MLB / Players

John Smiley

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 180 lb

BornMarch 17, 1965 · Phoenixville, PA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 1, 1986

Final gameAugust 30, 1997

Seasons12 (1986–1997)

Pittsburgh Pirates 1986–1991; Minnesota Twins 1992; Cincinnati Reds 1993–1997; Cleveland Indians 1997

Percentile snapshot

1996 season — qualified pitchers

65.4

64.2

44.4

7.4

28.4

SHO

85.2

207

55.6

69.1

80.2

171

74.1

60.5

217.3

ERA

3.64

71.6

WHIP

1.201

86.4

K/9

7.08

74.1

FIP

3.52

85.2

FIP-

83.2

82.7

ERA+

116.0

67.9

sWAR

3.7

71.6

of 82 qualified 1996 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

102.4

48.4

sWAR

21.2

94.1

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1986	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.1
1987	63	7	7	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	.143	.143	.286	.429	-2.8	9.9	.184	-0.6
1988	34	73	63	2	5	1	0	1	3	30	.079	.121	.095	.216	-48.4	-36.5	.111	2.2
1989	28	75	65	0	9	4	0	7	3	19	.138	.176	.200	.376	3.4	9.6	.180	3.6
1990	26	55	49	1	6	0	0	3	3	15	.122	.173	.122	.296	-20.0	-15.3	.150	-0.3
1991	33	79	70	3	7	0	0	3	3	24	.100	.137	.100	.237	-40.3	-31.2	.119	3.1
1992	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.7
1993	18	39	32	2	8	1	0	5	1	10	.250	.265	.281	.546	42.3	47.1	.248	-0.7
1994	24	64	55	5	11	3	0	2	4	26	.200	.254	.255	.509	33.1	34.6	.238	2.4
1995	28	66	55	6	9	1	2	5	4	26	.164	.217	.291	.508	28.5	33.5	.230	3.3
1996	35	76	68	1	13	2	0	6	4	22	.191	.236	.221	.457	19.9	21.9	.216	3.7
1997	26	42	40	0	4	1	0	2	0	10	.100	.100	.125	.225	-61.4	-41.7	.100	-0.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1986	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	5	4	9	2	11.7	3.86	.686	6.94	4.46	116.8	99.0	0.1
1987	63	0	5	5	4	0	0	69	48	50	58	7	75.0	5.76	1.587	6.96	4.53	110.1	71.5	-0.6
1988	34	32	13	11	0	5	1	185	74	46	129	15	205.0	3.25	1.127	5.66	3.12	91.2	105.2	2.2
1989	28	28	12	8	0	8	1	174	64	49	123	22	205.3	2.81	1.086	5.39	3.63	107.1	120.9	3.6
1990	26	25	9	10	0	2	0	161	77	36	86	15	149.3	4.64	1.319	5.18	3.73	101.6	79.0	-0.3
1991	33	32	20	8	0	2	1	194	71	44	129	17	207.7	3.08	1.146	5.59	3.29	91.3	117.2	3.1
1992	34	34	16	9	0	5	2	205	86	65	163	17	241.0	3.21	1.120	6.09	3.24	80.3	125.6	4.7
1993	18	18	3	9	0	2	0	117	66	31	60	15	105.7	5.62	1.401	5.11	4.62	114.6	71.7	-0.7
1994	24	24	11	10	0	1	1	169	68	37	112	18	158.7	3.86	1.298	6.35	3.90	93.7	108.0	2.4
1995	28	27	12	5	0	1	0	173	68	39	124	11	176.7	3.46	1.200	6.32	3.20	77.3	119.6	3.3
1996	35	34	13	14	0	2	2	207	88	54	171	20	217.3	3.64	1.201	7.08	3.52	83.2	116.0	3.7
1997	26	26	11	14	0	0	0	184	91	41	120	26	154.3	5.31	1.458	7.00	4.66	106.6	82.1	-0.3

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

361

576

504

RBI

183

.1448

OBP

.1846

SLG

.1845

OPS

.3691

Pitching

G (P)

361

280

417th-most career GS

126

402nd-most career W

103

SHO

1,908

SO (P)

1,284

333rd-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

496

ERA

3.803

WHIP

1.2256

241st-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.06

357th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	TB
1994-05-07	HOU @ CIN Gameday	3	2	3	2	0	0	5
1993-06-07	CIN @ WSH Gameday	4	2	4	0	0	3	4
1995-06-27	CIN @ PHI Gameday	3	2	1	0	1	2	4
1995-04-27	CHC @ CIN Gameday	1	1	1	0	1	1	4
1996-04-14	HOU @ CIN Gameday	3	0	3	0	0	2	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1995-09-22	CIN @ PHI Gameday	7.0	6	2	2	2	11	0
1997-05-09	CIN @ SD Gameday	7.0	6	2	2	0	11	2
1992-08-31	MIN @ DET Gameday	8.0	8	3	3	0	10	1
1995-07-02	CIN @ NYM Gameday	8.0	6	1	1	0	10	0
1991-06-30	PIT @ WSH Gameday	7.2	7	1	1	0	10	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.