Josh Smith has given the Blue Jays something they badly need: a bat that keeps making noise.
Toronto’s trade deadline haul looked murky at the time, but since then the club has gone 20-12, and Smith has quickly become more than a throw-in. Acquired from the Texas Rangers with Triple-A pitcher Josh Stephan for pitcher Adam Macko, the utility man was expected to be depth. Instead, he’s forcing a real conversation about where he fits in the lineup.
In 18 games with the Blue Jays, Smith is hitting .257/.381/.600 with a .981 OPS in 44 plate appearances. He has scored 11 runs, walked seven times, and launched four home runs, including a solo shot Sunday in Kansas City. On a full-season pace, that works out to 36 homers.
Smith’s background helps explain why Toronto can move him around. The 29-year-old has played every position except pitcher and catcher, though second base, third base and left field are his usual stops. His 2026 season in Texas was slowed by early injuries, including a battle with viral meningitis in May, and he finished his time there hitting .213 with a .299 on-base percentage and a .272 slugging percentage in 45 games before being sent to Triple-A Round Rock in July.
The Blue Jays, though, are in a different place now. They’ve won seven of nine since the Seattle series at the end of August, scoring 51 runs in that stretch, an average of 5.67 per game.
That’s the kind of run support Toronto has been chasing all season. Even with the recent uptick, the club sits tied for 27th in the majors with 580 runs in 144 games.
Before that surge, Toronto had scored 529 runs in 135 games, or 3.92 a contest.
Offense has been a problem for a lot of reasons, from the lack of early runs to the struggles with runners in scoring position to the uneven production from players such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. So if a utility player who came over in a trade for a reliever can help carry the lineup, that’s a trade worth leaning into.
Smith has done enough to earn more at-bats, but the matchup matters. Against right-handed pitching this season, he’s hitting .241/.343/.379 with a .722 OPS in 169 plate appearances.
Against lefties, the numbers crater to .115/.148/.115 with a .264 OPS in 29 appearances. That makes him the kind of bat manager John Schneider should have a clear plan for.
The biggest question is where those starts should come from. Guerrero is locked in at first base, and Kazuma Okamoto is at third.
Andrés Giménez at shortstop doesn’t make much sense either, since both he and Smith hit left-handed. That leaves second base, where Ernie Clement has been the regular option.
Clement made the All-Star team this season, but his bat has cooled off in July and August. His OPS sits at .688, and he has just 10 extra-base hits, including two homers, over the last two months. Giving Smith some starts at second base to spell Clement would at least give Toronto another look.
Left field is another opening worth watching. Smith has played there plenty, and Jesús Sánchez has given Blue Jays fans little reason to feel good about that spot.
He was involved in another defensive miscue Sunday in Kansas City, dropping a fly ball that should have been caught. At the plate, Sánchez has gone without a homer since Aug. 5, hit 9-for-41 in August, and is 1-for-7 in September.
Toronto is 72-72 and a game back of the final wild card spot with 18 games left. At this stage, every run and every clean defensive play matters. Smith has earned a bigger role, and the Blue Jays should keep putting him in position to hit.
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Blue Jays Already Look Smarter For Moving On From This Prospect
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For Toronto, the move now looks even more sensible in hindsight. The return for Jimnez brought back infielder Dub Gleed and international bonus money, and with Jimnez no longer in the Marlins plans, the Blue Jays at least appear to have turned a once-promising prospect into something more useful for their organization. [Read more 🡒]
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Around the division, there are still a lot of moving pieces worth monitoring, from Toronto arms Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber to Red Sox pitchers Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck and Johan Oviedo. The Red Sox also have other names in the injury mix, along with Mets reliever Nate Lavender and Nationals catcher Drew Millas, who may need another surgery on his left index finger. For Toronto, the immediate takeaway is less about one rivals bad luck than the bigger reality of September baseball, where every recovery timeline can shift the shape of a pennant race. [Read more 🡒]