The Diamondbacks made it official this week: Pavin Smith is off the 40-man roster, outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. MLB Trade Rumors flagged the move as Arizona shuffles its roster in the thick of the trade-deadline stretch, and while it's a minor transaction on paper, it's the end of a story that started with a top-10 pick 9 years ago.
Diamondbacks Outright Pavin Smith t.co/ZVRKLzBZgZ
Smith was Arizona's 7th overall pick out of Virginia back in 2017, a slick-swinging first baseman who put up a .342 average and a school-record 77 RBI for the Cavaliers the year he got drafted. He debuted for the Diamondbacks in 2020 and stuck around as a fixture on the roster for years, but the bat never developed the way a top-10 pick is supposed to. This season it completely fell apart, and Arizona designated him for assignment on July 9 after he slashed .141/.236/.192 — numbers that make cutting bait an easy call no matter the pedigree.
None of the other 29 teams put in a claim, which is its own quiet verdict on where the league sees him at this point. Smith is making $2.25MM this season with roughly $900K still owed, so barring a change of heart, he's expected to report to Triple-A Reno rather than walk away from the money. It's a landing spot, not a lifeline — outrighted players lose 40-man protection and have to fight their way back onto a big league radar.
For a Diamondbacks team trying to sort out who sticks around for the stretch run, clearing Smith's spot is a small but useful bit of roster housekeeping — one more open slot heading into deadline season. It also closes a chapter on one of the more disappointing first-round outcomes of the last decade for Arizona, a reminder that even top-10 picks don't come with guarantees.