TORONTO — Justin Smoak is 28 years old, which seems a bit young to be talking about "back in the day."
Back in the day — he was asked — that would seem to be today, no? Smoak chuckled.
Back in the day, there was no such thing as viral video. Wednesday, Smoak was front and centre after his wife, Kristin, posted a video on Twitter of a fan reacting with joy to an autographed baseball from Smoak. The fan’s niece, Mykala McCabe of Sarnia, Ont., caught the ball at Comerica Park and sent it to the Blue Jays to see if Smoak would sign it for her uncle.
Local girl, Mykala McCabe caught Toronto… – 99.9FM The Fox – Sarnia | Facebook
"Back in the day I got more stuff (to sign)," said Smoak, a former 11th overall pick of the Texas Rangers. "Things like a signed ball can go a long ways. It’s one of those things guys can do that maybe changes lives. Make something good of it. I thought the video was pretty cool."
Smoak seems to have mastered the art of putting his best foot forward these days. He has become the Blue Jays’ de facto No. 1 first baseman, and has made just one error in his last 761 chances — a throwing error July 9 in Chicago is his only official faux pas this season. And while the switch-hitter is still life and death to keep his average at or around .230, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons says he has worked diligently on cutting down his long, right-handed swing.
Wednesday that swing produced his third home run of the season off a left-hander (a three-run blast off Oakland Athletics pitcher Felix Doubront), Smoak’s seventh hit in 21 at-bats against lefties — a departure, albeit in a small sample size, from his career average of .226 against lefties.
Smoak went into spring training as a candidate for one of the final spots on the 25-man roster. He was claimed on waivers from the Seattle Mariners and signed a $1-million, one-year contract less than 24 hours after being non-tendered by the Blue Jays.
Into the blender he went, along with the likes of Danny Valencia, Daric Barton and Dayan Viciedo, either to be part of a first-base platoon or a bench piece — depending on things such as Edwin Encarnacion’s usage, Dalton Pompey’s spring and decisions about Josh Thole and a backup middle infielder. In short? Not much was in his hands.
Except, it seems, the ball. Often, and from all manner of angles: one-hoppers, no-hoppers, bad-hoppers. Smoak’s Grapefruit League batting average was languid, but one day, Gibbons looked out from behind the batting cage and offered the assessment that a team could do worse than have Smoak’s "wing-span" at first base. Gibbons named-dropped James Loney and Mark Teixeira, then noted that his new third baseman, Josh Donaldson, was known to air-mail a throw or two and that his shortstop, Jose Reyes, "can have his days every now and then."
Translation: Smoak’s big frame, quick feet and Charmin-soft hands could be a pitch-saver and a run-saver.
That’s proven to be the case. He is the best defensive first baseman the Blue Jays have had since Lyle Overbay, and Gibbons says his throwing is better than a player who was an underrated, but very steady, first baseman in his time in Toronto.
The Blue Jays have now put together two winning streaks of 10 games this season, the first American League team to do so since the 1977 Kansas City Royals and the first major-league club to pull off the feat since the 2013 Atlanta Braves had winning streaks of 10 and 14 games. But while that first streak was accomplished by bludgeoning teams, this one has had it’s share of narrow wins and pitching duels — and defence.
It has been accomplished with a new middle infield — Tulowitzki at shortstop instead of Reyes, and Ryan Goins at second instead of Devon Travis.
That churn has had an impact. For example, Luis Rivera, the Blue Jays third base coach and infield instructor, had to take all his shortstops out to their position one day and ask a very simple question: "When I say straight-away or pull-side, what does it mean to you?"
As relayed by Blue Jays broadcasters Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler, the definition meant one thing for Troy Tulowitzki, who spent his entire career with the Colorado Rockies, and Cliff Pennington, who has been with the Oakland Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks. Smoak has also had to adapt: catching throws from Reyes is one thing, catching them from the much more angular Tulowitzki — who has superior body positioning — is another.
Smoak acknowledged the difference but in the next breath said, "I’ve pretty much caught throws, by now, from every different type of infielder there is in the game. Really, you just have to remind yourself that it’s just a matter of catching the ball. It’s like I tell younger guys: ‘Just catch the ball. If you do that at this position, most often the guy’s going to be out.’"
Smoak is 18-for-46 (.391) with runners in scoring position this season, with five homers. He and Chris Colabello have been a godsend.
Even making the team out of spring training wasn’t the end of the uncertainty for Smoak. When Jose Bautista threw out his shoulder and was restricted to designated hitter duties, it meant Encarnacion had to play first. That exiled Smoak to the bench.
"Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect when I came here, but I got the feeling early on that I was going to end up playing a little bit," said Smoak. "Bats (Bautista) getting hurt cut into it a little but, you know, if that’s your role you have to embrace it. It might not be easy, but nobody’s going to make excuses for you. Offensively … I just feel like I’ve been better than my stats have shown."
The Blue Jays identity became something of an issue this week when ESPN analyst Dallas Braden referred to them as a “beer league” team, which of course led the Twittersphere to explode.
A more nuanced analysis provided by the folks at FanGraphs suggests they are both an overachieving and underachieving team.
All I know is as of Thursday morning they are a first-place team, and that they look a lot better with Justin Smoak on the field.
Forget back in the day. This is the day.