Kevin Smith is always looking for ways to test his own limitations.
After a successful season split between Class A Lansing and Class A Advanced Dunedin last year, where he hit a combined .302/.358/.528 with 25 home runs, 31 doubles, six triples, 93 runs scored, 93 RBIs and 29 stolen bases, the 23-year-old shortstop wanted to push himself further.
Smith decided to spend his offseason making some changes in the hopes of improving his game, and the infielder adjusted his swing, attempting to have a flatter bat path through the strike zone. But when the season rolled around and Smith brought his alterations into game action at Double-A New Hampshire, he found they were not working.
¡°You have to keep making adjustments,¡± he said. ¡°Sometimes they work, sometimes they don¡¯t. But at the end of the day, if you want to get better, you have to keep changing things and tweaking things and really give yourself some time to figure out what works and what doesn¡¯t.
¡°If you never try to make those changes or try to make those adjustments, you never know really how good you could be. It¡¯s just letting yourself fail sometimes and always being hungry for that success and figuring out what works and what doesn¡¯t. Sometimes you¡¯re going to take a step backwards, and that¡¯s OK. That comes with the territory.¡±
Smith¡¯s step backwards lasted the first three months of the season this year, when Toronto¡¯s No. 13 prospect -- according to MLB Pipeline -- hit .183/.244/.346 in 68 games through the months of April, May and June.
Smith has since made a completely turnaround in July, though in a small sample size of just 17 games, slashing .333/.368/.717 over that span with seven home runs, two doubles and 16 RBIs. Smith credits his improved performance to two things, the first being his ability to maintain his level of competition and motivation even when times got tough.
¡°That¡¯s what separates people,¡± the native of East Greenbush, N.Y. said. ¡°The people who make it, have that. The people who don¡¯t, it withers away. That¡¯s definitely a tough part -- keeping the end goal in mind and keeping what you want to happen in the future and always having those positive thoughts of affirmation in your head, knowing what you¡¯re working toward and why you¡¯re making some changes even when it seems tough, or why you¡¯re making adjustments when they don¡¯t feel comfortable.
¡°Ultimately, it¡¯s to make it to the big leagues and help your team win and have some fun with your teammates. Keeping those in your head and obviously enjoying the journey, enjoying every day you get to go out there and play the game, and having fun with your teammates.¡±
The second thing Smith credits for his on-field improvements this month is a change in clubhouse mentality for the Fisher Cats following a players¡¯ meeting called by fellow infielder Nash Knight.
¡°The second half rolled around and obviously the first half, no one really had the year they wanted to,¡± Smith said. ¡°We had some All-Stars who had great individual years, but we really wanted to win a few more games. No one was really satisfied with where we were at, so we made it our mantra to be a little better in the second half.
¡°Everyone was giving their opinion on what was going on and the struggles that we were facing either individually or as a team, [and] as you get up in pro ball, people get more experienced and mature a little bit. It¡¯s cool some of the meetings you have and what guys talk about and the conversations that go on throughout the clubhouse, and what you can learn from it.
¡°Everyone¡¯s learning right now. We have a lot of new guys in Double-A, a pretty young team, and it¡¯s been fun to learn with them and grow and see what we can do here in the next month or two.¡±
Though the Fisher Cats are 11-15 in July and sit 7 1/2 games back of Reading in the Eastern League¡¯s Eastern division standings, Smith is excited for what the remainder of the season will bring.
¡°We¡¯re going to have a lot of fun,¡± Smith said. ¡°Guys want to win, and we¡¯re moving in the right direction. We don¡¯t really like setting too extreme goals, short-term or long-term, we just like going out there every day and competing and trying to win.
¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been trying to do in the second half, letting go of yesterday and not focusing on tomorrow, but being present in what we¡¯re doing right now, and when it¡¯s game time, we¡¯re just having fun.¡±