Josh Smith and his YouTube channel headed to Texas after he was traded for Joey Gallo.
Following the 2021 Yankees season was a slog. Between injuries, COVID, and the general malaise of an impotent Yankees offense, it was a hard watch on a day-to-day basis. Like methadone maintenance, it featured a few sickly highs (an epic winning streak) but more often found us waking up with our face buried in the pavement, wondering how many days we’d been sleeping in the Rite Aid parking lot. Last night, the season mercifully ended with a 6-2 loss in the Wild Card game to a rebuilding Red Sox squad, who did doughnuts on the Yankees lawn for the third time since murdering the ghost of Babe Ruth in 2004.
One feel-good story for another year that wasn’t, however, was the story of Josh Smith an A-ball middle infielder who started a YouTube channel with his girlfriend Claire. In documenting the travails of a minor leaguer trying to make it big, Josh’s channel caught the moment that he was traded to Texas in a package deal for Joey Gallo.
In her private testimonial, Claire couldn’t hide her elation about news of the trade.
“I don’t know whether I should be excited, happy… Thank God I didn’t unpack.”
Josh’s response was a bit more muted. You could see in his eyes that he had a few dreams of getting to bat at Yankee Stadium. One could argue that he went from being groomed by baseball royalty, to shagging flyballs for the Hickory Crawdads.
One could also argue that the Yankees Dr. Mengle-like approach to player development should scare any new prospects away.
- Remember famed starter Devi Garcia? Apparently the Yanks toyed with his arm slot until they broke it.
- Remember when the Yankees changed Sonny Gray’s pitching mix and ruined him for a year?
- Remember when Yankee catching guru, Tanner Swanson, put Gary Sanchez on one knee and crippled his defensive range?
Be free, Josh. Nobody needs to know if you can play second base with your knees reversed. You’ve been doing it your whole life. The Crawdads will be good with whatever you’ve got going.
My God, to be young and not in the Yankees farm system again.
