BIG SMOKE was big for Smoak
As free agency looms, the Blue Jays slugger savours his time in the city that turned his career around
Cavan Biggio had just finished hitting for the cycle here at Camden Yards and, with a group of reporters clustered around him, the Toronto Blue Jays rookie catches Justin Smoak out of the corner of his eye.
And you bet Biggio knows he’s going to hear about it.
Sure enough and on cue,
Smoak goes into scrum-busting mode, shaking his head and mumbling something in his distinctive southern drawl that is not entirely comprehensible in an attempt to rattle Biggio in the moment. And it almost works.
“A lot of the times I do it to see if they’re going to give it back because I want them to give it back,” Smoak says of his wise-cracking ways with his young Jays teammates. “And a lot of them do. They might give it back, but I’m also going to get the last word in, too. It’s always fun.”
This has not been the easiest season for Smoak, almost certainly his last with the Jays.
He’s struggled at the plate. He’s essentially watched first base playing time ceded to Rowdy Tellez over the final two months of the season as the team looks to determine if the latter is the future at the position. And as the season winds toward its finish, the popular veteran is about to embark on the most uncertain time of his career.
But to see the way Smoak has carried himself this season, the way he has embraced and interacted with his young teammates, is as much a measure of the man as his career year and trip to the 2017 All-Star Game accentuated his baseball skills.
The 32-year-old native of Goose Creek, S.C. is as sharp as they come — sharper than he’d have you believe — both baseball wise and beyond. And he’s unquestionably been a voice of reason and humour in a Jays clubhouse crying out for a strong voice.
The kids appreciate it, too. They see a teammate with a quick wit as well as wisdom to help guide them through the challenges of adapting to big-league life.
“He’s a guy who has a relationship with every single guy in this locker-room no matter if they’re an up-and-down guy or if they’re playing every day,” says Biggio, one of the Jays rookies who has forged a meaningful relationship with Smoak. “It just shows how much he emphasizes being a good teammate and it just shows the kind of person he is overall.
“He’s a guy who you look at and say ‘Okay, that’s how it’s supposed to be done.’ Anything he does, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Whatever happens in the off season, Smoak will be missed. He’s the first to admit that he hasn’t helped his own cause, taking a batting average of just over .200 into the final week of the season. Important as a leader in the early steps of the rebuild, he doesn’t seem to fit the future and, after collecting his US$8 million this season, will be an unrestricted free agent.
“I’ve never truly been a free agent, so I don’t even know what that feels like,” Smoak said. “I know for a lot of the guys, it hasn’t been good. And it’s not like I have had the best season in the world to go into it. But at the same time, we’ll see what happens.”
If this is indeed the farewell fling for Smoak, the season-ending Rogers Centre homestand promises to have some emotional moments, though the big first baseman played that down when we talked.
He did acknowledge, however, how much his five seasons with the Jays have meant both in his baseball life and away from the diamond.
“For me, it’s a place where I feel like it helped me reboot my career,” Smoak said. “I think when I came here, first year in
’15 and then in ’16 going to the playoffs in each of those two years that kind of changed my mentality of things. To be able to feel like that here in Toronto and be a part of all that meant a lot to me.”
It meant a lot to his career as well. Smoak transformed from a switch-hitter with untapped potential to a legit star in the American League with the Jays. He fed off the intensity and will to succeed he saw in teammates Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista and was better for it.
“Those guys were really good players but what separated them to being all-star players was the mentality,” said Smoak, whose 38 home runs and 90 RBI in 2017 were career highs. “It didn’t matter if they got punched out three times the night before, today was a new day. And they would go out and grind at-bats. I learned from all of them.
“They changed the perspective for me. A lot of that was more mentality than anything else. I felt like I always had the tools to be a really good player. I knew I could hit. I knew I had pop. But it didn’t always come out because I was always searching for results. “That changed in Toronto.” And then there was the city, itself. Smoak is a country boy at heart and by birth certificate. He loves hunting and fishing and cherishes his off seasons for the opportunity to indulge in those pursuits. The more Toronto grew to appreciate him, however, the more the feeling was reciprocated.
“I feel like I’m not a big-city type of guy,” Smoak said. I’m not a guy who ever really lived much downtown and in Toronto you’ve got to pretty much live downtown. Honestly for me, it just turned into something that was great. It was a big city but it wasn’t.
“And in ’15 and ’16 when fans started showing up for the home games, I wasn’t even playing every day and would walk the streets and people would be coming up to me and would say ‘Hey Smoakie, go get ’em’ and things like that. It made me somewhat feel at home. I’m not a guy who always liked that attention, but you have to cherish it. It only lasts so long.”
Smoak’s wife, Kristen, and their two young daughters grew fond of the city as well. Active on social media, Kristen Smoak has hinted recently at how much she will miss the Canadian influence in her life. She’s not alone.
“My family has loved it,” Smoak said. “My wife can take a stroller to any park in the city. She’s probably been to every dog park in the city because the kids like watching the dogs run around. It’s not always easy to do in some cities, but Toronto more than anything else has become a home away from home for us.”
Given his status on a team in transition, lesser personalities might have struggled to maintain a positive influence through such a rough season. But Smoak has embraced the role as leader/ mentor and is beloved for it.
From what he has seen from the kids, Smoak is bullish on the future, even if it is one he’s not likely to be around to see to fruition.
“I feel like that with these rebuilds, sometimes it takes two or three years, sometimes even longer,” Smoak said. “We just traded everybody away and it’s basically been only a year.
And with the guys we have here position-player-wise I think it will help us turn the corner a little bit quicker because these guys are good enough. Guys like Vladdy (Vlad Guerrero Jr.) and Bo (Bichette), they’re going to be superstars.”
The dynamic between Smoak and Guerrero is an entertaining one to watch and dates back to 2010 when the veteran was a teammate of Vlad’s hall-of-fame father.
“He always gives me advice and he jokes around with me,” Guerrero said. “He’s definitely been a great influence for me and a great teammate. He finds a way to give me advice and keep me up. He’s the best.
“The biggest thing I earned this year was to try what Smoak does every day. It doesn’t matter if he goes 5-for-5 or 0-for-5, he’s always the same person. I’ve been watching him since then and I’m trying to do exactly what he does.”
And Guerrero’s not alone in learning from the wisecracking wise man.
“Going forward in my career, I know there will be situations where I’ll be thinking ‘What would Smoakie do here?’
“His sense of humour goes a long way with connecting with guys and being able to be yourself. He’s a guy you look at and want to be like. The perfect teammate.” rlongley@postmedia.com
I’ve never truly been a free agent, so I don’t even know what that feels like. I know for a lot of the guys, it hasn’t been good ...