with a 0.68 ERA on the mound and 198 strikeouts over 99.1 IP. Oh, he also batted over .700 with 30 steals in 31 attempts thanks to his 6.4 60-yard speed.
Their only loss of the season was in Game 1 of the Nassau County Championship against Division. Smith took the ball in Game 2 and fired a one-hitter and then came on in relief to save the clinching Game 3.
He also won the Long Island Championship against Harborfields by the score of 5-2 which was played at East Meadow HS. He recalled that the leadoff batter of the game hit a home run against him – wrapped just inside of the right field foul pole – and it was the first and only HR he allowed during his HS career.
He recorded both wins in the NYS Tournament after the Warriors jumped out to an early 10-0 lead in the semifinals so he was able to come out early and they won 5-3 in the Finals – a game he fired a complete game.
Looking back on those days, Smith stated that they were a “bunch of scrappy athletes that played together since Little League.” He added that “we thought we were that good the year before too.”
In those days, travel ball was not nearly as prevalent as it is now. You either played on the Bayside Yankees or the Long Island Tigers. Smith played on the Tigers and his team consisted of Rick Riccobono (Florida-commit), BJ LaMura (Clemson-commit), Dom Ambrosini (Arizona State-commit) and Rob Cafiero (Villanova-commit).
Smith was selected in the 11th round of the MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a pitcher but he stated that the Pirates did not give him a competitive offer so he opted to attend college.
Florida State
Needless to say, not many Long Island players step foot on campus at Florida State – but not only was Smith on team, he started as a freshman and batted .298. He also won 2 games on the mound over 11 innings pitched. Florida State reached the College World Series, where they lost to Miami in the championship game – which was a single-elimination format.
Smith performed exceptionally well – he recalls that he hit over .500 for the CWS and that’s with going 0-for-4 in the finals. They played an insane 13-inning game against Stanford in which they won, 14-11, in front of 25,000 fans.
Prior to that championship game, it was unclear who would pitch since FSU’s projected starter had suffered what they feared to be a torn ACL from the dogpile in the Super Regional.
Mike Martin saw Smith in the elevator and told him that even though he had barely pitched that season, they would likely be asking him to start the game. Smith prepared as if he would pitch, but the injured starter wound up taking the ball and getting the start and Miami won, 6-5.
Smith wound up playing in the Cape Cod League after his freshman season for Falmouth. He admitted that he struggled and batted under .200 due to the extreme fatigue of playing such a long season.
Entering his sophomore season, Smith was the starting right fielder and leadoff hitter for the Seminoles. He was a force for them all season – he batted .400 with 16 HRs and 66 RBIs on his way to being named All-American. In a rematch of the previous year’s College World Series, they faced Miami in the Super Regional and he went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and 7 RBIs in one game. They wound up winning and making it back to the College World Series, where they lost to LSU in the semifinals.
Chris Smith (Wantagh 1998) crushes a grand slam for Florida State in the 2000 Super Regional against Miami. Smith went onto drive in 7 runs in the game and was named second team All-American by Baseball America pic.twitter.com/GJNqhCRYSW
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 23, 2022
There was another interesting storyline along with the incredible season Smith had and that was his ability on the mound. Earlier in the season, he was pitching at Arizona State and Briarcliffe was there for their preseason trip. His uncle was in the stands watching. Smith recalled that Florida State was getting killed and he was told to warm up. He was still playing RF and was warming up to pitch. He went out to the mound and struck out three batters along with a HBP. When he was going back to the dugout, he saw his uncle screaming “FIVE! FIVE!”
Smith said he was thinking to himself, nice I threw 85. His uncle, said, “not one pitch was under 95 MPH and you hit 98!”
That came as a shock to him, and word spreads quick. Next thing you know, Scott Boras is calling up his house and saying that he needs to be a pitcher because he will be a first round pick if he is.
Smith stated that during his exit meeting with Mike Martin he asked him, “Coach can you find me 20-25 innings on the mound next year?”
Martin responded by saying, “You’re an All-American outfielder and a second round pick – what’s wrong with that?”
Smith said, “there’s nothing wrong with that but I would really like to pitch.”
Shockingly, Martin said, “I can’t promise you that.”
After that, Smith made the decision he would leave. Needing to get a release in order to avoid sitting out a year, he asked Martin for it. He refused to, not wanting to see his star player help a rival team. Smith had offers from Arizona State, USC, Miami, just to name a few.
His options were to transfer to one of those schools and sit out a year, or go to an NAIA school – which wasn’t subject to the rules of the NCAA.
After researching with his uncle, Smith decided the two best options for him were Lewis-Clark State or Cumberland University. Smith stated that the decision was an easy one knowing that one school was in Idaho and the other was near Nashville.
Following that major decision, Smith stated that everyone thought him and his uncle were crazy to let him leave his dream school for a Junior College – especially after the two seasons he put together and went to a pair of College World Series.
The upside was three-fold:
- He would not have to sit out a season, making him eligible for the 2001 MLB Draft
- He would have the opportunity to be a two-way player
- Against lesser competition, he could really put up massive numbers
That’s exactly what he did. He went 9-2 on the mound for Cumberland and also batted .420 with 19 home runs. They were eliminated in the postseason by Birmingham Southern – a team comprised of mainly Division-I players – by the score of 2-1 in extra innings. Smith started, pitched 9 innings, allowing 1 unearned run, and also hitting a HR for the lone run.
MLB Draft
When the draft rolled around, it was a matter of when -not if – he was going to be selected. Smith stated that he felt he would go to San Diego at 14th overall, but it wound up being 7th to Baltimore. He inked a pre-draft deal with them.
That draft was notable in that the Minnesota Twins selected Joe Mauer No. 1 overall, the Chicago Cubs selected Mark Prior No. 2 overall (had Mike Martin granted his release from FSU and Smith opted to transfer to USC he would’ve been in the same rotation with Prior) and the Texas Rangers selected Mark Teixeira No. 3 overall. Smith recalled shattering Teixeira’s bats on a couple occasions in the Cape Cod League.
Pro Ball
After signing with the Orioles, Smith began his professional career in the Gulf Coast League in the summer of 2001. What happened after that is a story that has happened to many talented pitchers in the minor leagues, but a disappointing story nonetheless.
Smith noted that entering the 2002 season, he was hoping to make the Double-A roster for the Orioles when he felt something in his shoulder. After being told it was tendonitis, he tried to rehab through it, but he knew something was wrong when he could no longer throw above 90 MPH. Finally, after getting an MRI it revealed a significant tear that required surgery. It was later revealed that the tear was even worse than they thought and he was lucky to get back to everyday activities let alone pitching in a professional game.
Smith was able to get his velocity back up to the 94-95 MPH range, but was released by the Baltimore Orioles in 2005.
He latched on with the Long Island Ducks to build himself back up and was called by Billy Beane to sign with the Oakland Athletics. Smith stated he was starting to pitch well and began envisioning getting called up to the big leagues in 2006, when he unfortunately felt a pop in his shoulder on a pitch that he spiked about 40 feet. At that point, he felt too frustrated to go through with the process of another shoulder surgery and rehabbed and he decided to walk away from the game.
After working in Florida for a year, he got a call from John Lunardo – who was the coach of SUNY Old Westbury at the time and was asked if he wanted to get into coaching. He decided to accept and he was the assistant coach there from 2007-2017. During that time, he also gave private lessons and coached.
After he had his son, he decided to walk away from coaching and hasn’t done so in the past six seasons. He currently lives in Massapequa and works in sales. His son is athletic and he stated he will be tall – which certainly bodes well for his future outlook as an athlete. He takes hitting lessons with Reid Gorecki.
Smith is a freak athlete and one of the best to ever come through Long Island. Had his shoulder not given out – there’s no telling how long his Major League career would’ve been. Additionally, he was an outstanding RB and safety on the gridiron and he mentioned that he was offered a scholarship to both Rutgers and Syracuse but opted to focus on baseball.
If you enjoyed this article, we will have a weekly series like this through the offseason!
