Billy Wagner discussing John Smoltz's Stuff as a Closer. "Facing Mariano, facing Hoffman, facing myself... We were nothing compared to John Smoltz."

lol Mariano? Really? The dude with less earned runs in the playoffs than people who have walked on the moon? Smoltz wasn’t even the best pitcher on his own team.

I interviewed JD Martinez, one of the best hitters in baseball. He went from being cut by the worst team in baseball to becoming an All-Star – in an unconventional way (that everyone can learn from). Check out the interview here:

Pretty sure that it was Schilling on a Dan Patrick show interview in 00-03 who said that Smoltz as a closer was literally a video game pitcher…99 fb, 93 slider, 94 split, 83 change, 91 cutter

Soon to be HOFer Billy Wagner

I love listening to these conversations!

Which begs the question, Did John Smoltz underachieve?

Smoltz was special but I think Billy is being humble here

is he retarded? just leave mariano out of the comment and it would have been a better take for sure

I think people forget you don’t want to waste the best pitchers’ stuff on only one inning. Closers are fun to watch, but they aren’t close to the best pitchers.

Which is precisely why we shouldn't have closers in the Hall. If they were better, they'd be starting.

Let's just say Smoltz couldn't do what Mo did and vice versa. Like what kind of hypothetical is this? Yes a great starter could close games but could they get 400??? 500??? 600??? saves? I doubt it.