Feb. 14, 2006
by Tim Miguel
For how much of a tragedy that Hurricane Katrina was, there was one small positive result that came out of it. It gave Paul Smyth, one of the newest members of this year's San Diego State baseball team and last week's Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, a chance to come home.
The senior outfielder transferred to SDSU after playing one season at the University of New Orleans. The Temecula native (Temecula Valley High School) wasn't enjoying the experience in the southeast and was looking for a ticket home.
The opportunity to come home occurred after the hurricane hit New Orleans. Smyth's manager at New Orleans gave him two options. He told him to go home, continue with school and work on his game, and then come back in the spring, or stay with the team and move together as a team.
He took advantage of his chance to come home for good and told his coach he'd prefer to just stay home because he missed his family and was a little homesick after being away for eight months.
"It's hard for me to say that this worked out so well for me because people lost their lives and people lost their homes, but from every bad situation something good has to come out of it," said Smyth. "I think I got one of the good things, coming home to San Diego.
"It was to the point where I was about to quit baseball. It wasn't for me; I needed to come home. There were so many reasons to come home and not to stay."
Smyth said he thinks his coach knew that he had his mind made up right from the start that he was coming back to San Diego for good.
"It couldn't be better," Smyth said. "My family's going to be able to come to all the games and I have a fiancé, and now that I'm back in San Diego, I'm closer to her and I can see her all the time.
"This is one of the greatest teams I've ever played on; I'm pretty excited about being here and this is going to be a great experience for me."
Smyth wasted no time in helping out his new team in the opening series against Hawaii, earning him the MWC Player of the Week honors. In that series, Smyth went 8-for-14, batting .571 at the plate with a home run, four doubles, one triple, six RBI and five runs scored in three games played.
He continued his solid play in the next series, reaching safely at least once in each contest at Santa Clara to begin the season with a six-game hitting streak.
"I got the chance to prove myself," Smyth said. "It was my chance to show the coaches what I'm capable of and show them that the time they've spent on me wasn't a waste. I am getting better and I'm here to play ball. It's hard to say I did alright because we lost. I hit, but the team lost so it wasn't a good weekend."
Smyth didn't go directly to New Orleans from high school. Instead he spent two years at Cypress Junior College. He said he didn't really like playing at Cypress because the coaches didn't push him enough, but at the time he didn't have too many other options. Smyth had the opportunity to attend West Point, but turned it down and went to Cypress instead.
According to Smyth heading to New Orleans seemed like the best option at the time to further his baseball career after two seasons at Cypress. Soon after arriving in New Orleans, he was second the guessing the decision to go across the country.
As far as the rest of this season, the final season of Smyth's collegiate career, he said he just wants to play hard and do whatever he can do to help the Aztecs win.
"I want to help out wherever I'm needed and put me wherever you want to put me," Smyth said. "If you need a pinch hitter, I'll be here to pinch hit or DH. Put me at a position and I'll run, I'll do whatever. You say jump, I say how high."