JUPITER, Fla. — The plan was to play Curt Smith often, but not necessarily every day. Then Smith got in the lineup, his manager at Johnson City told me this past fall, and it was impossible to take him out. He just kept hitting. He hit his way from Johnson City all the way to the league’s Player of the Year award. He hit his way from that hardware all the way to Low-A Quad Cities, a full-season club.

He hit his way onto the roster for the Netherlands’ national team in the World Baseball Classic, and now he’s come out of the WBC … well, still hitting.

Cardinals 1B minor-leaguer Curt Smith, who homered Monday. (Source: WBC.com)

The Maine Attraction was 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, a homer and 3 RBIs in Palm Beach’s loss Monday in the affiliate games here at spring training. Heard the argument about the difficult time some major-league teams have had with the WBC and major leaguers getting injured or coming back overtaxed? Well, what about the minor leaguers? Adam Ottavino came back from pitching for Team Italia with a buoyed sense of confidence. Smith has come back from his turn on the bench with Team Netherlands, and he’s become a regular on the Vuch Report. He’s seemingly had two hits every day.

The Cardinals drafted Smith, a first baseman, out of the University of Maine last summer. He played at Maine, winning the conference’s player of the year award, after visiting the state and campus on a traveling team from his native Curacao. Smith has a big bat, and he has the look of a player the Cardinals will push. His jump to Quad Cities last summer was Tony Cruz-like and would have gotten more ink (pixels?) had it not been for the absurd rise of Brett Wallace.

If he continues on this track, Smith will be certain to hit his way out of the shadows and into the rankings. And, so on the Vuch Report, which at the bottom reveals the other young (and high-priced)  hitter who mashed a homer Monday.

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New Orleans 9, Memphis 4

– Brandon Dickson pitched three innings of scoreless, one-hit ball, with three strikeouts. … Hyang-Nam Choi was the losing pitcher after a line of 2 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks. … Lefty Katsuiko Maekawa pitched 1 2/3 innings with five hits four unearned runs and two strikeouts against one walk. … Lefty Ian Ostlund pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings. He struck out one.

– Mark Shorey is an interesting player who has done well moving around in the system. He doesn’t get mentioned much as far as the logjam in the outfield, and yet he pops up every so often here, in the minor-league box scores and on the tips of scouts tongues. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. That about describes his game. … Mr. Strike Zone, Jarrett Hoffpauir, goes 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Manager Tony La Russa recently brought Hoffpauir up in the context that he sees him as the everyday player at second base for the Redbirds, just to get him that needed playing time. This came up in the context of Tyler Greene and whether or not La Russa wanted to see Greene play a utility role in Class AAA to prepare for his likely role in the majors. … Mike Folli doubled and walked. … Bryan Anderson and Casey Rowlett singled.

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Jacksonville 7, Springfield 2

– Shaun Garceau started and got the loss after allowing four earned runs and six hits in three innings pitched. … Tyler Herron, who pitched in Class AA last season and needs to steady himself in a role there with the S-Cards, threw two perfect innings with 3 Ks. … Russ Haltiwanger, that Rule 5 pick, allowed three runs on two hits and two walks in his inning of work. … Pete Parise and Francisco Samuel each pitched a perfect inning. Samuel was throwing his hard cheese, as usual. He may not have made an impression in the major-league camp because he didn’t throw strikes like he needs to. But he throws hard. Real hard. And that, in recent years, has proven enough for a player to get at least to the doorstep of the majors.

– Donovan Solano was 2-for-3 with an RBI and had the only multi-hit game for Springfield. … James Rapoport and Tyler Henley doubled. … Brett Wallace, Tony Cruz, Andrew Brown, and Brandon Buckman all singled.

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Jupiter 15, Palm Beach 12

– Ryan Bird had a deuces-wild day, allowing two earned runs on two hits in two innings. … Jared Bradford had a line of 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 Ks. … Thomas Eager pitched two innings for a complete line of 4 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. … Wayne Damon pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and one earned run. He struck out two. … Adam Reifer, the power-armed reliever who is going to get a lot of run this season as a prospect on the rise, allowed one run on back-to-back opposite field doubles. Both doubles kicked up chalk along the line. Reifer also fanned two hitters in his inning. He throws hard, hard like Jason Motte hard. If he’s healthy, he’s a fireballer. But that “if” says it all. He has to stay healthy.

– Beyond Curt Smith’s big day (again), there was Colt Sedbrook, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a walk, SB and HR. … Adron Chambers was 2-for-3 with a triple, a SB and 5 RBIs. … Oliver Marmol wsa 2-for-4 with a run scored and RBI. … Tommy Pham, that highly (and unfairly) touted shortstop pick who is now playing outfield for the Cardinals’ affiliate, and strong-armed Jon Edwards each doubled. … Bryan Cartie singled and had two walks.

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Greensboro 9, Quad Cities No. 1 6

– Scott McGregor pitched two innings with three hits allowed, two earned runs off three hits and no walks against two strikeouts. … Accomplished college closer Jameson Maj had a line of 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks. … Dylan Gonzalez was: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks. … Jose Mateo had a line of 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. … David Carpenter pitched a shutout inning, 1 H, 1 K.

– Rickey Noland went 3-for-3. … Chris Swauger had an RBI triple to go with two walks. … Brian Buck walked twice, had a single and scored three runs. … Brett Lilley, Domnit Bolivar and Beau Riportella all had at a single and a walk. Bolivar, playing third base, also had a backhand diving play. … Jose Garcia tripled and scored.

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Quad Cities 2 5, Marlins 5th team 3

– Josh Hester tossed two shutout innings, 2 hits, 1 BB, 2 Ks. … Santo Maertz had a line of 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks. … LaCurtis Mayes went 1 2/3 innings with two hits, one earned runs, four walks and 2 strikeouts. … Joel Pichardo had a line of 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 Ks, and he got the win. … Jose Rada earned the save with a scoreless 9th with two Ks. … Paul Cruz went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a walk. … Big-bonus import Roberto De La Cruz hit his first home run as a Cardinal, and he had two RBIs. … Edwin Gomez and Luis Polanco doubled. … Michael Swinson walked three times and he had a single. … Yunior Castillo, Edgar Lara and Jairo Martinez all singled.

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