Bluefield's Smith plates career-high six runs

With the calendar changing to September, Kevin Smith enters his eighth month of baseball in 2017. Nearing the finish line, he's playing some of his best ball of the year.
Toronto's No. 25 prospect doubled his previous personal best with six RBIs as Rookie-level Bluefield routed Johnson City, 12-1, on Thursday night. Smith belted his eighth homer of the season and added two singles. 

"I was just seeing pitches a little longer, trying to stay back, trying to recognize some stuff," the shortstop said. "I've been working on some few things with some guys that I trust back home, so it's been good to see it all come together and be feeling good at the right time of the year."
Gameday box score
Smith got the Blue Jays started in the top of the first inning. After leadoff batter Chavez Young worked a walk against Will Changarotty, the 6-foot-1, 188-pound Maryland product lofted a long ball to left-center field off righty Will Changarotty.
"First at-bat of the game, you're looking for something out over the plate that you can drive," Smith said. "I saw his fastball, saw his changeup. I didn't see his curveball, but I think it was a 2-2 count. He had two strikes on me, and I just saw the curveball up and put a good swing on it."
Smith has batted 41 times this season with a runner on first base and sports a .439/.477/.780 slash line in those opportunities, stressing patience and seeing pitches.
"I have a lot of things I want to work on and things I don't really like about my game right now, so I'm excited to get into the offseason and work with it, whether it's down in Tampa or back home in New York," he said. "I think ahead in the count is where most hitters want to be. You don't want to be behind, so you're kind of just working on getting your pitch early and laying off tough pitches.
"At this level, they're making good pitches, so it's kind of a combination of when you get your pitch, punish it, but at the same time lay off those one or two pitches at the beginning of the at-bat that they want you to swing at."
After Smith struck out in the third and flied out to right in the fifth, he drilled a two-out, two-run single to right in the sixth and took second on a throwing error by Jonathan Rivera. The 21-year-old came through again in the eighth, lacing a two-RBI single to center. Bluefield collected 16 hits with three apiece from Young and No. 3 hitter Yorman Rodriguez.

"I think hitting breeds hitting," Smith said. "We've got a lot of guys who have had great years like [first baseman Ryan Noda] in the four-hole. Yorman has had a great year. Chavez, it seems like every time I'm up, he's on base somewhere. It's a lot easier to hit when guys around you are hitting, especially when pitchers know guys are coming up like Noda behind me. That's always fun. It puts a lot of pressure on to kind of keep it going. You don't want to be the only guy not hitting."
Since Aug. 13, Smith boasts the fourth-best average in the Appalachian League at .372, a .402 on-base percentage and a .628 slugging percentage with 10 multi-hit games in 17 contests. Selected in the fourth round of the June Draft, the Troy, New York native started his 2017 season on Feb. 17 with the Terrapins, but isn't slowing down at the end of a lengthy year.
"I think it's just ... getting a routine where you feel good about it, your body feels good, and doing it day in and day out, so your body can recognize it and get ready for the day," Smith said. "I have a lot of friends back home and at Maryland that I talk to about the grind of Minor League Baseball, and they all just said have a routine that you do every day and stick with it so your body can prepare and be ready." 
Bluefield, the winner of the league's East Division title, improved to 46-22 on the year. 
"I think we just had a lot of guys come from different backgrounds, and we all just blend together," Smith said. "It's a lot of fun to get to know the new guys. This is a new group, and everybody just came with a fresh attitude and wanting to win.
"It's just fun to come to the park. We have a lot of fun in the clubhouse. We have a lot of fun in [batting practice]. I think it's just keeping it loose, keeping it fun around the park. Everyone wants to show up every day, and that's what makes it fun."
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With his success factoring into his team's late-season run, only one thing remains for Smith and the Blue Jays.
"We want to win a championship," he said. "Seeing the pitching come together tonight, seeing a lot of guys get hits and come off the bench with good nights, it's good to see the whole team clicking. We're doing it at the right time, and we want to win a championship, so we're taking it day by day, having fun.
"Ultimately, we want to win our last game of the season."