Happy birthday to J.D. Smart, who turns 37 today.
Smart is an Austin native and former UT pitcher who was drafted by the Expos in the 4th round of the 1995 draft. He saw some time in the pen for the Expos in 1999, but without much success, and after becoming a minor league free agent after the 2000 season, he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers.
Smart ended up appearing in 15 games in 2001 as part of the train-wreck pitching staff, which posted a 5.71 team ERA.
That pitching staff...man, looking back on it. What a mess. 18 starts for Rob Bell, 15 starts for Aaron Myette, 9 starts for Ryan Glynn, and none of them posted a sub-7 ERA. Darren Oliver and Kenny Rogers had ERAs over 6. So did Mark Petkovsek. Pat Mahomes pitched over 100 innings with a 5.70 ERA.
Really, everyone who pitched any significant number of innings for the Rangers in 2001 was terrible, other than Doug Davis, Jeff Zimmerman, and Juan Moreno.
In any case, Smart apparently retired after the 2001 season.