Trying to think of the power hitter that Smoak reminds me of, and it's not coming to me. A guy that hits a ball and you go, "Oh well, didn't quite get all of that...hard screaming double in the gap."
"Good swing, just a little late, pop fl...no, that's seven rows out to the deepest part of the ball park."
Maybe I'm just too used to Mariners who could get 100% of a ball and still have it die on the warning track, but I keep finding myself surprised by just how far Smoak hits em on swings that I didn't think were perfect by any means.
He's not doing an Ichiro and just destroying an inside fastball with a wicked pull swing that sends a screaming liner outta here. It's easy power.
It's power that doesn't require perfect contact to blast a ball 400 feet, from a bat that's not moving especially fast. Sheffield he ain't, but he gets his power other ways. His hip swing and torso rotation are a dream that puts all 230 pounds of him into play, and he's country strong. I really hope he can keep it up - but I'm not really a skeptic. That 130 OPS+ I was aiming to get out of him looks legit out of the box instead of an end goal. We'll see once he slumps and how he handles it, but man...
When you HEAR the contact live you whip your head around and watch the ball sail away, but on TV, it never looks like Smoak REALLY got a hold of one.
I wonder how far the ball will go when he does. :) Couldn't be happier with his first month of 2011 at the plate.
He's taken to having the weight of the offense dropped on his shoulders like it doesn't weigh a pound.
Good stuff.
~G
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