ALSO INSIDE » Smyly rebounded this season,

The Braves struck quickly this offseason, just as they did last winter. The team signed 31- year- old lefty Drew Smyly to a one- year, $ 11 million deal Monday.

Smyly had a 3.42 ERA in seven appearances ( five starts) for the Giants in 2020. He earned a career-best strikeout rate (37.8 percent ), fanning 42 hitters in 261/3 innings. His 14.35 strikeoutsper- nine- innings led pitchers who made five or more starts. He also held opposing hitters to a .198/. 261/. 297 mark.

The shortened 2020 campaign was an encouraging rebound for Smyly, who had a 6.24 ERA in 25 appearances across 2019 for the Rangers and Phillies. That was his first season back after missing 2017 and 2018 following Tommy John surgery. Smyly was formerly a promising young pitcher for the Tigers and Rays, earning a 3.74 ERA ( 3.82 FIP) from 2012- 16 before injuries derailed his career.

The Braves, who are developing a reputation for aggressive ly attacking needs early in the off season, wasted little time completing an agreement with Smyly. The veteran grew up a Braves fan after being born in Gainesville, Georgia, and raised in Arkansas. He identified t he Braves as a preferred landing spot because of his lifelong connection to the franchise and desire to experience the postseason again. S myly has seen October baseball only twice, with the Tigers in 2012 and 2013.

“Unless you’re one of the cream- of- the- crop players, everyone has a little anxiety about ( free agency),” Smyly said from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. “The Braves reached out right away and were pretty aggressive with our communications. To me, that meant a lot.”

Smyly’s improve ment late in 2019 put him on the Braves’ radar l ast winter, according to general manager Alex Anthopoulos. His further growth with the Giants made him a free agent the Braves prioritized.

“In our minds, he started trending upwards that last month with the Phillies ( in 2019),” Anthopoulos said. “He took another step forward this past year in terms of his stuff. When he came back from the finger injury, his last four outings were really strong and there were a lot of swings and misses that are backed up by really strong stuff.”

What Anthopoulos saw: In his final five outings with the Phillies in 2019, Smyly allowed more than three earned runs only once. He struck out 30 over 24 2/ 3 innings while holding opponents to a .237 average. This season in San Francisco, after Smyly returned from a finger injury that sidelined him for more than a month, he had a 3.50 ERA with 31 strikeouts against five walks in 18 innings ( four appearances). His excellence helped the rebuilding Giants push for a spot in the expanded postseason, though they fell just short.

Anthopoulos praised Smyl y’ s curve ball as“one of the better curveballs in the game.” Smyly also relies on a fastball and cutter, the former of which saw its velocity bump up from 91.2 mph in 2019 to 93.8 in 2020. The pitcher’s recent improvement led Anthopoulos and his staff to view Smyly similarly to another previously injured veteran the Braves targeted last winter: catcher Travis d’arnaud, who just won the Silver Slugger foll owing t he best offensive season of his career.

“This is an upside play, no doubt about it,” Anthopoulos said. “We’ll obviously find out eight, 10 months from now how that worked out. But we think Drew has tremendous upside and he’s only scratched the surface.”

The Braves have only two starters, Max Fried and Ian Anderson, who should be considered locks for the 2021 opening- day rotation. Mike Soroka, who tore his Achilles in August, would be the third if he’s healthy ( and the team likes how his rehab has progressed). Youngster Kyle Wright likely will be among that group.

S my ly gives the team another middle-to-back-of-the-rotation option with some upside. He’ s also another left y to pair with Fried.

This was the Braves’ second signing of the offseason. They re- signed long- reliever Josh Tomlin earlier this month. It should be another busy winter for the National League runners-up: The Braves will need to either keep or replace free- agent slugger Marcell Ozuna and keep or replace ( perhaps internally) key relievers Mark Melancon and Shane Greene. They’ll continue exploring rot at i on help and bench upgrades.

“I know this sounds generic, but we’ re trying to have as complete a team as we can,” Anthopoulos said. “We will not force a move. We can get better in all areas, rotation, bullpen, offense, but we’re not going to force a move we don’t believe in. Whatever you see us do are things we feel strongly about.”