smoak on the water

he's also good at swinging the bat with that doughnut on it

I want to get this on the record before he blows up and everyone jumps on the band wagon.  Justin Smoak is my favorite Seattle Mariner and I think he’s going to be very good.  There, I said it.  May it be etched in stone.

To make a proclamation like that about an unestablished star is dangerous.  Especially for me, because most often when I go out on the limb like that it snaps off and I fall to the ground crying and embarrassed.  Which is exactly what happened to my last favorite Mariner, Richie Sexson.

For those of you not familiar with the sad and woe some tale of Richie Sexson, here it is in a nutshell.  In 2005 he signed a four year $50 million contract with the Mariners.  The contract was steep and inflated for a player of his caliber, I was still beyond excited.

You see I’d followed his career since he was a rookie with Cleveland.  Perhaps it was the fact that he was a local boy, or perhaps that he was tall (6’ 8”) and goofy, either way I loved to watch him play.

His first two seasons with the team went well, but by 2007 his power was diminishing and his batting average dropped.  By 2008 strikeouts devoured his at bats and the hometown fans were openly booing him.  By July the Mariners released him.  Eventually he was picked up by the Yankees, even that fell flat as just over a month after signing, the Yankees released him as well.  He would never play baseball again.

You can see why I have been hesitant to proclaim another player as my favorite, again.  I was afraid that as soon as I became invested in him, it would all result in a catastrophic disappointment.

Last year when the Mariners traded Cliff Lee for Justin Smoak, people immediately wanted him to be as good a hitter as Lee was a pitcher.  He came with a lot of promise but at his very young age was still struggling to figure things out.

When I saw him play in Anaheim last year, I wanted to “come out” as a full on Smoak supporter but didn’t want to jinx him.  He did well at first but soon after arriving in Seattle he began to struggle and he was sent down to the minors to develop further.  I breathed a sigh of relief that I’d held back, perhaps later when he got things sorted out I could openly root for him.

When this season began I couldn’t wait to see how he’d progressed.  Spring training had been difficult for him but by the time the season started he began to excel.  Not to star or superstar status (not yet anyway) but he was progressing nicely.  I decided that I should be brave and go for it and make Smoak my favorite player.

I like to watch Felix Hernandez make batters look silly on a sinking curveball, or Franklin Gutierrez race down balls in center field, or Ichiro beat out an infield grounder for a base hit, but I love to watch Justin Smoak just play.

If he ends up a star with a long career, then I will take pride in rooting for him first.  If like Richie Sexson he burns out after ten seasons, then I will look like a fool.  I just can’t sit by and not be an outspoken supporter of my favorite play regardless of which way his career swings.

posted by: brian snider