You already know that Justin Smoak is enjoying a career season, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that the switch-hitter is achieving improved results from both sides of the plate.
The Toronto Blue Jays first baseman has an OPS of .920 as a left-handed hitter and a 1.110 OPS from the right side — vast increases from his career numbers of .738 and .685, respectively.
“I feel like that’s taken me time to learn that I have two different swings,” said Smoak during a guest spot on The Starting Lineup on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Wednesday morning. “My swing from the left side is different than my swing from the right side. You just have to approach things a little differently. It’s definitely not easy.”
The 30-year-old Smoak, now fourth among AL first basemen in the latest all-star ballot results, is hitting .300/.363./.601 this season with 20 home runs and 46 RBI. He’s making the most of regular playing time, which came as a result of former Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion departing in the off-season.
Smoak says that’s come with its own challenges.
He regularly goes through stretches where he continuously alternates between facing left-handed pitchers and righties, before entering a string of at-bats against only right-handers.
“You won’t pick up a bat right-handed for a while, so it’s something that you just have to get used to and make the adjustment,” said Smoak.
Naturally a right-handed hitter, he first adopted switch-hitting during the summer after his freshman year in high school.
“As a switch-hitter as a young kid, left-handed, I had no power,” he recalls. “Right-handed, I knew I could hit the ball out of the ballpark. So why would I want to hit left-handed? But once I started to hit with power left-handed, that’s when I figured out that I would keep it and try to take it and run with it.”
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