Left-hander Devin Paul Smeltzer was with the Twins from 2019-2022. He was born in Voorhees, New Jersey, and survived cancer which was diagnosed when he was just nine years old. He went to high school in Pennsauken, New Jersey, attended Florida Gulf Coast University and San Jacinto College, and was drafted by the Dodgers in the fifth round in 2016. He pitched pretty well in ten starts for Great Lakes in 2017, but didn't do much anywhere else in the Dodgers organization and was traded to Minnesota at the July deadline of 2018 along with Luke Raley and Logan Forsythe for Brian Dozier. He did well in ten relief appearances for AA Chattanooga that season. He began 2019 in AA Pensacola and dominated in five starts, leading to a promotion to Rochester. He was up and down between the Twins and the Red Wings the rest of the season. He pitched well for Rochester, even though his won-lost record didn't show it. He did well for the Twins in eleven games (six starts), going 2-2, 3.86, 1.27 WHIP. He did not do well in 2020, however, and missed almost the entire 2021 season due to injury. He came back in 2022, however, and while he didn't pitch well in AAA he did pitch pretty well in Minnesota. He became a free agent after the season and signed with Miami. He made nine appearances in the majors, five of which were good and four of which were awful. He spent most of the season at AAA and did not pitched well there. He was in AAA again in 2024 and pitched better as a reliever, but the Marlins still released him in July. He started 2025 pitching in Mexico, but was signed by Detroit in July. Unfortunately, he was released a month later after three poor AAA starts. He turns thirty today and is planning to pitch in the Mexican Pacific League this winter. Teams are always looking for pitching, and he's left-handed, so it's not impossible that he'll get another chance. As we've said before, we're all for a guy continuing to play as long as someone will let him play. We wish him well.
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