Blue Jays may have found their left-fielder in Dwight Smith Jr.

The Toronto Blue Jays may have found their permanent left-fielder in the likes of speedster of Dwight Smith Jr. who has continued to impress since being recalled from Buffalo.

Dwight Smith Jr. emerged into the forefront of the Blue Jays outfield depth chart with injuries to Ezequiel Carrera, Steve Pearce, and Dalton Pompey as well the release of Melvin Upton earlier in the season.

The 24-year old former first round pick brings some much-needed speed to the Jays homer-happy lineup. Thus far in 11 games, Smith Jr. is 10 for 25 batting .400 with 2 doubles and a stolen base. The smaller in stature Smith profiles as a future leadoff hitter if he can cut down on the strikeouts, he has 8 whiffs in limited opportunities thus far.

Smith Jr. opened up the season in Buffalo playing 55 games slashing .303/.364/.443 while swatting 6 home runs and swiping 5 bags. Last season in Double-A New Hampshire the outfielder hit .265 with 15 round trippers and stole 12 bases in 19 attempts.

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Smith comes from good blood lines as his father Dwight Smith Sr. was a career .275 hitter with 46 home runs and 42 stolen bases in 813 career games with the Cubs, Angels, Orioles, and Braves. Ironically Smith Sr. was also drafted by the Blue Jays in the 3rd round of the 1984 draft but opted not to sign.

Smith Sr. is also best remembered for singing the National Anthem at Wrigley Field while he was a member of the Chicago Cubs.

Of course, as I am authoring this article, Smith Jr. has been having an adventure in left field on three chances albeit one that he lost in the bank of lights at Kauffman Stadium.

Speaking of last night’s contest versus the Royals in which Smith collected three hits to pace the Blue Jays offence. The rookie had an at-bat in the 8th inning where he bounced a double over the head of first baseman Eric Hosmer. Smith who bats from the left side was facing a tough southpaw reliever in Scott Alexander who was running 93 mph fastballs in on Smith. He showed great poise in collecting the extra base hit in a less than desirable match-up for the rookie.

I had an opportunity to interview Smith Jr. in 2012 and asked him what people can expect of him and who he emulates on the field.

They can expect a great team player who has a huge desire to win. I emulated Ken Griffey Jr growing up because he is my favorite player.

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Obviously, we have only witnessed a small sample size however thus far looks like he is the real deal and could contribute on a regular basis at the major league level.