Smith ready to 'burn the ships,' leave rough first half behind

ARLINGTON -- Josh Smith has only been optioned twice in his big league career. There were exactly 1,400 days between them, from Aug. 21, 2022, to June 19, 2026.

In those 1,400 days, Smith became a key piece of the Rangers' roster construction, evolving into one of the best utility players in baseball and even earning an American League Silver Slugger Award in 2024.

When he was optioned weeks ago for the first time since 2022, it was yet another thing thrown at him this season.

“I just know in this league, you gotta produce,” Smith said. “I've always said that if you don't like something, play better. So I’m just trying to handle what I can and play as best I can.”

When he was sent down, Smith was hitting .218 with three doubles and six RBIs in just 34 games due to missed time with a slew of injuries, including a right glute strain, left wrist inflammation and viral meningitis.

He was recalled on July 1, when shortstop Corey Seager landed on the injured list for the third time this season.

“It has been a weird year,” Smith reiterated. “But if you look at it, I still have like 100 at-bats, which is not a lot of at-bats. There’s time for some adjustments to take place, and to try to get better. I’ve still got a lot of the year left. ... At the end of the day, you never want to see Corey go down, but that's what you can play 162 games for: guys who come up and fill in certain spots. I’m just going out and trying to do my part.”

Now all that’s left to do is put the first half behind him: the injuries, the sickness, the performance that’s not up to his standard, all of it.

“I don't know a better way to say it, but have you ever read the quote, ‘Burn the ships’?” manager Skip Schumaker asked. “The only way to be a successful big leaguer is just to forget about what's happened and move on and move forward. You have to learn from the past, but the only way to do this thing for 162 is to move forward. He's done a really good job of that.”

Smith is now 4-for-12 (.333) with a home run, a triple and two RBIs in four games (two starts) since being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Wednesday.

In Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Tigers at Globe Life Field, he parlayed a 10-pitch at-bat into a triple into the left-center gap for his second extra-base hit since his recall. He had just three extra-base hits before being optioned.

“Josh has not had the start of the year that he probably envisioned, with being hurt, being sick and then with being sent down,” Schumaker said. “All he's done is work extremely hard to get back to the player that we all know he is, who he was.

“It was not easy what he had to go through, and to come back and do what he's doing, that's the kind of player we envisioned this offseason. There's a lot of season left, and we're going to need him to go, especially with all the injuries.”

The Rangers know the kind of player Smith can be. He’s shown it for various stretches, including when he hit .293/.392/.469 in the first half (90 games) in 2024, and again in the first half of ‘25, when he hit .277/.353/.416 in 84 games.

He’s searching for a way to do that for the final stretch in 2026.

“He could have went down and went about his business a much different way in Triple-A,” Schumaker said. “He's trying to find ways to get back to who he was as a player, and he's showcased that the first three or four games back. There's a second half for a reason, and in the second half we anticipate him being a big part of the push. If we want to get to the playoffs, Smitty is part of the solution.”