Ryan Rowland-Smith

Did You Know?

• Rowland-Smith and fellow Australian ballplayer Trent Oeltjen co-founded NxtGen Baseball, a training camp for young players.
• He became an MLB Network analyst in 2024 and started a podcast called The Top Step.
• He became a regular television color commentator for Mariners broadcasts in 2025.

Early life

Ryan Rowland-Smith was born on January 26, 1983, in Sydney, Australia. His father, Rob Rowland-Smith, is a well-known Australian trainer nicknamed "The Sandhill Warrior," and his mother worked as a high school physical education teacher before retiring. The youngest of three, with two older sisters, Rowland-Smith was three when his parents split, and he was raised by his mother and sisters in Newcastle, New South Wales. He fell in love with baseball as a child, watching VHS tapes of the 1992 and 1993 World Series since MLB wasn't broadcast in Australia. He took up the sport at 12 and finished high school in December 2000. On November 19, 2000, the Seattle Mariners, one of the few MLB teams scouting Australia, signed him as a free agent.

Career

Rowland-Smith began his professional career in 2001 with the Rookie level Arizona League Mariners, allowing one home run in 33 1/3 innings over 17 relief appearances. In 2002, he split time between the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and the Short Season-A Everett AquaSox, posting a 4–1 record and 2.77 ERA with Everett. He pitched for Wisconsin again in 2003, recording a 3–0 record and 1.11 ERA in 13 games, and also appeared for the Class-A Advanced Inland Empire 66ers.

The Minnesota Twins selected him in the 2004 Rule 5 draft but returned him to Seattle in March 2005. He spent that season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions, setting a career high with 122 innings pitched. In 2006, he split time between Inland Empire and San Antonio, striking out a season-high seven batters on 25 August. Promoted to Seattle in June 2007, he struck out the first batter he faced, Ken Griffey Jr. He began 2008 as a reliever but converted to a starter in August.

After his first start in 2009, he went on the disabled list with triceps tendinitis, returning in July. In 2010, he made a career-high 20 starts, posting a 1–10 record and 6.75 ERA. Seattle did not offer him a contract after the season. Over the next three seasons, he pitched in the minors for several teams.

In 2014, he began with the Arizona Diamondbacks but was designated for assignment on 18 April. He later pitched for the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2015 and the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League in January 2017, retiring after the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

International play

Rowland-Smith pitched for Australia in the 2004 Summer Olympics, going 2–0 with a 1.23 ERA in four relief appearances, helping the team win a silver medal after a 6–2 loss to Cuba in the championship game. He was added to Australia's roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic but could not pitch due to a sore elbow. He skipped the 2009 WBC to stay in spring training with the Mariners. He represented Australia in the 2013 WBC, pitching twice in relief as the team lost all three first-round games.

Before retiring, he played for Australia in the 2017 WBC, first appearing in the qualifying tournament in February 2016, where he pitched three scoreless innings in relief against South Africa. Australia won all three qualifier games to advance. In the main tournament, Australia went 1–2, and Rowland-Smith made one appearance, striking out Nori Aoki of Japan with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning.

Personal life

Rowland-Smith's grandfather was a former New South Wales minister for sport and recreation. His older sister, Rhiannon, is a competitive surfer, and he avidly pursues surfing as a hobby. He married American actress Amanda Aardsma, sister of former teammate David Aardsma, in 2013. Ken Griffey Jr., whom he struck out for his first MLB strikeout, attended the wedding. Rowland-Smith's nickname is "Hyphen," earned as the first MLB player with a hyphenated surname on his jersey. He maintained a blog during his career and was the only Mariner known to have a Twitter account in 2009. In June 2019, he appeared on the television show American Ninja Warrior in the Seattle Qualifying Round.