Smoak Show may be ending with the Jays, but it came to life in Toronto
POSTMEDIA NEWS
BALTIMORE — Cavan Biggio has just finished hitting for the cycle at Camden Yards and, with a group of reporters clustered around him, the 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 firstbase playing time ceded to Rowdy Tellez over the final two months of the season as the team looks to determine if he is the future at the position. And with just 10 games remaining, 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 bigleague 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, hitting .206. Important as a leader in the early steps of the rebuild, he doesn’t seem to fit the future and, after collecting his $8 million US 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 says. “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, next week’s Rogers Centre home stand promises to have some emotional moments, though the big first baseman plays that down during our talk.
He does 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 says.