Josh Smith has three home runs in just 34 plate appearances since joining the Blue Jays.
Compare that to his time with the Rangers earlier this season, where he managed just one home run across 154 plate appearances.
That's not a small gap. It's a completely different offensive player showing up almost overnight.
Sometimes a change of scenery genuinely unlocks something in a hitter, and Smith's early returns in Toronto fit that story well.
Part of it may simply be reuniting with Cody Atkinson, Toronto's assistant hitting coach, who apparently has history working with Smith.
Familiarity with a coach's approach can matter more than fans give it credit for, especially for a hitter making a midseason adjustment to a new organization.
Smith has appeared in 59 games total this season, hitting three home runs with 11 RBIs across 164 at-bats, numbers that mostly reflect his small sample as a Blue Jay layered onto a quieter Texas stretch.
Why this power surge matters for Toronto's stretch run
Smith recently returned from a hamstring injury that had him projected to be out until at least Sept. 1, adding even more context to how compressed this power stretch actually is.
Three homers in such a short window is the kind of pace that would be unsustainable over a full season, but it's exactly the spark Toronto's lineup has needed.
The Blue Jays have struggled with power production most of this year, ranking near the bottom of the league in home runs.
Any hitter finding an unexpected surge like this becomes a real weapon in a lineup that hasn't had many.
Toronto sits 2.5 games back of a wild-card spot, and every extra bit of thump in the order matters over these final weeks.
Whether Smith sustains anything close to this pace, or this settles into a smaller sample-size story by season's end, the early impact has been real regardless.
For a player who came over in a trade many barely noticed at the time, this stretch is quickly becoming one of the more interesting subplots of Toronto's stretch run.
Do you think Josh Smith keeps up this power surge for the rest of the season?
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