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Jordan Smith adjusts nicely to pro game
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SCRAPPERS - (27) Bryson Myles is out at third as Maikel Franco makes the play from the ground during thier game Wednesday night in Niles. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
By Joe Scalzo
NILES
Wednesday’s game had been over for 10 minutes and Scrappers outfielder Jordan Smith was headed back to the locker room when a middle-aged man saw him pick up a ball and yelled over, “Hey, can I have the ball? It’s for a little kid?”
Smith paused.
“Is that the best you can do?” he said.
Then he cracked up, tossed the ball to the fan and was immediately stopped for autographs.
Then for pictures. Then for more autographs. Smith didn’t leave the field for 25 minutes after the game ended and 15 after the rest of his teammates had gone to the locker room. The only ones still in the stadium were Smith, a couple kids and the grounds crew.
“It’s definitely a nice community,” said Smith, who had two hits in Mahoning Valley’s 5-2 loss to Williamsport at Eastwood Field. “They’re definitely a big supporter of the Scrappers and it’s been nice to play here.
“It’s a team with good coaches and good guys and that makes it really easy to adapt.”
Smith (6-foot-4, 205 pounds) was a ninth-round draft pick by the Indians in June after playing two seasons at St. Cloud State in his home state of Minnesota. He started playing football, basketball and baseball “as soon as I could walk” but always knew baseball was his future.
Problem was, playing baseball in Minnesota is even worse than Ohio and he played three games this spring in snow and about half the games under 40 degrees, he said.
“I don’t know any different,” he said. “I just endure the elements.”
Smith is batting a team-best .339 with Mahoning Valley, earning raves from the coaches for his approach and his consistency — and ribs from his teammates for his Minnesota accent.
“We’re very pleased with Jordan,” said Scrappers manager David Wallace.
“He’s put together good at-bats since we’ve been here and we like him in the middle of that lineup.
“He’s had some big two-out RBIs and hopefully he’ll continue to have good at-bats.”
Smith is far from home for the first time and said he mainly uses text messages and Facebook to keep in touch. But his family came east for his birthday on Tuesday, making the one-hour drive from Batavia, N.Y., that morning to celebrate at Niagara Falls.
“Baseball has always been my life and it’s definitely a big commitment,” he said. “But I’m getting paid to do it and I couldn’t be happier. I mean, we’re getting food money and there’s no real expenses.
“Going to class is great, I guess you would say, but this is the life. Pro ball is where it’s at and I’m just trying to enjoy it. I’ll probably go back and visit the buddies this offseason to rub it in about not having to go to class.”
Bryson Myles had two hits, including a double, and scored a run for the Scrappers, while Jared Lowery added a homer in the first inning — his third of the season.
After coughing up leads in the bottom of the eighth inning the previous two nights, Mahoning Valley gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on Wednesday and the Crosscutters added two more in the ninth to seal the win.