Les Smith Heading Home

[ULtimateCajun]

Yeah this kind of sucks.

[CajunAmos]

From the early part of this season, I was thinking it would be great to watch Les continue his growth and maturity as a Cajun, as was looking forward to two more years. Best of luck to Les and his family, and I hope life brings him the best.

[ZuluCajun]

It's a tragedy for a player to give up a college education to turn pro .
It makes it so difficult to get back in the habit of school, and 1 or 2 more yrs.
is not an eternity. I'm all for chasing your dream, but have that sheepskin in your back pocket . The minor league life it a tuff road, one that get's old real fast for very little pay. I've just seen so many young men regret not staying
and getting that diploma.

[cajun2bag]

_ It's a tragedy for a player to give up a college education to turn pro .
It makes it so difficult to get back in the habit of school, and 1 or 2 more yrs.
is not an eternity. I'm all for chasing your dream, but have that sheepskin in your back pocket . The minor league life it a tuff road, one that get's old real fast for very little pay. I've just seen so many young men regret not staying
and getting that diploma. _

Les Smith is not that good to get drafted high enough to make a lot money. I think he is making a mistake. but thats my opinion.....I wish him the best and I hope he finds greener grass... BTW it said he wanted to move closer to home but that he is considering a JC 400 miles away? what a joke

[Clutch0364]

_ Les Smith is not that good to get drafted high enough to make a lot money. I think he is making a mistake. but thats my opinion.....I wish him the best and I hope he finds greener grass... BTW it said he wanted to move closer to home but that he is considering a JC 400 miles away? what a joke _

I think he was a good player and all but he was a .280 hitter, it doesn't seem like he was going to be the next Lucroy so what is it about this kid. I don't know enough about the intangibles in baseball to look past the numbers.

cajun2bag you played and know the game, is this kid that good that we should be this worried about losing him?

[Dad04]

_ Les Smith is not that good to get drafted high enough to make a lot money. I think he is making a mistake. but thats my opinion.....I wish him the best and I hope he finds greener grass... BTW it said he wanted to move closer to home but that he is considering a JC 400 miles away? what a joke _

I can attest first hand that 18 and 19 year old baseball players usually do not have a fully developed sense of direction or time/distance relationships. I'll take him at his word that he wants to be closer to home and wish him well.

[Ballfan]

_ I think he was a good player and all but he was a .280 hitter, it doesn't seem like he was going to be the next Lucroy so what is it about this kid. I don't know enough about the intangibles in baseball to look past the numbers.

cajun2bag you played and know the game, is this kid that good that we should be this worried about losing him? _

Pro Scouts look at potential..Les Smith has a pro-type body,great arm,very good defensive player and the potential to be a very good hitter..The only one of the 5 tools that he is missing is speed..Pro scouts think that once they get a player with potential into their system they will be able to "coach them up"

[cajunbaseball1]

_ I think he was a good player and all but he was a .280 hitter, it doesn't seem like he was going to be the next Lucroy so what is it about this kid. I don't know enough about the intangibles in baseball to look past the numbers.

cajun2bag you played and know the game, is this kid that good that we should be this worried about losing him? _

In short...YES. But we will live without him. There are thousands of Les Smith's we just have to be able to recognize them when we recruit them and hope they can develop into as good of a player as we think they will.

Also, remember he played half the season with a torn labrum for his team. Not too bad for a guy only concerned about getting drafted and making money.

[JMV JustMyView]

Les has the potential to be drafted and baseball drafts people based off of potential...Look at Danny his won/lose record and era wasnt the greatest but now in the minor league system a scout was quoted as saying Danny may reach the Majors this september...

[cajunbaseball1]

_ Les has the potential to be drafted and baseball drafts people based off of potential...Look at Danny his won/lose record and era wasnt the greatest but now in the minor league system a scout was quoted as saying Danny may reach the Majors this september... _

Check Danny's stats before he was moved out of the closer role during his first two years to starting his junior year.

[Dad04]

_ In short...YES. But we will live without him. There are thousands of Les Smith's we just have to be able to recognize them when we recruit them and hope they can develop into as good of a player as we think they will.

Also, remember he played half the season with a torn labrum for his team. Not too bad for a guy only concerned about getting drafted and making money.

I expect him to improve with the use of two arms. Agreed. He would have shut it down if he was concerned about money.

[CajunT]

_ In short...YES. But we will live without him. There are thousands of Les Smith's we just have to be able to recognize them when we recruit them and hope they can develop into as good of a player as we think they will.

Also, remember he played half the season with a torn labrum for his team. Not too bad for a guy only concerned about getting drafted and making money. _

No one stated Les Smith is only concerned about getting drafted and making money. His father was mentioned in that light, but I'm sure playing 400 miles from home is a lot closer then playing 500 miles from home.I'm positive it had absouletly nothing to do with becoming draft eligible next year, if his father hadn't have mentioned 50 times after he was injured. Les Smith is a good kid, I wish we could sign 25 more just like him.