Drew Smith receives praise from Justin Verlander after showcasing elevated fastball

Drew Smith knew his high fastball was an effective pitch, but now that Justin Verlander has taken notice of it, it might be better than the reliever initially thought.

While throwing in spring training a few months ago, Smith was working on a high fastball. Verlander commented on it, encouraging him to use it more often.

“It’s what I’ve been practicing for a couple years now and coming into camp, Verlander actually told me it’s a really good pitch,” Smith said recently. “I knew it was, but he was like, ‘You need to throw it more.’”

When a future Hall-of-Fame ace tells you to throw it more, you throw it more.

Smith has known this for a long time. The Fort Worth, Texas native has seen the analytics that shows him how much better his fastball plays up in the zone instead of down. He’s seen the swings and misses from hitters in games.

But his fastball was harder when it was down in the zone and trying to get up in the zone felt counterintuitive to everything he had ever learned as a pitcher. Vertical movement in the opposite direction wasn’t something he had considered much until his pitching coach at Dallas Baptist University told him he needed to start locating up top.

“For 20 years I was told to throw the ball down in the zone, stay down to get hitters out,” Smith told the Daily News. “And then one pitching coach I had was just like, ‘I’m sorry, but you’ve been taught wrong your whole life. You need to throw this up in the zone.’

“I was like, ‘What?’”

That pitching coach was Wes Johnson, who left the Minnesota Twins to become the pitching coach at LSU last summer. Johnson’s advice “shocked” Smith, who had to unlearn some habits in order to elevate his fastball.

Smith now sees how influential that advice was: According to Fangraphs, about one-third of Major League pitchers threw high fastballs last season. It’s not quite the novelty that it once was. Some hitters are laying off of them and some with uppercut swings know how to get to connect with them.

It took Smith a few years to be able to learn how to utilize that pitch and integrate it into his arsenal. He continued to throw down in the zone with the Detroit Tigers, the team that drafted him in the third round in 2015. The Tampa Bay Rays furthered his education with the pitch and after he was traded to the Mets in exchange for Lucas Duda in 2017, the Mets helped him refine it. The analytics showed him how to best utilize it.

“He was kind of ahead of the curve,” Smith said. “It just seemed wrong, I don’t know. And then I got to pro ball up with the Tigers and they were not analytical at all, so they never really appreciate it. When I got to the Rays in the minor leagues, they kind of got me back on that track. And then with the Mets, ever since I got here, it’s been a very important thing — analytics and teaching guys how their stuff plays best.”

High fastballs take a fair amount of control. If it’s not high enough, it becomes a meatball down the middle. If it’s too high, it could end up at the head. They take commitment and conviction to throw.

Smith committed to throwing up in the zone in 2020 after returning from Tommy John surgery. The 29-year-old has also found it to be easier on his arm, an added benefit after elbow surgery.

“I’m not fighting my body as much to pull it down and get it down on the zone,” he said. “I think it’s helpful all the way around.”

Smith is the last remaining pitcher of the group acquired at the trade deadline in 2017. The Mets traded away veterans Duda, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce for right-handers Jamie Callahan, Jacob Rhame, Ryder Ryan and Smith. The group never quite panned out the way the club had hoped, but Smith has been a bright spot.

The Mets see Smith as a late-inning high-leverage option and he’s performed well enough in that spot over the last two seasons. This year, Smith has run into some early season struggles but has mostly pitched himself out of trouble when he’s needed to, allowing two earned runs over five innings (3.60 ERA) with five walks and eight strikeouts. The Mets may end up using him for the middle innings instead of the late ones with Adam Ottavino and David Robertson on the back end, but for now, they like him in the seventh inning to hold leads for those two.

Smith was a solid find for the Mets nearly six years ago and hopes to continue seeing success with the pitch.

Especially, if it’s already grabbed the attention of Verlander.

“I mean, he’s just one of the best ever do it,” Smith said. “He knows what he’s talking about. It was nice to hear and I have to trust that pitch more if he thinks it’s good. So that’s what I’m going to do.”