Smoak wins over city of motherly love
Mother’s Day down at the ballyard in Toronto creates a very different vibe. A warmer, pinker, more serene and, yes, perhaps more accepting audience.
Babies and strollers were everywhere on Sunday, middle-aged sons held their mom’s hand and escorted them down the stairs to their seats. Three military mothers, one a mother of three who’s an aeronautical engineer with a tour in Afghanistan under her belt, were honoured on the field between innings.
The roof wasn’t open as promised, but nobody seemed to mind. The joint seemed more relaxed, there were fewer leather-lunged idiots shouting this or that and fewer drunken clods trying to impress their buddies or their girlfriends. It was like everyone was on their best behaviour for mom.
Given any regular season Blue Jays ball game to attend, folks, you might want to look for the Mother’s Day game down the line.
Fittingly, on this day, it was Justin Smoak who again kick-started the Toronto offence after Seattle starter Ariel Miranda pretty much had the Jays bats stymied for five innings. Smoak banged a two-run homer off reliever James Pazos to erase a 1-0 deficit, setting up the walk-off heroics of Kevin Pillar three innings later.
If any player looked like they needed a mother’s understanding towards the end of last season, it was Smoak. He whiffed more than once every three times he went to the plate, and when the Jays set their American League Championship Series roster he was left off it, although an injury to Devon Travis eventually rescued him from that particular humiliation.
This much is indisputable: by the end of last season, Smoak was dreadful at the plate. If not for a contractual commitment, he would have been long gone.
How could Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins have signed this guy for two more years, the critics thundered. Forget the fact it was only for the average major-league salary. Smoak became a point of reference for those who were still pining for the previous management regime, and the ALCS exclusion only underlined the obviousness, it seemed, of the error.
Spring training in 2017 wasn’t any more encouraging, with Jays fans understandably focused on the fact Edwin Encarnacion had bolted for Cleveland after taking Smoak’s first-base job from him last season. There were constant calls to release Smoak or trade him, to promote prospect Rowdy Tellez, or to sign Mike Napoli or Justin Morneau. The Jays gave Steve Pearce more money than Smoak, and he looked to be an option if the former Gamecock swung-and-missed too often again. Hell, put Kendrys Morales on first if necessary. It was ABS: Anybody But Smoak.
On Mother’s Day, however, Smoak again demonstrated the benefits of just a little patience. John Gibbons would hardly be called “motherly” in his boys-be-boys approach, but Smoak was one of those players Gibbons seemed to be cheering for, even when he had to temporarily chop him from the post-season roster last fall.
Another 2-for-3 outing on Sunday kept Smoak among the most productive first basemen in the American League, just about the most stunning turnaround for any player in baseball, let alone the Blue Jays, so far this season.
Hitting coach Brook Jacoby seems to have been able to get the big man’s swing mechanics straightened out.
Seven home runs (tied with Morales) and 23 RBIs going into Monday’s series opener with Atlanta led the team, and Smoak’s alarming strikeout rate has been cut dramatically to about one every five at-bats.
Instead of being a lightning rod, the South Carolinian, — who told the Star’s Rosie DiManno in March that he’d been “booed at every place I’d played” — has become one of the better bargains on the roster.
Lord knows where the injurydepleted Jays offence would be this season without Smoak and Pillar, also an underpaid player who seemed unreasonably targeted for criticism last season. Major leaguers can improve their approach and results, and Pillar and Smoak have surely demonstrated that.
Everybody likes these stories in sports, or should. Nazem Kadri was one of the better stories for the Maple Leafs this season through the way he went from being the kid always serving detention to accountable and productive. For a time during the Raptors season, big man Lucas Nogueira seemed to have shrugged off his partying, out-of-shape ways and earned a regular role, although by season’s end he was a bench-warmer again.
Look, few would guarantee that Smoak will continue at this pace, or by August be among the most important Blue Jays like he is right now. Presumably, both Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki will resume their regular roles at some point, and both Devon Travis and Jose Bautista are heating up.
Moreover, regardless of how this season goes, Shapiro and Atkins have made it abundantly clear that the Jays need to restock the farm system — why doesn’t this franchise produce position players? — and the 30-year-old Smoak and his soft glove aren’t getting any younger.
We all remember that Michael Saunders started as an all-star last year and tapered off, and given Smoak’s career stats it would be foolish to imagine he will maintain these eye-catching numbers all season. When he falters, the critics will be back. He’s a nice big target.
Right now, however, he’s also a big reason why a Jays season that seemed lost in April is still worth talking about in May. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.