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.