All-Diamond Team: John Smoltz

In 2025, The Diamond hosts its 40^th and final season of professional baseball in Richmond. Between the Richmond Braves from 1985-2008 and the Richmond Flying Squirrels since 2010, countless future major leaguers have taken the steps from the first base dugout onto The Diamond’s playing surface.

Prior to the season, fans voted for The All-Diamond Team, selecting one manager as well as 14 of their favorite players who have gone on to MLB stardom after suiting up for the R-Braves and Flying Squirrels.

We continue the announcement of the All-Diamond Team with the fans’ choice for the first of three starting pitchers, John Smoltz.

Manager: Grady Little
Starting Pitcher: John Smoltz
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Starting Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Relief Pitcher: TBA
Utility Player: TBA
Catcher: TBA
First Baseman: TBA
Second Baseman: TBA
Shortstop: TBA
Third Baseman: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA
Outfielder: TBA

As a 20-year-old prospect in 1987, John Smoltz was traded from the Tigers to the Braves for Doyle Alexander. The Braves assigned Smoltz to their Triple-A team in Richmond, taking the place of fellow future Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine, who was called up to Atlanta for his MLB debut to replace Alexander.

Smoltz pitched three games with Richmond to close the 1987 season.

He returned to begin the 1988 season, making 20 starts before being promoted to Atlanta for his MLB debut that July.

Over a 21-year major league career, Smoltz won 213 games, collected 154 saves and recorded 3,084 strikeouts. He pitched 20 seasons for the Braves from 1988-2008 before spending his final season in 2009 with the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. Smoltz was selected as a National League All-Star eight times and won the 1996 NL Cy Young Award. He was Inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, one of seven former Richmond professional baseball players enshrined in Cooperstown as players.

Immediately following the trade from the Tigers, Smoltz made his Braves organization and Triple-A debut with Richmond on the road in Norfolk against the Tidewater Tides, which boasted the International League’s top offense, on August 17, 1987. He gave up six runs over 2 2/3 innings, but he hit 93 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun and impressed Braves personnel in attendance, including then-general manager Bobby Cox.

Smoltz made his first start at The Diamond on August 22, 1987 and allowed one run over seven innings against Syracuse on 110 pitches. "I wasn't nervous at all this time," Smoltz told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "After one good outing, I'm not going to say I can pitch in this league, but I feel much better."

After making one more start in 1987, he headed to the Braves' fall instructional league and worked on developing his secondary pitches.

Smoltz began the 1988 season in Richmond at age 20. He made his first start of the season on April 11 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine and fired six no-hit innings, striking out nine, before being removed because of the cold weather and a pitch limit.

Through his first six starts of the year, Smoltz went 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA, sparking rumors of a promotion to Atlanta. "I'm just trying to block it out," Smoltz told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "It's not easy to do. I'm just trying to do my job, keep doing the same things I've been doing."

In May and early June, Smoltz encountered some moderate struggles expected of a young prospect, but he continued to impress. By late June, he was dominating the league. On June 27 against Buffalo at The Diamond, he took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in his first complete-game win. In his next start on July 2 against Syracuse, he threw another complete game, allowing one run, and set a Triple-A high with 11 strikeouts.

On July 19, Smoltz faced Pawtucket at The Diamond. Prior to the game, Richmond manager Jim Beauchamp told him he was being promoted to join the Braves in the majors after his start. In his final game with Richmond, Smoltz threw five perfect innings on 46 pitches. That weekend, he made his MLB debut at Shea Stadium against the Mets, picking up the first of his 213 career wins and the first two of his 3,084 career strikeouts.