Former Magic baseball player Les Smith plays minor league baseball for the Detroit Tigers
– Staff Writer –
After one year playing for the STLCC–Meramec’s Magic baseball team, outfielder Les Smith took his first step toward his dream to play major league baseball. Since June 2010, Smith has been playing for the Detroit Tigers at the minor league single-A affiliate in Connecticut.
“They [the Detroit Tigers] attended a lot of games at Meramec this year. They sent a lot of scouts and they saw the games, kept the stats, and watched me play the field. They found me and drafted me in,” Smith said.
Born on Dec. 24, 1989, in Dyersburg, Tenn., Leslie Carroll Smith has been playing baseball since he was young. In high school, Smith earned second team All-State honors and was a four-time All-District selection out of Dyersburg High School. As a senior, Smith hit .410 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs, setting the school record at the time for home runs in a season.
Before playing for the Magic, Smith played a season at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. There, Smith hit .284 with nine home runs, 42 runs scored and 41 RBIs. The left-handed hitter posted a .509 slugging percentage for the Ragin’ Cajuns with 14 doubles and four triples to turn in the third highest slugging percentage on the team. Smith was also 4-for-4 in steals.
At Meramec, Smith was named to the All-Region XVI first team for his play throughout the season. At this time, he was leading the team in hitting with a .351 average.
He also came up just shy of breaking the all-time team mark of most doubles in a season. Smith finished with 25, the record of 29 was set in 1989. He also led the team with 43 runs scored, and was near the top of the RBI list with 46.
While Smith was playing at Meramec, he made friends with whom he still keeps in contact. Coach Tony Dattoli and Christine Salomon were two of them. Salomon was Smith’s tutor and helped him out with a lot of hard work.
“The only things that I miss from St. Louis are a couple of friends, my coaches and my teammates,” Smith said. “I wish my teammates all the good luck. Hope they play big. I will be rooting for them.”
Playing for the low-A team in Connecticut since July, Smith said that there is a huge difference between college baseball and the minor leagues.
“The major difference is the consistency because the players at minor league can do things more often. Pitchers can make more throws and the batters can repeat their swing more times. The speed of the game is a lot different too,” Smith said.
In Connecticut, Smith has a busy schedule. He works out every morning, trains in the field three hours each day five to seven times a week, and plays baseball.
“A lot of people say that at minor leagues you don’t play on good fields, but that’s not true. Actually, we play on unbelievable fields,” Smith.
As advice for Meramec students who want to follow his same path, Smith recommends to work as hard as he did and set some goals. For his future, his dream is to be in the major leagues when he turns 24.
“As long as I’m in the major leagues, I don’t care which team I will be playing for,” Smith said.
