Posts Tagged ‘Jason Smit’

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are happy to see Staten Island go home, especially Yankee prospect Neil Medchill.  Medchill homered for the third consecutive game helping the Yankees complete a three-game sweep of the Scrappers.

Medchill put Staten Island on the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-run bomb to deep right field.  “I thought he [Clayton Cook] was going to throw a change-up, he ended up coming with a fastball inside and I just reacted to it”, said Medchill after the game. 

The Scrappers got it going in the third as Jordan Henry and Kyle Smith singled to start the inning.  Henry scored on a Jason Smit sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1.  A Ben Carlson single scored Smith to tie the game.   Chun Chen scored on a Kyle Bellows fielders choice coupled with a throwing error to give the Scrappers  a 3-2 lead. 

The Scrappers added a run in the fourth as Tim Palincsar doubled and later scored on a Kyle Smith double-play groundout to up the Mahoning Valley lead to 4-2.

In the sixth, Scrapper-killer Medchill doubled and scored as SS Kyle Smith mishandled a throw that would have ended the inning.

With the score at 4-4, Staten Island struck in the top of the eighth when Luke Merton delivered with an RBI single to give the Yankees the lead for good at 5-4.

“It’s frustrating getting beat by a team’s seven, eight, and nine hitters, and they have been coming through the whole series.  It [this series] gave me a feel for where we are at as a club”, remarked Scrappers Manager Travis Fryman after the game.

Smit-O-Meter:  1-4, 3B (4), RBI (14),   Currently batting: .311

The Batavia Muckdogs got the best of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Saturday night in Batavia, winning the game 5-4.  As a result of the loss, the Scrappers five game winning streak comes to an end.  Batavia pushed all five of their runs across the plate in the bottom of the third and held on for the victory.

The Scrappers got on the board first in the top of the third inning on a Jordan Henry RBI single to make it 1-0.  Brett Brach, the Mahoning Valley starter,  then had a nightmare of an inning in the bottom of the third as the Muckdogs offense exploded for five runs.  The five runs given up by the Scrappers were the most scored in an inning this season against them.

The Scrappers tried to fight back, scoring two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Jason Smit and a throwing error to cut the lead to 5-3 in favor of Batavia.  Smit added an RBI double in the seventh, his third hit of the game, driving home another Scrapper run and slicing the lead to 5-4.  Unfortunately, Mahoning Valley could not tie the game in their final two at-bats, and ultimately came out with a loss.

The Scrappers wrap up the short road trip with a 5:05 game in Batavia before returning home to the friendly confines of Eastwood Field.

Smit-O-Meter:  3-5, 2 RBI, currently batting .333

Every once in the while, I am lucky enough to meet an athlete who is talented, charismatic, and a joy to talk with.  Jason Smit is all of the above.  He is a ball of energy who somehow ended up in America playing baseball for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.  We talked for a half-hour about baseball, Travis Fryman, and the differences between the United States and his home country, Australia. 

Paneech:  Talk to me about what it meant to be drafted at the age of 16 and having to leave home.

Smit:  Well, I was sixteen, I was at the Major League Baseball Academy.  A few scouts at the camp were interested in me and talked with me about signing.  It ended up narrowing down to three teams – Cleveland, The Rockies, and Atlanta too.  I liked Cleveland because they have a lot to do with player development, so I chose Cleveland and I am very grateful for that.  I was seventeen when I first came over here, which was pretty hard.  I had been away from my family before, but not for this period of time.  Well, I left, I remember it was the fifteenth of February and I ended up going home somewhere in October.  It was difficult, I didn’t get to see my family.  You know, some of these guys can pick up the phone and call their parents, call their mates and stuff like that, but for me it’s different.  The twelve hour difference, when I’m awake they are sleeping.  At the end of the day I am doing what I love and I’m loving every minute of it.

Paneech:  Tell me what it is like living with a host family and how you like the family you are with.

Smit:  It’s been neat to have a host family.  I’m very grateful, I’ve got two very nice host parents, they’re very good people, they open their house to us.  It’s actually me and [Chun] Chen rooming together.  It’s basically like living at home, it’s a home feeling and like having a mom and a dad – they look after you and they supply stuff for you.  Me and Chen have been together for a few years now, we had two years at instructional ball.  I know Chen pretty well, he is not bad when it comes to English, when there is a little joking on he is quite a character.

Paneech:  Growing up in Australia, there is Rugby, Cricket, Aussie Football, how did you take such a liking to baseball?

Smit:  Well, T-Ball is pretty big for youngsters there.  As soon as you hit twelve, it’s that conversion to pee wee baseball.  I was playing Australian Rules Football at that time too, which I loved playing.  I went from T-Ball to peewees and really enjoyed myself.  That next year, I made the Colt World Series, and that was the stage where I was like, ok, hold on, I’m not bad at this, I wanna try to keep going with this.

Paneech:  I know there are some cultural differences betwen here and home.  Have you taken a liking to things you see on American television?

Smit:  To be honest, it’s pretty much all the same.  We get the same soap operas and stuff like that.  I’ll watch anything on TV, I’m a big Sportscenter fan.  Back home there is Sportscenter, but there is no baseball on it whatsoever.  There’s sports, I’ll watch anything, I’m not too picky.

Paneech:  How about music, what do you listen to?

Smit: I like Kings of Leon, I like a lot of rock bands, I’ll listen to some rap here and there.  I will not listen to country at all.

Paneech:  Have you found a favorite restaurant to go eat at yet?

Smit:  Station Square definitely.  My host family is very good friends with the owner, but so far it’s been the winner, their chicken parmesian was pretty good.

Paneech:   Who is your favorite athlete of all-times?

Smit:  That’s a tough one.  I didn’t grow up watching baseball, so I can’t say it would be a baseball player.  It would be an AFL (Australian Rules FB) player that you guys don’t know.  Nick DelSanto, he’s a footballer I liked watching him and the way he plays.

Paneech:  You get teased by your fellow Scrappers about the accent and being from Australia, does it anger you or have you been able to deal with it?

Smit:  Not at all, at the end of the day I know they are all joking around and having a crack at me.  Right now, I’m the only Australian on the team so I do cop it pretty bad.  I kind of get back at them pretty good too, so it’s not too bad.

Paneech:  Have you taken a liking to any of the current Cleveland Indians?

Smit:  I really like watching Asdrubal Cabrera a lot.  I love the way he plays and how smooth he is, his hands.  he is one of those guys you want to watch.

Paneech:  Tell me about your shoulder injury and conversion to outfielder.

Smit:  Well it was actually in Spring training last year. I was playing second base, came across behind the pitcher’s mound and tried to throw to home plate,  and my shoulder pretty much popped out, and I did some damage to my labrum in the back and I was rehabbing for a long time, about four or five months.  Thanks to the guys here, I came back really strong, mayber even stronger.  Last year at the end of the year, I went to the outfield and proved I could play the outfield and proved that I was strong enough which was a good thing.  In Spring trining, I got outfield work, I think they are pretty happy with the way it’s going.

Paneech:  Has your family talked about coming here to catch a few games?

Smit:  It’s difficult, dad is an engineer, he’s pretty busy at work.  We have spoken about it, but the thing is if you are coming here, you have to come for at least a couple of weeks.  The flight is expensive and stuff like that.  I mean, they definitely will, within the next year, will come and see me wherever I go and catch a few games, it should be good.  I’ve got an older brother, 22 years-old, his name is Rene.  He’s actually a very smart guy.  He’s a software engineer, he’s in his last year at University, he’s like my dad, very smart guy.

Paneech:  You guys finally get a day off on July 12th.  What will you do all day?

Smit:  I’m definitely going to have a little sleep, catch up on some sleep, go watch a movie, go out to lunch, and actually get a good dinner for once.  It’s pretty hard playing at 7:00, I’m looking forward to it.

Paneech:  What is it like playing for Travis Fryman?

Smit:  Ah, I love it.  I’ve had him for a couple of years now, he’s one of, if not the best coach I have ever had the chance to play for.  I love the way he goes about the game.  He knows the right times to be hard, and he knows when to lay back and have some fun.  He’s done a hell of a job so far and he will go a long way with coaching, he’s a good guy.

So there you have it, Jason Smit, a good guy who is having fun doing what he loves.

On a very busy night at Eastwood Field, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers completed a sweep of the Auburn Doubledays, winning 4-3 in 14 innings.  The four hour and twenty-four minute marathon was the longest in Niles since the Scrappers beat Staten Island, 3-2, on August 6 of 2005.

Kelly Pavlik was at the park signing copies of his book alongside authors David Lee Morgan, Jr. and Greg Gulas.  Pavlik also threw out the ceremonial first pitch (above).  The weather was perfect for the big crowd to enjoy “Buck Night”, as well as an appearance from the Cavs dancers.  There was something going on everywhere before the game started.

Once the game started, Auburn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a Yan Gomes double.  In the top of the sixth, Auburn tacked on another run as Jimmy Gonzales drove in Welington Ramirez with a bases-loaded RBI single with one out.  Scrapper reliever Jose Urena pitched himself out of the bases-loaded one out jam to keep the score at 2-0 in favor of the Doubledays.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mahoning Valley got on the board as Jordan Henry singled and advanced to second on Lurvin Basabe’s walk.  Jason Smit found the hole between short and third scoring the speedy Henry cutting the lead to 2-1.  After Ben Carlson walked to load the bases, Chun Chen was hit by a pitch forcing in the tying run to knot the contest at two apiece.

In the tenth inning, Auburn got a run when Welington Ramirez singled home Brad Glenn.  The Scrappers tied the game in the bottom of the tenth as Ben Carlson led off with a single.  Carlson was then lifted for pinch runner Kyle Bellows, who stole second base.  Chen came through again with an RBI double that scored Bellows tying the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the 14th inning, Rafael Vera delivered with a two-out, two-strike RBI single that would score Chen lifting the Scrappers to their fourth straight victory.

After the game, Coach Travis Fryman commented  on the long game.  ” I don’t have a lot of answers for that ball game, I really don’t.  I thought it was a very poorly played game, but a very gutsy game.  Both teams played hard for 14 innings.  We had many opportunities to win that game and it should not have went 14 innings.”

Fryman was also very praiseworthy of his catcher, Chun Chen.  “Fourteen innings to catch, three steals, three or four hits, it was a very gutsy effort on his part.”

A new feature here will be the Smit-O-Meter, tracking the nightly efforts of Scrapper Jason Smit, one of the most charismatic athletes I have ever met.

The 7-9-09 Smit-O Meter:  3-7 with an RBI (10), currently batting .325.

What a story Lance Armstrong could write.  He is peddling his way up the standings in this years Tour de France bike race and has already won there in the past.  He beat cancer and got to date Sheryl Crow for awhile.  He is truly living the dream.

Couple of updates for you readers…  Kelly Pavlik is throwing out the first pitch at the Scrappers game tonight, I will have something posted here tomorrow of his appearance at the game.

I am interviewing Jason Smit before the game.  Smit was drafted at age 16 and is from Australia.  He is working hard to climb the ladder and get to the next level.  I have had brief conversations with him before and he is an enjoyable person.

I am close to gaining credentials for Youngstown State Football and couldn’t be more excited about the potential of Coach Heacock and this years team.

I spoke with Mike Pavlik yesterday and am very close to securing an interview with Kelly Pavlik in the next couple of weeks, stay tuned for that.

Here are some stories from other great sites:

• Sports Rubbish found Colin Montgomery warming up for the British Open by hitting some targets provided by Pirates.  Check out the divot he takes out of a green.
• PSAMP likes the brand of humor that Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes brings to the table.
• The Fifth Corner updates the progress of Team USA’s basketball squad in the World University Games.
• Zoner Sports thinks that Alfonso Soriano is not good enough to complain about a day off he was not expecting.
• Babes Love Baseball posted a video of Mark Wahlberg throwing some pitches and hitting a fan right in the ass on his first pitch.
• Sharapova’s Thigh looks at the ridiculous money people like Marcin Gorcet are handed as NBA free agents.
• Style Points has Albert Pujols with a blank slate after finding an interview with the machine where nothing was answered with a cliche or traditional answer.
• NESW Sports also has a video of Mark Wahlberg throwing out the first pitch that errantly hit a fan in the butt.
• Fansided previews the tough ACC Conference for the upcoming college football season.
• Cubbies Crib thinks the Cubs are too reliant on Derek Lee and need something from Aramis Ramirez and/or Alfonso Soriano.

Marty Popham (on mound in picture) seems to get better every start and the statistics are backing him up.  Popham threw a career-high 7 innings, struck out a career-high 9 batters and only walked one in leading the Mahoning Valley Scrappers to a 6-1 victory over the Auburn Doubledays.   

Popham threw 89 pitches before giving way to reliever Austin Adams.  Adams kept the no-hit bid alive but after a couple of Scrapper errors, Doubledays LF Chris Hopkins singled with two outs in the ninth inning.  There has never been a no-no thrown at Cafaro Field.  The Scrappers recorded a no-hitter in 2007, but that was in Vermont.

A vocal audience of 3,903 enjoyed one of the best pitching performances in Scrapper history.

Mahoning Valley wasted little time getting on the board in the first inning as Jordan Henry walked and would later score on a Brian Justice wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Kyle Bellows, who walked three times in the game, reached via the free pass with two outs.   Greg Folgia delivered with an RBI double, scoring Bellows,  to double the Scrappers lead to 2-0.

Back-to-back singles by Henry and Kyle Smith set the stage for Jason Smit’s RBI double in the sixth.  Ben Carlson’s sac fly plated Smith to push the lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Lurvin Basabe’s double to left scored Folgia.  Besabe came home to make it 6-0 on Jordan’s third single of the night.

Marty Popham was throwing a perfect game into the seventh inning.  His walk to Eric Eiland squashed perfection possibilities, but he did leave with a no-hitter still intact.  After the game, Popham commented on his effort, “I had everything going for me tonight – all of the pitches, good catching behind the plate, and great defense in the field.  Going seven almost perfect, it was a hell of an outing.  I haven’t started since college, when I first got drafted they put me in the bullpen for the whole year and I just started coming back as a starter.”

Coach Travis Fryman praised the performance that Popham had, ” Two in a row, back-to-back performances that we expect from Marty.  At this level the guys are on pitch limits, obviously your not going to see an individual throw a no-hitter.  To get seven innings, frankly, this early in the year is a testament to how efficient he was from inning-to-inning.”

Being this close to an official minor-league franchise, I have met some people who are just passionate about what they do.  Marc Means is probably one of the best examples of someone who really gets into his work.  He wears many hats for the Scrappers.  As the official radio broadcast person, he  works by himself, which is not easy when broadcasting sports.  He is also a sales representative, chips in with publicity, preps the press room every game, and even helps pull the tarp on and off of the field when it rains.  Check him out while you are riding in the car on AM-1390.   I had a chance to interview Means before the Scrappers headed out to Jamestown.

Paneech:  How did you get your start with The Scrappers?

Means:  I was in the booth with WBBW back in the 1999 season, I did some fill-in work for them that year.  Three seasons ago, I came by and auditioned for the public announcer job and did that for the ’06 and ’07 seasons.  When the play-by-play position became available, I took that last year.  I enjoy spending the three hours in the booth and describing the game.

Paneech:  Lay out a normal day in the life of Marc Means.

Means:  The day will start at about 8:30.  The whole front office staff gets here at 8:30.  Usually, I will print out all the stats for both coaches from MLB and take that down to the clubhouse.  Then I check with the trainers for players injury-wise, see if there are any roster moves to see if there are players to come or go.  Then I come back up, update the roster, send that to the media, and send it to minor-league baseball so they can make the official changes.  Then I have to type up the starting lineups, press releases, game notes, and anything else for the press room.  Then I have to find time to handle my sales responsibilities.  I’ll spend two to thre hours talking to groups, trying to get more people to come out to the game.

Paneech:  How does being married and going out on the road work for you?

Means:  It’s the hard part of it because I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my wife.  When I am at home I try to spend as much time with her as I can.  It’s the worst part about being on the road, being away from my wife.  As much as I enjoy seeing different ballparks and teams, it’s the roughest part, being away from her.

Paneech:  How strong of a farm system do the Indians have right now?

Means:  According to Baseball America we’re in the Top 5.  I think this organization is stronger at some positions than others.  If you look at the catcher position, they [Indians] are extremely strong right now.  Victor Martinez and Kelly Shoppach are up and doing well, Carlos Santana , a guy down at Double-A is going to play in the futures game,  you’ve got Chris Gimenez.  Catching is definitely a position that they are loaded up on.  Outfield is another strength, there seems to be good outfielders at all levels of the system.  Pitching, has obviously been a team weakness.  If you look at this years draft, you could tell what the Indians were focusing on.  50 picks, overwhelmimgly, they took pitchers, overwhelmingly, they took college kids, so you could tell what they were focusing on when they were stockpiling new players.

Paneech:  How active are you Before June 1, and after September 15?

Means:  After September we all kind of take some time to wind down.   You just got done with four months that were crazy and hectic throughout the entire season.  After a couple of weeks, you get back to it, you start talking to people about season tickets, you start talking to people about groups.  Opportunities are always there, and that’s really something there is no offseason for.

One Word Answers:

Paneech:  Favorite Meal of The Day   Means:  Lunch

Paneech:  Favorite Music   Means:  Collective Soul

Paneech:  Favorite TV Show   Means:  Baseball Tonight

Paneech:  Favorite Restaurant    Means:  I don’t really have one (answered like a true salesman)

Paneech:  Favorit Sport To Watch    Means:  College Football

Paneech:  Favorite Current MLB Player   Means:  Victor Martinez

Paneech:  Longest Bus Ride   Means: 11.5 hours to Vermont

Paneech:  Favorite Athlete In Any Sport     Means:  Mark Price

Paneech:  Scrapper On This Years Team Most Likely To Succeed   Means: Bo Greenwell or Jason Smit

Paneech:  Myron Cope or Tom Hamilton     Means:  Neither – Joe Tait

Means has been helpful in accomodating the press.  He is a very busy man and is at the park from sunrise to midnight for about four months a year.  His passion for the game, and this organization are commendable and sincere.  I am glad he is someone I am getting to know and look forward to seeing him at the park for years to come.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers celebrated The Fourth of July with smiles on their faces in Jamestown.  After fighting for offense for pretty much a week, the Scrappers bats pounded out 15 hits and scored 10 runs to start a short road trip in Jamestown.

The Scrappers put up three in the top half of the first inning on a fielder’s choice, a groundout and an RBI single from Chun Chen.  Jamestown responded with two in the bottom of the first off of Scrapper starting pitcher Vidal Nuno.

In the top of the fourth the Scrappers would tack on five runs.  Jason Smit had an RBI double, John Allman (pictured) had a two-RBI single, and Kyle Smith added another RBI single.  Allman added a single in the seventh inning to end the game with 4 RBI.

Scrapper relief pitcher Jose Urena worked four scoreless innings to pick up his first victory this season.

The Scrappers and Jammers will hook it up again on Sunday night at 6 in Jamestown.

Kelly Pavlik will be at Cafaro Field in Niles signing copies of his book on Thursday, July 9.  Greg Gulas and David Lee Morgan, the authors of the biographical piece will also be on hand.  Pavlik will also throw out the first pitch at the game.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were finally able to get one over on Williamsport taking the finale of the three game set, 3-0. In front of 3,945 fans on fireworks night.   Marty Popham had his best career start with help from two relievers to keep the Crosscutters off of the scoreboard. 

Popham was the story in this game as he reached career highs in innings pitched throwing six scoreless frames.  He also struck out six batters, another career best.  He walked no one and was never really in trouble.  Popham’s shutout effort was preserved by Guido Fonseca and Cory Burns.  Burns recorded his second save.

Mahoning Valley got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning.  John Allman walked and scored on a Kyle Bellows RBI double.  Bellows later scored on a Tim Palincsar RBI single making it 2-0 in favor of the Scrappers.

The Scrappers added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Bellows reached on a throwing error.  With one out, Kyle Smith and Tim Palincsar walked to load the bases.  Catcher Dwight Childs groundout to second base was enough to score Bellows to make it 3-0 in favor of the home team.

Interestingly enough, the Scrappers only had two hits and still managed to score three runs.  Manager Travis Fryman said, ” Timely hits are certainly better than a plethora of hits.  Timely hits are the best kind.”

Jason Smit had a weird game for the Scrappers on offense.  Smit was hit by pitches in his third and fourth at-bats.  His second at-bat resulted in a poor call by the two-man umpire crew as Smit hit a laser to center that everyone but the umpire saw the center fielder trap.  The umpires called Smit out.  After the game, Smit commented, ” Definitely a strange game, not too many things went my way tonight.  I took one in the back and also got hit pretty hard in my achiles.  The thing is that they’re here (the umpires in the Penn League), just like we are, to learn.  They’re trying their hardest, so what can you do.”

Fourth-round draft pick Kyle Bellows commented on how it felt to finally come through fot the Scrappers offense.  ” It feels great to help the team win.  We’ll take ’em how we can get ’em right now.  We aren’t scoring a lot of runs, we’re working hard and it’s been paying off.”

The Scrappers head out to Jamestown for a special 1:05 start time for the 4th of July.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers continued to struggle offensively for most of the game and ultimately lost to Williamsport 4-3.  The Scrappers paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and had three former players on hand who were honored before the game.  Mahoning Valley also wore uniforms paying respects to the Negro Leagues.   The Scrappers showed some heart with a ninth-inning rally that fell a bit short.  The loss moves the Scrappers to 8-6 and Williamsport goes to 9-5 with sole possession of first place.

Williamsport wasted little time scoring in the first inning.  Jiwan James singled and moved up to second base on a wild pitch.  James scored on Sebastian Valle’s RBI triple to put the Crosscutters up 1-0.

In the top of the second, Alan Shoenberger hit a solo home run to right field to double Williamsport’s lead to 2-0.

Jeremy Barnes walked and would score on another Valle hit, this time an RBI double in the top of the third making the score 3-0 in favor of the visiting team.

The Scrappers finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning.  Greg Folgia walked and would later score on a Jason Smit RBI triple, cutting the Williamsport lead to 3-1.

Sebastian Valle again hurt Mahoning Valley in the top of the seventh with his third hit, an RBI single, which scored Jeremy Barnes from second who doubled earlier in the inning.  Valle finished the game with three hits and three RBI.

In the bottom of the ninth trailing 4-1, DH John Allman walked and stole second base.  Smit singled to right putting runners on first and second with nobody out.  The next Scrapper batter, Chun Chen, reached base on a throwing error by Barnes, allowing Allman to score and cut the lead to 4-2.  Tim Palincsar hit a sac fly to right scoring Smit to make it 4-3.  Jordan Henry struck out to end the game with Scrappers ultimately falling 4-3.

Jason Smit, a native Australian, had a good game for the Scrappers, but was freezing in the 60 degree range after playing in the Gulf Coast League for a couple of years, “I can’t stand the cold weather, it’s a hundred and something every day in Arizona.”  Smit  has been moved around and used different ways since injuring his shoulder.  ” I was in rehab about four or five months.  I made a move to the outfield and I’m playing some first base, I’m doing whatever to get at-bats right now.”  Smit smiled throughout being questioned and said he doesn’t mind taking verbal abuse about Outback Steakhouses and Crocodile Dundee jokes from his teammates.

Coach Travis Fryman knows his team has to be more consistent at the plate to win more games.  ” We have struggled over the past week to score runs.  Some of it is losing (Bo) Greenwell and a good left-handed bat in the lineup.  If you don’t hit the ball out of the ballpark you’ve got to string together three or four hits in an inning, and if you are striking out, it’s a bad combination.  We didn’t handle their lefthanders well tonight.”

A decent crowd of 2,967 saw a pretty good game on “Buck Night” at Cafaro Field.  The loss drops the Scrappers to 1-4 against Williamsport with one game remaining in the series on Friday.  It’s fireworks night and no rain is in the forecast, so get there early!