10 things to know about Texas Rangers’ Josh Smith, including his YouTube career

Josh Smith developed into a fan favorite during his breakout 2024 campaign.

There were even outcries about him being snubbed from the American League All-Star team. While he didn’t quite make the All-Star team, he still enjoyed a career year in 2024 and has made himself into an important piece for the Texas Rangers going forward.

Here are 10 things to know about Josh Smith, including his social media career.

1. The basics

Name: Josh Harris Smith

Born: August 7, 1997

Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Ht./Wt.: 5-10, 172 pounds

Position: third base, shortstop, left field

2. How he got here

Smith, along with Ezequiel Duran and two other prospects, was acquired by the Rangers when the team sent Joey Gallo to the New York Yankees at the 2021 trade deadline. The Rangers were in the middle of a 100-loss season and had Gallo, an All-Star outfielder, to offer to contenders.

The Rangers clearly won the trade in a landslide, as Gallo was a disaster with New York while Duran and Smith have been solid contributors for Texas.

3. A number change

When Smith first came up with the Rangers in 2022, he wore No. 47, which he kept through the 2023 season when the Rangers won their first World Series.

While he wasn’t an everyday contributor for the team in 2023, he still was a part of a historic night in franchise history.

He changed his number to 8 for the 2024 season and...

4. He took off in 2024

Smith had a career year for the Rangers in his third season. At first he was expected to be a utility infielder for the Rangers, but his role quickly changed to everyday third baseman when Josh Jung’s wrist was fractured.

He posted career-highs quite literally across the board, hitting 13 home runs with 62 RBI while slashing .258/.337/.394/.731 with an OPS+ of 110.

That doesn’t do justice to how good he was in the first half of the season, as he had a very good case to be an All-Star. In the first half of the season, he hit 10 home runs and had a .861 OPS.

Smith’s numbers fell off a cliff in the second half as he wore down due to a massive workload. He played 149 games in 2024, far more than his totals of 73 and 90 in his first two major league seasons.

Now that he has a full season under his belt, he’ll look to sustain his outstanding first-half production from 2024 across a full season in 2025.

5. Social media career

Smith and his wife Claire Couvillon Smith (who are high school sweethearts!) are very active with content on social media, specifically on YouTube and TikTok.

It started when Smith was in the minor leagues and they wanted to give fans an inside look at the life of a Minor Leaguer. “This whole journey is something nobody really knows about,” Claire told MLB.com in 2022. “I know that I’m about to go on a ride so why not just film it? My mom was always telling me I was too much of an open book. That’s paying off now.”

Their channel on YouTube is called “Gettin Smithy With It,” though they haven’t posted a video there since December 2022. Some of their content included a look at the day Smith made his MLB debut for the Rangers and a video on the day Smith was traded from the Yankees to the Rangers (which, at 141,000 views, is their most watched video).

Smith posts content on his TikTok page occasionally, but his wife Claire is the real social media star. Her TikTok page has 228.5K followers and her Instagram page has 87.3K followers (nearly double Josh’s Instagram following!).

6. Gloves or no gloves? Long hair or not?

During his three seasons with the Rangers, he’s changed a lot about his look besides the number on his back.

He didn’t wear batting gloves the first two years of his career and had long, flowing hair for his rookie season and most of 2023.

Things looked a little different for Smith in 2024 though. Maybe the change in haircut and addition of battling gloves sparked his career year?

7. Bayou Bengal

He’s a Louisiana boy through and through.

Born in Baton Rouge, he was drafted in the 38th round of the 2016 MLB draft by the Detroit Tigers but opted to instead attend LSU and play baseball there.

He started as a freshman and posted an OPS of .816 with five home runs, but missed almost all of his sophomore season due to a back injury. He took off as a junior, slashing .346/.433/.533/.966 with nine home runs and 41 RBI for LSU in 65 games in 2019.

The Yankees drafted him in the second round, 67th overall, in the 2019 MLB draft and gave him a $967,700 signing bonus.

8. A memorable first home run

His first home run wasn’t just any home run. It was an inside-the-park home run!

The center fielder never touched it, so it counts as a home run, just the same as it would have if he hit it 450 feet!

9. Versatility

When Smith has found consistent playing time, it has mostly happened due to injury to the Rangers’ starters at third base and shortstop.

Corey Seager, Josh Jung and Marcus Semien aren’t going anywhere, so to make his way into the Rangers lineup, he has had to demonstrate some positional versatility.

Here’s how many games he has played in the major leagues at each position: 144 games at third base, 88 games at shortstop, 48 games in left field, 27 games at designated hitter, six games at second base and one game in right field. Quite the chess piece for Bruce Bochy when filling out his lineup card.

10. He’s a pitch magnet, in a painful way

Smith was hit by a pitch 18 times in 2024, which was tied for fifth-most in the MLB. Ouch!

He’s been plunked 34 times since his debut in 2022, which ranks 17th in the league. Not to mention most of the players hit more than him have done so with hundreds more plate appearances than Smith.

Smith even had a frightening moment in April 2023 when he took a 89 mph fastball directly to the face.

He was taken to a local hospital, but didn’t have a broken jaw and just needed some stitches and rest. Smith even joked the next day he was ready to play.

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