ARLINGTON, Texas — In the second inning Monday night, Justin Smoak stepped in against Texas Rangers starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx and got a first-pitch fastball on the inner-half.
And, boy, if there’s one thing Smoak likes in this world, it’s a first-pitch fastball on the inner-half. And thus, he put a charge into it and hit the pitch 385 feet in the opposite direction, clearing the fences for the 20th time this year.
Now, hitting 20 home runs isn’t quite the feat it once was. Smoak’s one of five players who already have 20 this season, and there are a dozen others with at least 18. Last season, 92 players hit 20 or more, and 36 hit 30 or more. It’s never been more ordinary to mash a bunch of dingers.
But still, Monday’s solo shot tied Smoak’s career high and kept him first on the Blue Jays, ahead of Kendrys Morales’ 15 and Jose Bautista’s 12. That’s gotta be something to feel good about. So, Justin, does 20 home runs mean anything to you?
“I mean, it does,” Smoak says. “But it’s not much. I know it was a while ago, but I have done it before. I’ve just got to keep going.”
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Well, sure. In 2013, while playing for the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field—a ballpark where well-hit fly balls go to die—Smoak muscled his way to 20 home runs over 131 games and 521 plate appearances.
But surely that was different. This season, Smoak has 20 long balls through only 67 games and 250 plate appearances. He isn’t even half way to the amount of time it took him to hit that many homers in 2013. This has to feel better than that, no?
“Yeah, but, you know, it’s a long season,” Smoak says. “You can’t just be happy with where you are now. You’ve got to keep going and try to win as many ball games as we can so we’re playing for something there at the end.”
That, right there, is your classic Justin Smoak, and professional athlete in general, answer: quickly acknowledge the question’s premise before modestly deflecting any praise and ultimately working your way to how the team’s performing rather than yourself. That’s how they teach you to do it. And Smoak is very, very adept at following the playbook.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. Athletes can and should say as much or as little as they please. But if he won’t do it, someone must point out that Smoak is having the best season of his career, batting .300/.361/.600 through 68 games. He’s been worth 1.5 wins above replacement this season, which, at the going rate of approximately $8 million per win on the open market, means he’s already providing surplus value on the much-maligned two-year, $8.5 million contract he signed last July.
So, why is this happening? Well, you can start with the two biggest differences that jump out at you in Smoak’s numbers, which happen to go hand-in-hand: his contact rate, which has soared from 72.1 per cent in 2016 to 81.3 per cent this season, and his strikeout rate, which has plummeted from 32.8 per cent in 2016 to 18 per cent this season.
Smoak isn’t getting pitched much differently, receiving a similar dispersion of fastballs, breaking balls and off-speed pitches to the offerings he saw in 2016. He isn’t getting pitched much more carefully, as the percentage of pitches he’s seen in the zone this year has dropped only marginally to 44.6 per cent form 46.7 per cent in 2016. And he isn’t even being more disciplined, as he’s swinging at pitches outside the zone slightly more this year than he was last.
Smoak is merely putting the ball in play more often, getting himself out less often, and doing more with the pitches he gets to hit. Last season, Smoak had a batting average of .261 and a slugging percentage of .500 against four-seam fastballs, the best pitch in baseball to hit. So far this season, those numbers are .333 and .710, respectively.
There’s your difference. Hit fastballs in the zone, like the one Bibens-Dirkx threw him on the inner-half Monday night. And, to hear Smoak tell it, the key to doing that comes down to what’s happening between his ears.
“I just think I’ve got a better mindset, honestly,” Smoak says of the differences between this year and last. “I always feel like I go back to just trying not to do too much. I feel like I’ve got a clear head and it’s been showing.
“Just not overreacting to times when I didn’t feel well or times that I didn’t feel like I had it that day. You still have to go out there and compete and have good at-bats,” he continues. “I feel like a lot of times I was in the box thinking about where my hands are and my weight is and this and that, instead of just focusing on the fact that when you get in there you’ve got to compete against the guy who’s on the mound. And I think that’s really helped.”
And, naturally, Smoak’s 20th of the year came in Texas. There is something about him and this team, the same one he began his career with in 2010.
Coming into Monday night’s game, Smoak was batting .292/.360/.502 across 78 games and 308 plate appearances against the Rangers, and he added to those numbers with a 3-for-4 night that included the home run and two singles. He’s now hit more home runs against the Rangers (15) than any other team save for the Los Angeles Angels, who he also has 15 big flies against.
Of course, Texas pitching staffs have changed constantly over the seven years since the Rangers traded Smoak to Seattle. There’s no common thread between all the different Rangers pitchers he’s faced and hit well against other than the uniform they were wearing at the time. Smoak’s terrific numbers against Texas are more coincidence than anything. But he does say there’s something about Globe Life Park in Arlington that brings out the best in him.
“I really honestly couldn’t tell you what it is—but I know when I was here for the couple months, and even when I was with Seattle, I always loved playing in this ballpark,” Smoak says. “I can’t tell you where it comes from. It’s just one of those things.”
