Egan Smith '21 Recruiting Profile

Baseball has played a huge role in my life. There isn’t another sport where you can fail 7 out of 10 times and still be considered successful. I love learning from the sport and drawing connections from baseball to other things in life like school and my extracurricular activities. I’m a competitor and I love competing. I wouldn’t say I love winning, not that I don’t like it. However, if our team prepared well and played the entire game whether we were up 10 or down 10 and still lost then that wouldn’t bother me. They beat us and that’s the game of baseball. As long as we have takeaways from the game that allow us to grow as a team and better prepare ourselves for future games then I’d say it was a productive loss and that’s that. You take away the lessons learned and flush the mistakes to have a clear mind for the next game. I think that what sets me apart from other recruits is my mental game. When I set up to the plate or take the mound I think that nobody on the field is more prepared than I am. They may hit farther or throw faster but I’m more mentally prepared. I’ve watched the opposing pitcher the entire game and his tendencies (what he throws on the first pitch, how long he waits after he’s set until he pitches, whether he’s flustered or calm) I take all the information and use it for my next at bat or when the next batter steps in the box. It’s all about baseball IQ and I’ve bought into that process these past few years. Throwing 97 sure helps but if you don’t mentally prepare yourself you don’t stand a chance. I’m a leader and love to mentor other players as well as listening to my coaches and fellow players as they mentor me. You can’t win any games if it were just you out there and you need your teammates regardless to win. Which is why if they strikeout you’re the first one to pick them up or if they have a good game, you aren’t jealous, you’re happy for them because we’re all contributing towards this one goal of winning a championship. I dream of and am determined to play at the collegiate and professional level and that will forever motivate me to continue to work harder and smarter to become a better player, teammate and overall man as baseball will teach me so much lessons throughout my life.