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Canaan Smith-Njigba, brother of Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, makes MLB debut
By Paul Harvey
Published:
The Smith-Njigba family is loaded with talent, and it exceeds beyond the football field.
On Monday, Canaan Smith-Njigba – the older brother of Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba – was called up to Major League Baseball. Originally a 4th-round pick of the New York Yankees in 2017, Canaan was called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
After not getting into the action Monday, Smith-Njigba was inserted into Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals as a pinch hitter. He doubled in his first at-bat with 2 outs in the 9th inning.
Canaan Smith-Njigba rips a double in his first MLB at-bat! pic.twitter.com/EyJG4lqN67
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 14, 2022
Unfortunately, Smith-Njigba was stranded on second as the Cardinals held on for the win. It will be interesting to see if he is able to stick on the MLB roster moving forward.
In 52 Triple-A games this season, Smith-Njigba was batting .277/.387/.408 with a home run, 15 doubles, 3 triples and 31 runs scored.
Welcome to The Show, @CanaanSmith_! pic.twitter.com/aBxUF4hQ4t
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 14, 2022
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.